Lando Norris secured pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos after a dramatic rain-soaked qualifying session filled with crashes and challenges to top drivers. The McLaren driver starts the sprint ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, while Red Bull managed to get Yuki Tsunoda into a surprise third, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon filled out the second row.
The qualifying session was first delayed from Saturday by heavy rain and was further truncated on Sunday by still more crashes, including a major one for Williams’ Alex Albon when he was running second. Albon nonetheless ended up qualifying seventh despite substantial damage to his car, while Williams rookie Franco Colapinto spun out during the first phase.
The championship leader, Max Verstappen, won the Saturday sprint and had a torrid session here, managing only 17th after being caught out by the tricky conditions, added to the five-place grid penalty because of an engine change. Lewis Hamilton struggled in the wet, finishing 16th, and was grumbling over the team radio at his car’s handling.
The Sao Paulo race gets underway at 12:30 pm Brazil time, which means that teams will have limited time to get damaged vehicles back in one piece for what promises to be an action-packed race day.
