Brazil GP qualifying: Norris takes wet pole, Russell fumes, and Verstappen and Hamilton start at the back
Lando Norris took his third São Paulo pole in a row after an 83-minute rain delay. Russell says he lost pole to a team call, and five big names have grid penalties. Full results, the new grid and what to watch in the race.
Lando Norris is on pole for the São Paulo Grand Prix. He did it in what he called some of the wettest conditions he’s ever driven in.
Rain stopped qualifying for 1 hour and 23 minutes before a lap was finished. When it restarted, Norris set a 1:27.470 early in Q3, just before the rain got heavier. Nobody could beat it.
It’s his third São Paulo pole in a row. George Russell was 0.204s behind, and furious about it. Kimi Antonelli was third.
But the grid looks very different from the timing sheet. Five drivers have penalties, so Antonelli joins Norris on the front row, and Liam Lawson starts third. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton start 21st and 20th.
Qualifying results
The “Starts” column is the grid after penalties.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best time | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:27.470 | 1st |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.204s | 7th |
| 3 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.625s | 2nd |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.819s | 14th |
| 5 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +0.851s | 3rd |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | +1.198s | 4th |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | +1.293s | 5th |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | +2.361s | 6th |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +2.841s | 8th |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | +2.986s | 9th |
| 11 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:30.001 (Q2) | 20th |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:30.369 (Q2) | 10th |
| 13 | Rafael Camara | Haas | 1:31.515 (Q2) | 11th |
| 14 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 1:31.687 (Q2) | 12th |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:31.785 (Q2) | 13th |
| 16 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | No time in Q2 | 21st |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:33.327 (Q1) | 15th |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:33.449 (Q1) | 16th |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:33.653 (Q1) | 17th |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 1:33.774 (Q1) | 18th |
| 21 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 1:34.509 (Q1) | 22nd |
| 22 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1:41.564 (Q1) | 19th |
Times for 11th to 22nd come from Q1 and Q2, when the track was wetter, so they’re slower than the Q3 times. Results: FIA.
The starting grid for Sunday’s race, after penalties. Image: Formula 1 on Instagram
How the session played out
Q1: stopped after a minute. A storm had already soaked the track after final practice. It eased, then came back just as the cars left the pit lane. The red flag came out almost at once.
The wait lasted 83 minutes. Russell said he “played some chess”. When running resumed, everyone was on full wet tyres, the ones for heavy rain.
Even then, it was wild. “The visibility was zero down the straight into Turn 4,” Russell said in the press conference. “I was wheel-spinning in fifth gear, you know, over 200 kilometres an hour, aquaplaning.”
Norris topped Q1. Both Alpines, Stroll, both Cadillacs and Gabriel Bortoleto went out. Bortoleto slid off in his Audi and couldn’t go again.
Q2: the switch to inters. Verstappen didn’t run at all. He was starting near the back anyway, so Red Bull saved his wet tyres for the race.
Lawson was one of the first onto intermediates, the tyres for a damp track. He jumped to the top by 1.6 seconds. Then home hero Rafael Camara, on his F1 debut, hit the barrier at Turn 12. That red flag ended Q2 early.
Hamilton, Piastri, Camara, Arvid Lindblad and Carlos Sainz went out with Verstappen. Lindblad’s car had stopped with a problem. Piastri made a mistake on his last lap.
Q3: one shot. More rain was coming, so the first laps were the ones that counted. Norris made his count. By the final minutes it was too wet to go faster, and everyone pitted.
“We’re lucky it’s wet, because if it was dry, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Norris said. “In the dry, we definitely didn’t have the pace.”
It was his first time driving this year’s car in the wet. It was also his first pole since Madrid.
Norris with his pole award, presented by former Brazil and AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato. Photo: Pirelli
Russell: “That was definitely the pole lap”
Russell was flying in Q3, then his team told him to back off. He had caught Alex Albon’s Williams. Mercedes thought there was time for one more clean lap. There wasn’t. The rain got heavier, and nobody improved.
“I don’t want to be P2. I want to be P1!” he said on the radio, per Sky Sports.
Afterwards he was calmer, but clear. “That was definitely the pole lap. Misjudgement on our side,” he said. “It’s not my engineer’s fault. He’s relaying information.”
It might not have mattered. Russell already had a five-place penalty, so even pole would have meant starting sixth. He starts seventh.
Antonelli, now the world champion, was third and moves up to the front row. He admitted he “made a big mistake, almost went off in Turn 5”.
Who has grid penalties
All five are for going over their allowance of engine parts:
- George Russell (Mercedes): five places. Second to seventh.
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): 10 places. Fourth to 14th.
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): back of the grid. An engine problem in final practice meant a whole new power unit. Starts 20th.
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull): back of the grid, after a new power unit. Starts 21st.
- Sergio Perez (Cadillac): back of the grid. Starts 22nd.
That pushes the midfield way up. Lawson starts third, his joint career best. Nico Hulkenberg starts fourth for Audi. Isack Hadjar is the lead Red Bull in fifth, and Oliver Bearman starts sixth for Haas.
Fernando Alonso got the Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time this season. Albon made his first Q3 of a tough year. Camara starts 11th on his debut, despite the crash.
What to watch in the race
The weather. Pirelli gives a 60% chance of rain. Norris wants it. “I’ll certainly be happier if I wake up and see rain in the morning,” he said. In the dry, Mercedes looked quicker all weekend.
Mercedes can win the teams’ title on Sunday. Antonelli already won the drivers’ title in Mexico. Mercedes will seal the constructors’ title too if it outscores Ferrari by three points or more. With both Ferraris starting 14th and 20th, the odds are good.
The comeback drives. Verstappen and Hamilton start at the back of a track where overtaking is possible. Verstappen won from 17th in the rain here in 2024.
Russell on the charge. He thinks his pace “along with Lando’s, was by far the best out there”. From seventh, he’ll want to prove it.
Lawson and the midfield. Third on the grid is a huge chance for Racing Bulls. Holding off two Mercedes and a McLaren is another story.
The race starts at 14:00 local time (17:00 UTC) on Sunday.
