Lewis Hamilton comes into the penultimate round of the 2017 F1 season already crowned as World Champion for the fourth time in his career, but the season is by no means far from over.

Max Verstappen won his second race of the season convincingly last time out in Mexico while Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari seem determined to bounce back up from the title disappointments which sets up the race on the Interlagos circuit nicely for a spectacle.

Having a winner for both titles already means the gloves are off and right now there is not absolutely nothing to lose and more to gain. Definitely it will be a Mercedes vs Ferrari vs Red Bull.

Valterie Bottas clinched pole position in qualifying on Saturday by crossing the checkered flag less than a tenth of a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

The Finnish driver too advantage of a crash and consequent early exit for team-mate Lewis Hamilton, to claim his third pole position this season. No driver in the present top 6 rankings, except Hamilton and Vettel, had ever claimed pole in Brazil in their careers.

Kimi Raikkonnen and Max Verstappen will share the second row. Max Verstappen has now beaten Daniel Ricciardo 13 times in qualifying races this season. Ricciardo starts outside the top ten after an engine related demotion.

Lewis Hamilton crashed into the grid barriers on the first lap In Q1 losing control on turn six and is going to start from the back of the grid in 20th place.

Fernando Alonso qualified on sixth – an all-season high for the Spaniard. His performance was the stand-out in the session as he wrestled his McLaren to 6th.

“Fernando’s qualifying effort was genuinely brilliant,” said McLaren boss Eric Boullier.

The Brazilian Grand Prix is live today November 12 in Sao Paolo and is live on Supersport 6 from 16:00 GMT