Sao Paulo — lando norris He secured pole position for the Brazilian sprint race and hopes to seal the Formula 1 drivers’ championship at the weekend.
Norris’s lap of 1:09.243 was enough to start Saturday’s sprint at the front of the grid, 0.097 seconds faster than Mercedes rookie Andrea. kmy antonelli And 0.185 quicker than his McLaren teammate and title rival oscar piastri,
Norris snatched the championship lead from Piastri with a dominant win at the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago and looks set to win again this weekend.
There is one point between them in the championship standings. The top eight finishers are awarded points in the form 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, so the chances of making a big difference if both finish may be minimal, but with only four races remaining, each point gained is invaluable.
“It was a bit tougher than I wanted,” Norris told Sky Sports. “Close between a lot of cars. The Mercedes is fast on the soft. But it’s always difficult when you have the medium and the soft and you know how much to push.
“But we did the thing we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. Even tougher than Mexico. I wasn’t feeling as comfortable, but so it’s a great result.”
max verstappenConsidered an outsider in the title race, he finished sixth in a disappointing result for anyone hoping to see the Red Bull driver close the 36-point gap to Norris this weekend.
“The car is completely broken, it’s not drivable at all,” the four-time world champion complained at one point.
Verstappen hopes the predicted rain will hold on Saturday – Interlagos is where he took part in one of the great drives of the modern era in a topsy-turvy race held in wet conditions last year.
mercedes driver george russell and aston martin fernando alonso Will start in the grid slot between Piastri and Verstappen.
Ferrari suffers another poor season Charles Leclerc Finishing eighth in qualifying ahead of Alonso’s teammate, lance stroll,
Lewis Hamilton Not even making it through mid-qualifying session, qualifying 11th at the circuit he dramatically won the first of his seven drivers’ championships in 2008.
Hamilton escaped a grid penalty for failing to slow down at a double waved yellow during the session – the stewards later admitted that the light panel closest to Hamilton was “only illuminated for a fraction of a second” before he passed, meaning he avoided falling to the bottom of the grid.
racing bulls driver isaac hadjarA candidate for Novice of the Season, qualified before ninth place Nico HulkenbergWho made it into the final qualifying session on the basis of Sauber’s promising pace.
Hulkenberg’s teammate, gabriel bortolettoIs the home favorite this weekend but failed to join Hulkenberg in SQ2, having to settle for 14th behind Hamilton, Alex Albon And pierre gaslymexican grand prix extravaganza oliver bearman Qualified 15th for Haas.
Franco ColapintoFriday began with confirmation that he will continue to race in Alpine in 2026, ending months of speculation about his future – but he was unable to progress through SQ1.
Red Bull driver under pressure yuki tsunodaHe, who had missed practice several hours earlier, also failed to make it, qualifying in 18th place behind the Racing Bulls driver. Liam Lawson,
“We paid a bit for the lost track time this morning,” Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports after the session. “The lack of running takes away a bit of your confidence and then you don’t have a clean session.”
Tsunoda replaced Lawson earlier this year but is proving to be the odd man out for Red Bull as the company looks to promote Hadjar to the senior team and a Formula 2 junior driver. Arvid Lindblad For Racing Bulls the following year.
esteban ocon And carlos saenz Will start from the last row of the grid.
