The Latest Breaking News from M Verstappen

Despite a first sector that was over two-tenths slower than the best efforts from the Red Bulls, Norris found time over the rest of the lap to clinch pole position for Saturday's shortened race - albeit with some evident bemusement after feeling that his lap was not particularly special.

The Sao Paulo skyline became increasingly heavy as dark clouds drew over the Interlagos circuit, prompting an early queue for laps as rain looked to be imminent in the opening phase of the session.

All 20 drivers wasted no time getting out as the condensed sprint race format only leaves teams a single hour practice to nail down their set-ups for the entire weekend.

All 20 drivers wasted no time getting out as the condensed sprint race format only leaves teams a single-hour practice to nail down their set-ups for the entire weekend.

The victory gives Verstappen a new record for most F1 wins in a single season, this his 16th 2023 triumph after he scored 15 last year.

Ferrari secured a shock front row lockout with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as Max Verstappen, who had topped all three practice sessions, ended the decisive Q3 session third fastest for Red Bull.

Verstappen ended up third after the Ferrari pair had nipped ahead on the first Q3 runs, then could not beat them even though neither Leclerc or Sainz improved on their second efforts.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set the first somewhat representative times on the board in the opening minutes, with Leclerc's 1m19.283s heading his team-mate by 0.166s.

With the prospect of breaking his own record for the most wins in a season should he chalk up a 16th success of 2023 in Mexico, Verstappen enjoyed a strong start to the weekend by topping both FP1 and FP2 in his RB19.

After Daniel Ricciardo, Norris, Verstappen and Alex Albon had enjoyed brief spells in the top spot during the opening quarter of the one-hour session, Verstappen seized it again with a 1m19.511s set on the standard 2023 Pirelli C4 mediums rather than the prototype variety he had started on before pitting…

Verstappen logged a 1m19.718s on softs, having dispatched Lando Norris from top spot as the McLaren driver had been among the first of the frontrunners to switch to the red-walled tyre. Norris had gone just 0.008s faster than Verstappen's medium-tyre effort of a 1m20.245s - but the Dutchman returned to…