Lando Norris is finding his form with almost perfect timing, demonstrating confidence, touch and precision when it really mattered in claiming pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix. The Briton is looking increasingly like the man who would be king as his championship ambitions were backed with a statement of intent, having already secured victory in the sprint race.
His success was given added impetus as both his title rivals, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, suffered disappointment in Brazil. Piastri’s championship hopes took yet another blow as he crashed out of the sprint and qualified only in fourth, while Verstappen could manage only 16th on the grid.
Verstappen had already dropped points to Norris after he was fourth in the sprint for Red Bull and the British driver now has the chance to put genuine daylight on both his rivals. At this race last year Verstappen came back from 17th to win but that was in the wet and when he was not suffering from a compromised setup. The world champion now needs an immense drive on Sunday to keep his chances alive.
With the sprint victory Norris has extended his lead over Piastri to nine points, while Verstappen is 39 points behind the British driver, with 108 on the table from the remaining four meetings, including one more sprint race.
Norris, who notably does not really believe in momentum, acknowledged that perhaps he was on something of a roll. “I was under a bit of pressure because I messed up on my first lap, so more stressful than I would’ve liked. But stayed calm when it mattered and put it all together,” he said. “I think when I’m in a good rhythm, when I can stay calm, put it all together I’ll be on top.”
1 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1min 09.511sec
2 Kimi Antonelli (Ita) Mercedes 1:09.685
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:09.805
4 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:09.886
5 Isack Hadjar (Fr) RB 1:09.931
6 George Russell (GB) Mercedes 1:09.942
7 Liam Lawson (NZ) RB 1:09.962
8 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas F1 1:09.977
9 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:10.002
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:10.039
Eliminated in Q2
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:10.001
12 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:10.053
13 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Ferrari 1:10.100
14 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:10.161
15 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams 1:10.472
Eliminated in Q1
16 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull 1:10.403
17 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas 1:10.438
18 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine 1:10.632
19 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Red Bull 1:10.711
20 Gabriel Bortoleto (Br) Kick Sauber no time
The woes of his competitors stand in stark contrast to the Briton, for whom the victory comes on the back of his dominant pole-to-flag win in Mexico as he continues what has been an enormously strong and consistent run of form. His pole lap, a one-off shot he had to make after a mistake on his first run, was immense and flawless as he looks to take the title by the scruff of the neck.
Piastri had been in better form in qualifying but the damage had already been done in the morning’s sprint race. Norris led from pole to the flag at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in a race that opened in damp conditions after earlier rain that made the track tricky and which caught Piastri out as he crashed after losing grip when he put a wheel on to a kerb. It was an enormously costly error and not the first in recent races for the Australian.
Verstappen had been unhappy with his car all weekend and described it as “completely broken” on Friday. He simply could not hook up a lap in qualifying, adrift in the car with no explanation as to quite what was wrong. He was knocked out in Q1 for the first time since the Russian Grand Prix in 2021.
“I have zero grip,” he said with no little frustration. The team had adapted their setup post-sprint in an effort to find better pace but it appears they had simply gone in the wrong direction in an attempt to fix the car’s instability over the bumps of Interlagos. The team principal, Laurent Mekies, admitted they had taken a risk with their setup, looking for performance that had not paid off.
Verstappen said: “I don’t understand how it can be this bad.”
Piastri will be most concerned that his touch increasingly appears to have deserted him. He has endured a run of difficult races, including crashing out in Baku and being off the pace in the US and Mexico, and he too needs to come back strongly on Sunday.
Leclerc had opened the running with the quickest early pace in Q3 but while Norris made a small error, locking-up on his first run in turn one, Piastri found real pace when he needed it to take provisional pole with a time of 1min 9.897sec, the best lap the Australian had yet delivered.
Norris had real work to do for the final laps from 10th place and hit the first two sectors hard. Fearsomely quick, he went top as Piastri followed him out. The Australian could not improve however and while Kimi Antonelli delivered an immense run for second place, Norris had pole with a 1:9.511 lap.
Charles Leclerc was in third for Ferrari but his teammate Lewis Hamilton could manage only a disappointing 13th. Isack Hadjar was an impressive fifth for Racing Bulls.
A dramatic sprint race was also marked by an horrific accident for the São Paulo boy Gabriel Bortoleto. On the final lap the Brazilian lost the rear looking to go up the inside heading into turn one and speared into the barriers on the inside which catapulted him airborne into the barriers on the opposite side of the circuit with an enormously heavy impact.
Bortoleto emerged from the car and was taken to the medical centre and pronounced unhurt but his car was too damaged to be repaired in time for qualifying.
