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Lando Norris will start Saturday’s sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix from second after he was bumped off pole position by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris looked set to land top spot only to be gazumped by Piastri with the Australian’s final throw of the dice.
Piastri finished just 0.029 seconds clear of Norris who failed to improve on his final lap.
However, Norris will line up two places clear of title rival Max Verstappen after the Red Bull man could manage only fourth, three tenths off the pace. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc starts third for Saturday’s 24-lap dash to the chequered flag.
Norris trails Verstappen by 47 points heading into the concluding four rounds and should be in a position to eat into his rival’s lead with McLaren holding a clear advantage over their competitors in Interlagos.
“I will try and win,” said Piastri after usurping Norris. “I am starting from the best seat in the house so I will try and make sure it stays that way.”
Oscar Piastri winces slightly when I put the question to him: should the situation arise in Brazil this weekend that he finds himself in P1 and Lando Norris P2 and he is in a position to gift his McLaren team-mate a race win, would he move over to help Norris’ title bid?
He smiles and nods his head. “Not unless I was asked,” he admits when speaking to Telegraph Sport before taking pole for Saturday’s sprint race. “I’d have to be asked. But if that’s what the team wanted me to do, then yes I’d do it.”
Tom Cary spoke to the Australian in the Interlagos paddock earlier this week and you can read his full, in-depth interview here.
That is not to say that he will not try, but more that he is not really invested in what this car has to offer him any more. And who can blame him, really? He has four races left with Mercedes and then he is off to Ferrari. And the Mercedes has been back and forth in the last three seasons. Just when it seemed like they had a handle on their issues they slip back again.
He is asked about hopes for the sprint race (and beyond) with the car’s long-run pace:
“It will be what it will be. I’m not really massively bothered if I’m honest.”
“Pretty bad but it’s the same as every qualifying for me, not that I am happy about it but I just don’t have any confidence in the car. The ride is pretty bad on the track, I think for everyone. The track has been resurface and they’ve not done a particularly great job. P1 was like Baku 2022 for us, we did lift the car… I wasn’t in pain [in sprint qualifying] but the thing’s hopping through the corners [and is] very hard to drive.
Or at least the theory that Piastri should help Norris’s championship hopes, there have been few chances for it to be put into action. Tomorrow’s sprint might throw up that opportunity.
If McLaren is as far ahead of the field as they were today then they will walk the sprint. Doesn’t necessarily have to be like that, though.
“I don’t care about where he qualifies. For me it’s just focus on my job. Tomorrow is a completely different day. We’ll see. We definitely made some good steps forward .We’ll see in the sprint tomorrow.”
“Yeah, it was a tricky session. I felt pretty comfortable at the start… with the track this year it’s hard enough to see where you’re going never mind doing a fast lap. It’s challenging out there but happy to qualify on pole for the sprint. My first lap didn’t feel amazing and I knew there were a few places to improve… the second lap was good and the tyres hung on.”
Norris looked unbeatable there but Piastri find the time from somewhere to take sprint race pole by 0.029sec. McLaren lock out the front row in perhaps the “wrong” order. Leclerc third, Verstappen fourth.
Not many times that Piastri has beaten Norris in qualifying this year, sprint or otherwise.
He knocks Norris down to second! Leclerc just 0.254sec off Norris. What is Norris’s lap time? It’s not good. He abandons his lap before he can get across the line.
Verstappen still has to complete his lap and pole is looking very unlikely. It’s only fourth 0.320sec off Piastri, who pulled out a lap at the very death there.
He declines to bail out of the lap and return for another attempt. He goves to fourth but has his lap time deleted for track limits so it was all a tremendous waste of time.
Sainz moves into third but 0.329sec off Norris. What can Leclerc do? Second. Piastri is improving…
A good effort to get into SQ3 but that lap is a couple of tenths slower than he managed in SQ2 so will want to find more time. The rest of the cars get out to set their one flying lap in this short session. McLaren will probably go again on these tyres.
