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The 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix is the penultimate race of the season; a year that's comprehensively has belonged to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.
We've seen some incredible battles between two leading men on the grid- Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel- at events such as Hockenheimring, Silverstone, Belgium, Hungary and, Sochi. But at the end, we are left with only two more events to give ourselves some more of the quintessential Hamilton vs Vettel saga, with only Abu Dhabi to go post-Interlagos.
That said, out here in his idol Ayrton Senna's home, Lewis Hamilton, once again conquered the headlines by grabbing pole position for the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix. In so doing, he captured his 82nd career pole, a sensational tally that just doesn't stop protruding.
With Hamilton on top, followed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, the scene is arguably set for another dazzling battle for the track position come the race-day on November 11 2018.
With Bottas capturing third, followed by Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, it will be interesting to see what the top five can bring forth on the race-day.
So what were the 5 key talking points from the Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying?
#5 Ricciardo's woes continue
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo's season has gone from being good in the earlier stages to being ordinary thereafter into finally being heartbreaking as the 2018 run has progressed.
No other driver has copped up as many retirements as the Australian this season. So far, the tally has been a staggering 8 DNFs. Can he avoid another one this weekend- only time will tell!
While Ricciardo managed to put his Red Bull around 0.0002 seconds behind his teammate's car, his qualifying turned into a nightmare as the driver was penalised by being handed a five-place grid penalty in lieu of his team replacing the turbocharger in his power unit.
This basically means that the 'honey badger' will now be starting from eleventh on the grid.
It seems Ricciardo has his task cut out then.
#4 Raikkonen's ordinary run
Kimi Raikkonen has been a tad bit fortunate ever since securing an ecstatic victory in front of hundreds and thousands at the US Grand Prix, at the Circuit of the Americas.
Since then, he's been fortunate to have inherited a third at Mexico, following Ricciardo's sudden retirement owing to mechanical problems in his car.
Out here in the qualifying at Interlagos, a track where he won his only world title, back in 2007, Raikkonen initially seemed to be enjoying himself as he went pretty fast during Q2, standing ahead of Vettel, post which things would go awry for the 'Iceman.'
In the final qualifying, amid inclement weather, Raikkonen was a bit sedate and nowhere as quick as the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. In the end, he could only grab a fourth, even as he went nearly as fast as Hamilton's teammate, Valtteri Bottas, trailing the Mercedes by a scant margin of 0.15 seconds.
Can Raikkonen turn around the race?
#3 Impressive from Vettel, but not good enough
Sebastian Vettel is currently sandwiched by the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, the 2018-winner grabbing his tenth pole of the year and the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, finishing just behind the tail of the Ferrari.
During the final qualifying session, Vettel upped the ante of his Ferrari and gave teammate, Raikkonen, a tough run in the final session in clocking an impressive 1:07:374.
In so doing, he bounced back from the rather modestly impressive showings as seen on Friday to jump to second for the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.
But mirroring the eventual fate of his 2018 season, where he's been second only to Lewis Hamilton, Vettel's timing couldn't earn him the pole position which was ultimately snatched by Hamilton.
But where their respective records stand, Vettel has done a far better job at Interlagos when compared to his arch-nemesis, in winning the Brazilian Grand Prix on three separate occasions.
What can he do on race day? Convert a solid second into a first at Senna-land? We will see.
#2 Epic show by Charles Leclerc
When ordered by his team (Sauber) to box in the final lap, with partial raindrops steadily multiplying at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, young Frenchman Charles Leclerc insisted, "No, no, no, no, I'll stay out."
This was precisely at Turn 13 during the qualifying.
Did anyone have an idea what was to follow?
In picking up his pace reasonably well especially during the middle-sector, Leclerc, who was, until then, running in eleventh, clocked in a terrific lap and finished on eighth. He would eventually register an impressive 1:08:492 but aided by the grid penalty handed to Ricciardo, the Sauber driver will now start his Brazilian challenge from seventh.
In so doing, he would hope to bag a strong finish. This leaves us with the prospect of hoping to see Leclerc do something impressive, such as possibly finishing inside the top-five.
But will he?
#1 Some drama out in the final run
Does Lewis consider himself a tad bit lucky to end up the fastest in the qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix?
As Lewis Hamilton eventually clobbered the rest on the grid to go fastest at 1:07:281, it was clear who the man holding the track position would be.
But this wasn't before some heart-stopping moments, to be honest.
During Q2, the Briton very nearly ran into the Williams of Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin at the middle of the track, the Mercedes evidently struggling for grips and unable to pick up the pace with the Williams running in from behind with significantly higher speed.
Thank god, there was no collision.
Interestingly, during this same lap, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen would come in from behind in his run and dive into the left of Hamiton to emerge unscathed and move ahead of the Briton. While one can't exactly put a finger on who was at fault there, it's clear that this would've been a harmless qualifying incident which luckily didn't transpire.
