#BrazilGP: Bottas claims pole as Hamilton crashes out early

Sao Paulo - Valtteri Bottas took pole position for the Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix on Saturday after Mercedes teammate and newly-crowned four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton crashed without setting a lap time.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will join the Finn on the front row of the starting grid with his Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen third and Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth.

Hamilton escaped unscathed

Hamilton, who clinched his fourth world championship in Mexico two weeks ago, had been hoping for a 12th pole of the season but spun into the barrier at turn seven in the opening session.

It looked a simple mistake by Britain's most successful racing driver of all time, and last year's winner from pole at Interlagos. Hamilton will now have to fight back through the field for the second race in a row.