Lando Norris has made it two poles out of two in Sao Paulo. The championship leader recovered from an early Q3 lockup to take pole by 0.174s. Having enlarged his championship lead earlier in the sprint, Norris is now perfectly poised to stamp his authority on this world championship.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Norris, having shown impressive pace all weekend, Kimi Antonelli sanded off the rough edges and delivered when it mattered most. The teenager will line up second for the grand prix, his best qualifying performance to date.
Charles Leclerc was another man on form, after an initial run just 0.002s off provisional pole, Leclerc briefly went fastest at the end of the session. He may have been outdone by Norris and Antonelli, but Leclerc has a good chance of adding to his podium tally on Sunday.
After crashing out in the sprint, Oscar Piastri was once again unable to match his teammate. He may have gone quickest in the early stages of Q3, but by the time Norris got a representative lap on the board, Piastri was unable to respond. His best lap left him a daunting 0.375s adrift in fourth.
In a bizarre turn of events, Racing Bulls appeared to have the measure of the senior team in qualifying. Isack Hadjar secured fifth, a result that will aid his pursuit of a Red Bull seat. George Russell will line up sixth, having been unable to match his teammate for pace ahead of Liam Lawson and Ollie Bearman. Fresh off a career-best fourth-place finish in Mexico, Bearman equalled his best qualifying performance with eighth, one place ahead of Pierre Gasly, who made Q3 for the first time since Silverstone.
Nico Hulkenberg recovered from his sprint race shunt with a controlled drive to tenth, while Fernando Alonso was “not comfortable in the cockpit” and could only manage 11th. Having struggled with setup issues all weekend, Alex Albon admitted to not having found the ideal operating window. He will start 12th ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who reported rear instability and tire issues in qualifying. Lance Stroll qualified 15th ahead of Carlos Sainz and the session's biggest surprise: Max Verstappen. A new setup, inadequate grip, and subsequent loss of confidence meant the world champion failed to get out of Q1 for the first time since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. He may have won from 17th on the grid in Sao Paulo last year, but with heavy rain not expected on race day and Norris on pole, this could mark the end of Verstappen’s shaky championship hopes.
Esteban Ocon in 17th was once again unable to contend with his teammate’s one-lap pace. Franco Colapinto will start 18th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who underlined Red Bull’s drop off in pace and mentioned issues with tyre warmup.
Gabriel Bortoleto did not contest qualifying. After a heavy crash in the sprint race, the Sauber mechanics were unable to fix the car in time for the session.
It is unquestionably advantage Norris in the title race, but with light drizzle expected on Sunday, Interlagos looks set to deliver yet another absorbing grand prix.
