McLaren’s Lando Norris topped qualifying at Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix while Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 after the controversial timing of one of the wet session’s many red flags.
George Russell will start second for this afternoon’s brought-forward race for Mercedes, with Yuki Tsunoda third for RB as Verstappen’s engine-change grid penalty means he will start 17th – behind Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in Q1.
In Q3, Norris led with a 1m25.631s after the first runs on the intermediate tyres, with the cars fuelled to run long as the teams expected the fluctuating rain to intensify again.
He improved this to a 1m24.158s to head Williams’ Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren, before Fernando Alonso became the second Aston Martin driver of the session to crash out – the Spaniard losing his car through the plunging Turn 11 left at the end of the middle sector.
The drivers lined up to try again with seven minutes left on the clock and their first efforts back on track did not yield improvements as they built tyre temperature – Russell, Piastri and Tsunoda all having moments, the latter two spinning.
But before any purple sectors could be registered, Albon crashed hard at Turn 1 – appearing to brake on the wet white line while also wondering if he had a brake problem. A spin into the barriers wrecked the rear of his Williams and causing a fifth red flag.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Afterwards, the teams took two different approaches, with the McLarens fuelled to do two laps and improving the pole time with both – first to a 1m24.092s and then finally to a 1m23.405s.
Piastri did not improve on his first go and then locked up at Turn 1 and went off on his final lap, which meant the drivers that were kept in the garage for extra time with their inters in the tyre blankets and time for just one run, were able to gain.
First Liam Lawson got up to second before he was shuffled down to fifth by Tsunoda and Norris, while Esteban Ocon – a two-lap runner for the final efforts – snuck into fourth for Alpine.
Charles Leclerc ended up sixth as the lead Ferrari having got to Turn 1 with a yellow flag activated for Piastri’s off on his final lap, with Albon nudged down to seventh but still ahead of Piastri.
The crashed Astons of Alonso and Lance Stroll ended up with the ninth and 10th slots – the latter not taking part in Q3 due to his early incident in Q2.
That was a momentous mini-session for the title contenders, as Norris sat 11th and on the verge of a shock exit when Carlos Sainz crashing at Turn 1 imperilled his progress – Norris having also struggled on the full wets used in Q1, before Piastri led the switch to inters in the middle segment.
But Norris was able to gain on his first lap out of the pits on the inters when Q2 resumed and then go even quicker, while Verstappen did not improve and along with his team-mate, Sergio Perez, was shuffled down into the drop zone.
Both Red Bull drivers were then caught on the wrong side of a second red flag called with less than a minute less – caused by Stroll crashing at Turn 3.
In one of the many subsequent delays, Verstappen fumed to reporters about the timing of the Stroll stoppage. But even if a red flag had been called within five-seconds of the incident occurring he still would have been out in 11th thanks to a Leclerc improvement seconds after the crash and without enough time to complete a final lap due to Red Bull’s pit box position at the start of pitlane.
The Stroll red flag also eliminated Valtteri Bottas in 11th – the Finn’s best qualifying result since he was 10th in China – the already out Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Verstappen led Q1, where Franco Colapinto crashed halfway through, which meant a tricky end to the session for the rest as the rain increased and the times only really began to improve right at the end.
Norris squeaked through in 15th, while Lawson’s late improvement knocked out Hamilton, who was furious with “this damn car”.
Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg also failed to progress in a session when Bottas had made an unsuccessful switch to inters before the red flag. Bottas’ team-mate Zhou Guanyu had the chance to knock out Norris but the Sauber driver’s final lap was only good enough for last.
