Lando Norris took home the victory in the F1 Sprint race Saturday morning at Interlagos.
But the big points in São Paulo are handed out tomorrow.
Norris’ win in the F1 Sprint race at the São Paulo Grand Prix — coming as teammate and Drivers’ Championship rival Oscar Piastri crashed in the early going — extended his lead over Piastri to nine points. Norris now leads the way with 365 points, followed by Piastri in second with 356. Max Verstappen finished fourth in the F1 Sprint race to pick up five points, increasing his season tally to 326.
Norris has a bit of momentum as qualifying looms, coming off a win in both the Mexico City Grand Prix as well as the F1 Sprint race at Interlagos.
Now we will see if Piastri can respond.
The Australian driver, who led the Drivers’ Championship for 15 races until Norris regained the lead after the Mexico City Grand Prix, has endured a difficult stretch over the past month. After winning the Dutch Grand Prix, Piastri finished third at Monza. From there, he crashed out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, crashed out of the F1 Sprint race in Austin, and as noted above, crashed out in São Paulo earlier today.
He left Zandvoort with a 34-point lead over Norris, and a 104-point lead over Verstappen. Since then, Verstappen has closed to within 30 points of him, and Norris has taken the Drivers’ Championship lead.
But the team to watch just might be Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli finished second, and George Russell finished third, in the F1 Sprint race earlier today. The Silver Arrows are locked in a three-way fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship, and might be on the front foot this weekend in Brazil.
Follow along as the grid is set for the São Paulo Grand Prix.
São Paulo Grand Prix provisional grid
Here is the provisional starting order for the São Paulo Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the session.
Row |
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Position |
Driver |
Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Row 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Row 3 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Row 4 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Row 5 | 9 | 10 | ||||
| Row 6 | 11 | 12 | ||||
| Row 7 | 13 | 14 | ||||
| Row 8 | 15 | 16 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | ||
| Row 9 | 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 18 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine |
| Row 10 | 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 20 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber |
São Paulo Grand Prix qualifying
Follow along here as qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix unfolds.
The start of qualifying was delayed by five minutes as race officials made repairs to the barriers following a crash in a support race, which was welcome news down at the Sauber garage. After Nico Hülkenberg’s crash early in the F1 Sprint race and Gabriel Bortoleto’s hard shunt in the closing laps, the team was furiously repairing Hülkenberg’s car while building a new one using the backup chassis for Bortoleto.
When the session began, it was the Williams pair of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Alexander Albon on the track first, followed by none other than Hülkenberg. Sauber had managed to get his C45 ready for the start of Q1, while they continued to work on Bortoleto’s challenger.
Those were just installation laps for the Williams duo, as both Sainz and Albon returned to the pits rather than attempt a push lap.
Hülkenberg then returned to pit lane himself, with Sauber likely wanting to confirm that the repairs were in working order.
Lap times started to come in, with Liam Lawson leading the way early. Piastri’s first lap came on a set of used soft tires, and a lockup at Turn 1 hampered the entire lap; his initial effort was only good for P7. As additional times came in, Piastri’s time tumbled down the order, and he was soon shuffled down to P12.
Norris, however, delivered a strong opening gambit as he went purple through all three sectors and jumped to the top of the table with a 1:10.404 effort.
Verstappen’s first effort was only good enough for P4, as he was behind Norris, Lawson, and Oliver Bearman.
He was then dropped to fifth, as Lewis Hamilton rocketed to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:10.233.
Down at Sauber, the mechanics continued to work on Bortoleto’s C45, but time was running out.
As the clock struck ten minutes remaining, Bortloleto remained in the garage, and in the drop zone. Down in the bottom five with him? Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, and none other than Piastri, whose opening lap was eventually dropped down to P18.
But there was time to be found on the circuit, evidenced by a lap from Bearman that came in at 1:09.891, putting the Haas rookie into P1 for the moment. That was probably a welcome sight for Piastri, whose second attempt clocked in at 1:09.928, sliding him into P2 behind Bearman.
That lap was one of several that dropped Verstappen into the elimination zone, as the four-time Drivers’ Champion was sitting in P16 with six minutes remaining in Q1. Verstappen found some clear air on his next push lap as he had Interlagos largely to himself, and his second lap of Q1 clocked in at 1:10.727.
Which kept him in P16, in the elimination zone along with Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Tsunoda, and Bortoleto.
“Oh my god mate, the car and the ride is a tiny bit better but now sliding in Turn 1,” reported Verstappen over the radio as he crawled back around the circuit.
As the final push laps were posted, Norris went back to P1, going purple once more through all three sectors with a 1:09.656. Lance Stroll jumped into P5 with a solid lap, and a strong effort from Isack Hadjar put him into P7.
Hadjar was dropped down to P7 when Charles Leclerc cut the beam with a lap good enough for P4.
Then Verstappen finished his final push lap, and as Alex Jacques noted, the “day of shocks continues,” as his lap was only good enough for P16.
Verstappen had been eliminated, along with Ocon, Colapinto, Tsunoda, and Bortoleto, as the Sauber crew could not make the repairs in time.
If it is any solace for Verstappen, he won in the rain from P17 at Interlagos a year ago.
At the front end, a stunning lap from Gasly saw him finish Q1 in P2. Norris led the way, followed by Gasly, Bearman, Piastri, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Stroll, Hadjar, and Lawson to round out the top ten.
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