Norris adds to Verstappen’s woes in a wild qualifying session

Lando Norris cruised through red-flag-strewn Sunday morning qualifying to take pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix, while his title rival Max Verstappen missed Lance Stroll’s red card and was eliminated in Q2.

Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon all showed red flags after colliding in the wet.

Lewis Hamilton was eliminated at the first hurdle

Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix began on Sunday morning… let’s take a moment to appreciate it. Anyway, it started on a wet surface Interlagos track but it was by no means Saturday’s downpour, although more rain was forecast and the possibility of red flags – drivers lined up at the end of the pit lane minutes before Q1 turned green, with Alex Albon taking the lead.

Liam Lawson was the first rider this morning, followed by Zhou Guanyu, while Lance Stroll had two crashes, while Carlos Sainz and George Russell were close when the Ferrari driver jumped inside the Mercedes holding him.

Yuki Tsunoda, the great equalizer in Formula 1, was P1 ahead of Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon when Franco Colapinto hit the barrier hard at Turn 3 and drew red flags. A medical car was sent to the scene, but the Argentine got out of the Williams on his own. “Sorry, man,” he said to his mechanics, who had a lot of work ahead of them before the Grand Prix started at 12:30.

As heavy rain began to fall during the red flag period, the drivers lined up again in the pit lane, with Albon, Zhou, Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the drop zone.

Hamilton improved but only to 14th position while Russell was off the track before returning to the race line just ahead of Albon who advanced in seventh position. On the next lap he jumped into second place, pushing Hamilton back into the drop zone. Hamilton managed to briefly get out of the race, but Lando Norris pushed him back in. “Damn car!” Hamilton said.

Oliver Bearman, Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou were eliminated along with Hamilton. Max Verstappen was fastest with a time of 1:28.5, ahead of Albon and Russell.

F1 2024: The season that keeps on giving

Updated driver and constructor rankings after the Brazilian GP sprint

F1 2024: Statistics of head-to-head races between team members

Max Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 after Lance Stroll crashed

With no rain falling for about eight minutes, most drivers went out in full wet conditions before Oscar Piastri opted for Pirellis intermediate tires. Max Verstappen clocked 1:27.7 on wet tires, with Piastri fourth, 1.1 seconds behind. But once he found out where the grip was, the McLaren driver accelerated to 1:27.1.

Russell wasn’t as lucky in the transitions as he was turning, but for Sainz it was a disaster. He lost his balance and sideways hit the barrier between Senna S and the pit lane. A moment earlier, Piastri went even faster, with a time of 1:25.1. Norris, Pierre Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon were in the drop zone.

Norris led the remaining 14 drivers out of the pits after the restart and was third fastest, but his rivals were also making progress. Fernando Alonso took first place, Norris went faster and Lance Stroll crashed in Turn 3. The red flag was raised and Verstappen was caught! Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and Gasly were eliminated.

Lando Norris on pole, red for Alonso and Albon

The third session started with light rain falling on the Interlagos track. McLaren warned Norris that the first five minutes of the session would be in better conditions as heavier rainfall was forecast. Piastri set the benchmark time of 1:26.0, but Norris beat it by four tenths.

As the time charts went back and forth, Ocon was fastest, then Piastri, then Albon and Norris. When the red flags went off again, the benchmark was 1:24.1, this time for Alonso, who touched the barrier first.

While the stewards continued to repair the barrier, Russell left the Mercedes garage four minutes before the restart to queue in front of Norris. Back on the road, Russell struggled to stay on track, Piastri and Tsunoda spun and Albon had a serious crash to pick up his fifth red card.

He lost it at the end of the straight at Turn 1, his Williams hitting the barrier hard before bouncing off and scattering carbon fiber everywhere. The back of the car was smashed and the sides weren’t in much better condition. “Did the brakes fail?” he asked, then told Williams everything was fine. He was P2 at the time of the accident.

Returning to the track after three minutes, McLaren warned interim pole sitter Norris: “If conditions get slower, just be sensible. The race will take place in a few hours. Norris accelerated to 1:24.092, Piastri locked up and went off the track and those behind them set personal bests… Liam Lawson was second but was passed by VCARB teammate Yuki Tsunoda before Russell beat them both and Ocona share them.

Norris took pole position with a time of 1:23.405, 0.173 seconds over Russell, with Tsunoda third, ahead of Ocon and Lawson.

Times

1 Lando Norris 1:23.405
2 George Russell +0.173
3 Yuki Tsunoda +0.709
4 Esteban Ocon +1,070
5 Liam Lawson +1,079
6 Karol Leclerc +1.120
7 Alex Albon +1,252
8 Oskar Piastri +1.281
9 Fernando Alonso +5,593
10 Lance Stroll has no time

11 Valtteri Bottas 1:26.472
12 Max Verstappen 1:27.771
13 Sergio Perez 1:28.158
14 Carlos Sainz 1:29.406
15 Pierre Gasly 1:29.614

16 Lewis Hamilton 1:31.150
17 Oliver Bearman 1:31.229
18 Franco Colapinto 1:31.270
19 Nico Hulkenberg 1:31.623
20 Zhou Guanyu 1:32.263

Read further: Max Verstappen declares F1 “a championship, not a church” on the issue of Norris’s friendship.