Mercedes started well with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton making early progress, but both lost tyre grip and struggled for race pace later in the short-form Sprint
Lewis Hamilton declared he "won't be winning" the Brazilian Grand Prix after enduring a tough time during Saturday's Sprint.
And from there the Mercedes star was a sitting duck. Hamilton tumbled down the order to eventually finish seventh, having been overtaken by Yuki Tsunoda in the final few laps. "A lot of understeer and then a snap of oversteer. I was just fighting the car from very early on. And then I had no tyres in the end. I don't really know how I'm going to fix that for tomorrow.
Russell fared slightly better and managed to cross the line fourth. But he too was hampered having overheated his soft tyres in the opening laps and was 25 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen at the end of the 24-lap race.