Lando Norris seized a crucial pole position in a chaotic wet qualifying session which saw Max Verstappen be eliminated in Q2 at the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
With torrential downpours and thunderstorms preventing qualifying from taking place on its standard Saturday slot, the session was postponed until Sunday morning.
On the five previous occasions in F1 that qualifying had been moved to the same day as the race, a German driver had been the one who went on to bag pole position.
But while Nico Hulkenberg – the sole German on the grid – claiming top spot didn’t represent a probable outcome, the Haas racer took his one F1 pole in Brazil in 2010.
With the radar suggesting that the conditions would deteriorate as Q1 progressed, the drivers were queueing in the pit lane, awaiting the green light to go out on track.
The track was proving treacherous as several drivers got caught out at Juncao. Liam Lawson, Guanyu Zhou and Lance Stroll all ventured wide at the penultimate turn.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon set the initial pace with a 1:29.916s until RB’s Yuki Tsunoda went 0.744s faster to usurp the Frenchman’s time, as Charles Leclerc went second.
However, the running was stopped with under nine minutes on the clock as Franco Colapinto, who was in ninth, lost control exiting Turn 3 and his Williams hit the wall.
The Argentine’s shunt with the barrier was bad news down at Mercedes with George Russell (18th) and Lewis Hamilton (20th) both languishing in the relegation zone.
Once Colapinto’s stricken Williams FW46 was removed, the opening stage restarted with some close misses in the pit lane as an eager Russell tried to overtake rivals.
Hamilton escaped danger on his next timed attempt, but the seven-time F1 champion, a renowned specialist in wet weather conditions, was still as low as 14th place.
But that was still better than his team-mate managed as Russell endured a wide moment at Turn 1 which resigned him to abandoning that lap and remaining slowest.
However, the Briton posted a vast improvement on his next run to elevate his Mercedes up into second place, but Hamilton continued to struggle as he didn’t improve.
Hamilton headed onto his final attempt knowing that he had to better his personal best to have a chance at advancing, which he managed to climb up into 14th place.
The Mercedes driver’s time improvement demoted Norris into the bottom five, though the McLaren responded to put his compatriot back on the cusp in 15th position.
Lawson getting through consigned Hamilton to a premature exit, while Haas also encountered disappointment as Oliver Bearman was 17th and Hulkenberg was 19th.
Haas slipping up in the wet ensured Norris’ championship hopes were still alive as he scraped into Q2, as Colapinto and Zhou’s Sauber were the other two to drop out.
At the top, Verstappen was relishing the rain as usual as he ended Q1 with the quickest time with 1:28.522s, 0.550s faster than Williams’ Alex Albon behind in second.
Sainz’s involvement ends in the barrier
Heading into the second stage, the Ferrari pairing posted the initial laps with Charles Leclerc above Carlos Sainz, but slower than the ultimate Q1 time Verstappen set.
McLaren elected to put Intermediates on Oscar Piastri’s MCL38 and that switch paid dividends as his second timed run saw him go quicker than Verstappen on Wets.
The Australian’s headline time prompted multiple drivers to come into the pits to go onto the green-walled compound, including Russell who span on his next attempt.
But while Russell moved into second place on his next lap, albeit 1.1s down on Piastri, Sainz’s session was over as he spun into the barrier going through the Senna S.
Sainz was on the cusp in 10th place when he lost his Ferrari as he planted the throttle on a timed lap, while Norris was once again in danger one position back in 11th.
A seven-minute wait passed as the marshalls cleared the Ferrari, with Norris heading the queue in the pit lane as the second session restarted with five minutes to go.
Norris delivered when it mattered to rise into the top three behind team-mate Piastri and Russell until Fernando Alonso produced a sublime effort to wind up quickest.
Alonso’s spell at the top would not last, however, as Norris lowered the benchmark, while Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin replicated Colapinto’s incident in Q1.
The FIA race director was hesitant to red flag the session as the times continued to improve, but Verstappen wasn’t among them and he was eliminated in 12th place.
Once the stoppage was called, Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber, Verstappen, Red Bull team-mate Perez, Sainz’s Ferrari and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were the ones to miss out in Q2.
With Verstappen out and a five-place grid drop poised to leave him 17th on the grid, Norris had the chance to make a big dent into the Dutchman’s championship lead.
Albon sustains huge shunt in Q3
The Briton usurped his rivals on the opening laps in Q3 as a 1:24.158s placed him at the top, with Albon putting in a sensational run to separate the two McLaren cars.
However, there was to be another stoppage as Alonso dropped his Aston Martin sweeping through Mergulho, rendering him a passenger as he ended up in the barrier.
The resumption in Q3 saw Piastri and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda experience adventures which derailed their newest laps, but both missed the wall to prevent another red flag.
However, Albon, who was second on the timing tower, lost his car under braking into Turn 1 and shunted into the barrier, causing considerable damage to his Williams.
A prolonged stoppage was in order as the wrecked Williams was removed. Once Q3 continued, there were about three minutes to go to dictate the top 10 for the race.
Norris improved on his initial lap with his next run to post a 1:24.092s, extending his advantage over his main competitor, Albon’s stricken Williams, to over five-tenths.
The McLaren driver proceeded to go quicker still on a 1:23.405s to claim pole position at Interlagos, while Mercedes’ Russell managed a front row start, 0.173s down.
Tsunoda excelled to claim his highest starting spot in F1 in third place, while RB team-mate Lawson completed the top five behind Ocon, who was fourth in the Alpine.
Leclerc was a distant sixth in the sole Ferrari remaining in Q3. Albon wound up seventh, as Piastri was made to rue a lock-up on his final attempt leaving him in eighth.
Alonso, who crashed earlier in the segment, was ninth, with Lance Stroll, who didn’t take part in the closing session owing to his Q2 spin, completing the top 10 drivers.