He’s into the 1:08s with a 1:08.928sec. 0.297sec ahead of Piastri on a short lap. That translates to 0.37 per cent which is large. Looks like Piastri took a fairly rough line into and out of the Senna-S corners.
Both McLaren drivers are out there early, along with Albon. Everyone else sitting in the garage. Soft tyres mandated in this session. Norris a couple of tenths or so ahead of his team-mate in sector one…
🟢 SQ3 GREEN LIGHT 🟢Ten drivers remain, who will take #F1Sprint pole?#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/VjwwMjhBHQ
Also from Lawson. Both men out-qualify their more experienced team-mates. Perez in 13th. Is it a disaster? Not really. Certainly not in the general context of his season. You just cannot see how he can find the form to keep the Red Bull seat in 2025.
It’s not a fantastic lap… only 11th. So he joins Perez, Hulkenberg, Colapinto and Bottas to be eliminated.
Piastri sneaked into second 0.176sec behind Piastri with Leclerc just behind in third.
That pushes Perez out as it stands. Lawson moves ninth and Perez moves further down. Perez is out there but will not get to the line in time to complete another lap. What a mess. Again.
Ollie Bearman crosses the line, and goes P6 💪#F1Sprint #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/jn7rWQqCPu
Haas have not yet done a lap in either of their cars but are about to begin on a clear track. Lawson hasn’t done a lap yet either.
It’s Bottas, Colapinto, Bearman, Hulkenberg and Lawson.
“Turn 4 the car now doesn’t turn with this wing setting,” is what Verstappen says.
Only just, though. In that he is miles behind Alonso but less than a tenth ahead of Sainz in third.
It’s good enough for third but he’s more than half a second off his team-mate. Sainz is in second, 0.437sec off Norris’s time. Hamilton is only seventh, 1.171sec off…
Verstappen does a good first sector, fastest of anyone. He’s nearly three-tenths down after two sectors, though…
Perez 0.68sec down at the same stage…
Norris looks likely to beat that quite comfortably, I think. Indeed he does, by 0.620sec. That McLaren of his looks pretty hooked up. It’s a short lap and he’s bossing it.
It’s getting gloomier and it looks rather gusty out there, too.
These 15 drivers make it through.
Alonso, Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll, Zhou.
Another fine lap from the youngster. Norris flying here, will he finish his lap? He does and goes fastest overall by nearl eight-tenths. Big.
Colapinto is in 20th, Albon his team-mate is third. He needs to string this lap together and does! He moves up to ninth and knocks Alonso out. Hmmm. Both Aston Martins out.
Alonso still in the drop zone but is improving enormously. Leclerc sneaks into second. Alonso goes 11th and should make it through. Gasly now in the drop zone. Colapinto needs to find some lap time and will be the final man across the line, I think. Or close to it.
It was the next two that let him down, how can he do this time? Hamilton on an OKish lap, but not pulling up any trees. Might move up into the top six here. Perez improving in the middle sector though. Verstappen goes second overall, Hamilton P8 with an average final sector.
Perez beats Verstappen into second, which is an improvement from what he has been offering lately.
Two minutes remain and the final runs are under way.
And he moves up to fourth 0.238sec off Piastri.
Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Zhou and Colapinto are in the drop zone with four minutes remaining.
Ahead of Lawson, who had just moved there. What is Verstappen doing? It’s the fastest first sector of anyone but drops a couple of tenths in the second sector.
How is the final sector? Not great either, he ends uo 0.325sec off the pace overall and in fourth. A good first sector but beyond that, not much.
Perez, then Albon and then Russell go to the top of the leaderboard. This track is going to rubber in quickly now. Hamilton crosses the line slower but within a tenth of his team-mate Russell. Norris then beats them both by about 0.2sec.
A 1:11.654sec with Sainz six-tenths off that. Early days yet. I do think this is one of the best tracks on the calendar. Just a real challenge. Undulating too and often produces great racing.
Will it rain? Perhaps.
#F1 #BBCF1 #BRAZILGP SPRINT QUALIFYING: With 15 mins to session start, air temp at Interlagos is 22.2C & the track 45.6C. Wind from the SE, with gusts to 27mph in the past hour. Currently dry; some showers developing ~45km away in different directions. Official risk of rain 20%.
