#F1 #BrazilGP: @LandoNorris clinches pole in dramatic #SaoPauloGP qualifying.
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 03: Pole position qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 03, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Norris Brazil GP Pole – McLaren’s Lando Norris clinched a crucial pole position in an action-packed qualifying session at the Brazil GP, which featured five red flags and saw championship leader Max Verstappen eliminated in Q2 in 12th but will start the Grand Prix 17th due to a five grid-placed penalty due to a new Internal Combustion Engine.
In Q3 with the threat of more rain looming, Norris was on top in the initial flyers, in-front of team-mate Piastri – then Tsunoda who was having a stellar session.
Piastri then hit the top with a 1:24.686 effort before Albon trounced the McLaren on a 1:24.657 – then Norris planted a 1:24.158 to go quickest after setting two personal bests and a purple final sector.
The session was red flagged with six minutes and 59 seconds remaining after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso suffered a shunt.
Replays showed the Spaniard lost grip with the rear, as the back of his AMR24 racer slid away from him and darted into the wall. The car was damaged on both the front and rear.
After the session resumed from a short delay after Alonso’s AMR24 was cleared, after their warm up laps, Russell suffered a big moment out of turn one, then slid wide and aborted his hot-lap.
Behind the Briton, Piastri suffered a spin out of the turn three exit before RB’s Yuki Tsunoda also done so at turn four and both managed to get going.
Williams’ Alexander Albon brought out another red flag with three minutes and 31 minutes remaining after suffering a wobble out of turn one, lost the rear and hit the wall damaging both the front and rear of his FW46 racer.
When the session got going, Ocon on his flying lap suffered a lock-up into turn one and had to prepare for one last go.
Norris improved after a yellow sector one, but two purples saw the Briton go even quicker with a 1:24.092.
Behind him, team-mate Piastri suffered a lock-up into the first corner, so his session was done. Leclerc got hit with a brief yellow and had to slow down after Piastri’s lock-up.
RB’s Liam Lawson shot to second place with a 1:24.482 effort then was demoted by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s 1:24.411.
Norris was flying once again and lowered the benchmark to a 1:23.405 to score his fifth pole in seven races.
Russell was next and pushed to snatch second off Tsunoda with his 1:23.578.
Ocon’s final flying tour saw him split the RB pairing of Tsunoda and Lawson to grab fourth as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended up sixth.
The aforementioned Williams of Albon was seventh with the race on to get his FW46 entry to be ready in time for the Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Piastri ended down in a low-eighth after his mistakes as the aforementioned Aston Martin of Alonso and Lance Stroll who crashed in Q2 rounded out the top ten.
In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Norris, the session ended under a red flag with 46 seconds remaining after Aston Martin’s Stroll spun after dipping his rear left wheel in the standing water out of the Senna S complex and spun across the track and hit the barriers front on.
Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas ended up outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of championship leader Max Verstappen who was the shock eliminatee and caught out to not finish his flyer. The Dutchman qualified 12th but is demoted to 17th on the grid for the race due to his five grid-placed penalty for putting in a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE).
The other Red Bull entry of Sergio Perez was also eliminated in 13th as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz wounded up 14th and was the first red flag of the Q2 session after losing the rear out of the first corner and whacked the barriers into turn two damaging the rear of his SF-24 racer.
BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15th.
In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, a late improvement from Lawson sent Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton miss out on a Q2 appearance by 0.206 seconds meaning the seven-time world champion will start 16th on the grid for today’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Both MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg were surprisingly knocked out in 17th and 19th respectively as Williams’ Franco Colapinto split the duo. Colapinto brought out the session’s red flag with eight minutes and 50 seconds remaining after crashing out after tapping the slippery kerbs out of the Senna S complex and spinning into the barriers.
Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu brought up the rear and could not improve on his flyer.
You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1249/brazil/qualifying
2024 Brazil GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2024 Brazil GP Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 1:23.405:
“There was a lot going on today, but super, super happy. I was struggling a lot at the beginning so to end up on pole… I worked on it a lot. A little surprised again to be on pole, but some nice laps. I felt good at the end and a good result for us. You are always trying to find that next little bit, but you saw people going off and crashing, that risk – reward was not easy today. So it is a relief.”
2nd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15 – 1:23.578:
“Sao Paulo has great memories from a few years ago. Really pleased to be lining up P2. I loved this, reminded me of the karting days – waking up and eating breakfast in your race suit before going out and driving.”
3rd Place – Yuki Tsunoda, #22, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team, Honda-RBPT, VCARB01 – 1:24.111:
“Very tricky but I enjoyed it. We had good pace straight away, a couple of mistakes but some luck as well and with Liam, a good result for the team. This track is one of the trickiest tracks, you can build confidence and start to push but you’ll have a big consequence like we saw with some of the others. I had one big moment but yeah…”
