McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed pole position in a chaotic, rain-soaked qualifying session for today’s São Paulo Grand Prix. Reporting for F1Technical, lead journalist Balazs Szabo covers the intense session, which was postponed due to weather.
Q1 – Shocking Exit for Hamilton
With qualifying delayed by a day owing to severe weather, drivers faced improved, yet still challenging, conditions as they returned to the track. The opening minutes saw a queue at the pit lane, with all drivers eager to evaluate the damp track on Pirelli’s wet-weather tires.
Early incidents quickly set the tone, as Liam Lawson veered his RB onto the grass at Juncao but managed to regain control and return to the Interlagos circuit. Shortly after, Yuki Tsunoda made a similar error, though he recovered without further drama. However, the session came to a halt when Williams driver Franco Colapinto spun off at Curva do Sol, bringing out the red flags.
When the track reopened, drivers again rushed onto the wet tires. Many struggled to bring them up to optimal temperature, with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton making a surprising early exit from Q1. Lando Norris, a key championship contender, narrowly advanced in 15th position. Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman, substituting for an ill Kevin Magnussen, took 16th, while Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu also fell short of advancing.
**Knocked Out in Q1:** Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu.
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Q2 – Carlos Sainz Crashes Out at Senna S
As Q2 began, the track saw slight improvement, with the rain finally subsiding. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri immediately opted for intermediate tires, while the rest of the grid initially stuck with full wets. Piastri’s 1m27.141s lap on intermediates quickly demonstrated the crossover point to faster tires, prompting the field to follow suit. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was the last to switch to intermediates.
Despite the change, the slick conditions continued to challenge drivers. Mercedes’ George Russell had a minor spin at Bico de Pato, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz endured a more severe incident at Turn 2. Attempting to accelerate out of the corner, Sainz lost control, slamming into the barrier. His car sustained extensive damage to the left rear suspension, rear wing, and possibly the gearbox.
When the session resumed, the rush to log competitive times was intense. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin posted a strong lap time, only for Norris to surpass it, followed closely by improvements from Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon.
With less than a minute remaining, Lance Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin AMR24 and crashed at Turn 3, a strikingly similar incident to Colapinto’s but with greater rear damage. The crash dashed the hopes of championship leader Max Verstappen, who, alongside teammate Sergio Perez, was unable to progress to Q3.
**Knocked Out in Q2:** Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly.
In Q3, just five minutes into the session, the fourth red flag was waved due to a crash involving Fernando Alonso. At that point, Lando Norris was setting the pace with a time of 1:24.158, followed closely by Alexander Albon and Oscar Piastri. Unfortunately, Albon’s performance took a turn for the worse when he suffered a significant crash at Turn 1, which severely damaged the rear of his Williams, marking him as the fifth driver to exit the session.
This incident left only seven cars on track for the final three minutes, during which conditions improved significantly. For a brief moment, Albon still held second on the timesheets, but as the other drivers began to clock faster laps, he ultimately qualified in seventh, trailing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc—provided Albon’s Williams car can be repaired in time for the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix later today.
Oscar Piastri finished in eighth position, while Alonso and Lance Stroll secured the ninth and tenth spots, respectively. Despite Stroll’s crash at the end of Q2, his earlier time was sufficient to earn him a place in the top-10 shootout.
Sao Paulo GP qualifying: Top 10 result
1) Lando Norris, McLaren
2) George Russell, Mercedes
3) Yuki Tsunoda, RB
4) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
5) Liam Lawson, RB
6) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
7) Alex Albon, Williams
8) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
9) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
10) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
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