A reminder that this session is just a shortened version of the three-part main qualifying session that we will have tomorrow.
Predictions? Looks slightly overcast at Interlagos. I think McLaren will be strong. But let’s see if Ferrari or Verstappen can match them.
Max Verstappen has hit back at “biased people” in Formula One, saying he “knows who they are” but adding it is “not his problem” if they have an issue with his driving.
Red Bull’s triple world champion was in defiant mood ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix where he will once again lock horns with McLaren’s Lando Norris, his closest challenger in this year’s title race.
Read more here.
It’s the MP4/5B with which Senna won his second title for the team.
This is a big weekend for McLaren. Well, that all are now. They are chasing their first constructors’ title since 1998 against a Ferrari after their first title of any kind since 2008. Ferrari are on the up but the question is if McLaren can stop the rot against a team that has been in great form recently.
At the moment that Lando Norris championship fight is mostly theoretical. That said, were he to take 15 from Verstappen this weekend, then it might worry Red Bull. 15 is a lot but that could be a few points in the sprint and then if Norris won and Verstappen was fourth, that’s it there.
Will he change? No. Would you expect him to?
The drivers have their say on Max 🆚 Lando pic.twitter.com/4mirJ5Wbg6
I spoke to Rob Smedley, Massa’s race engineer at the time, about his recollections from that year as well as the following year when the Brazilian near lost his life in an accident at the Hungaroring.
Read the full piece here: Felipe Massa’s 2008 world title near miss, by the man who knew him best
Sprint qualifying 6.30pm GMT
Sprint race 2pmQualifying 6pm
Sao Paolo Grand Prix 5pm
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen will not participate in Friday’s track running at the São Paulo Grand Prix after suffering with sickness.Official reserve driver Oliver Bearman will take over driving duties. The team wishes Kevin a quick recovery and will provide a… pic.twitter.com/2ukuJXNmGe
No confirmation either way whether Magnussen will take part in the qualifying for the grand prix tomorrow, but you would imagine if he is fit that is the intention. If not then Bearman is an able deputy. He will drive for the team next year, remember and stepped in for Magnussen when he was banned for the Azerbaijan GP. He also deputised for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia.
Welcome to our coverage for sprint qualifying for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix from Interlagos. As with the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend, this is another one of those races whose official title takes its name from the city that hosts it rather than the country. In many people’s eyes, though, this is the Brazilian Grand Prix and that is fair enough.
Anyway, this is the fifth out of six sprint weekends this year with Qatar the final of those in the triple-header that finishes this year. The big news out of Interlagos today is that Max Verstappen will take a five-place grid drop for the race on Sunday after changing his Internal Combustion Engine outside of the permitted amount. Red Bull have, however, kept some of the power unit’s elements from previous races which has saved him from a heftier penalty.
How crucial could that be in the grand scheme of things? Well, it is a small help to Lando Norris certainly but given there is a 47-point gap between the pair with four races and two sprints to go, he needs to take 12 points on average each race weekend from his Dutch rival to secure the title. He also needs to eat into Verstappen’s advantage by roughly seven points in the next three rounds to ensure the title goes to the final round, which would be something.
The penalty ensures that Verstappen will start at best sixth on Sunday. Does the Red Bull have the pace to fight its way through the field? Well, it is certainly possible and a new engine might well help his cause. Still, there is no guarantee that Norris finishes in the top two in any case, with Ferrari resurgent having won three of the last five races. It is, though, a long time since Red Bull won a grand prix. Indeed 10 rounds have passed since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Anyway, there is also a chance for Norris to eat into Verstappen’s lead with the sprint race and qualifying for that gets under way in about an hour. We have just had first practice at Interlagos and Lando Norris beat George Russell by 0.181sec with Oliver Bearman, who deputises for Kevin Magnussen today, in third for Haas. Verstappen, who did not get a clean soft-tyre run in, was down in 15th. 1.102sec off the pace.
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