Lando Norris came through a red-flag strewn Sunday
morning qualifying to grab pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix while his
title rival Max Verstappen fell foul of the timing of Lance Stroll’s red and
was eliminated in Q2.
Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Fernando
Alonso and Alex Albon all brought out the red flags as they crashed in the wet.
Lewis Hamilton eliminated at the first hurdle
Sunday morning qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix
began… and let’s take a moment to appreciate that. Anyway, it began on a
wet Interlagos
circuit but it was by no means Saturday’s deluge although with heavier
rain forecast – and the possibility of red flags – the drivers lined up at the
end of the pit lane minutes before Q1 went green with Alex Albon leading the
way.
Liam Lawson was the first spinner of the morning, followed
by Zhou Guanyu, and Lance Stroll had two offs while Carlos Sainz and George
Russell had a close call as the Ferrari driver dived up the inside of the
Mercedes who had been holding him up.
The great leveller in Formula 1, Yuki Tsunoda was P1 ahead
of Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon when Franco Colapinto spun hard into the
Turn 3 barrier and brought out the red flags. The medical car was deployed but
the Argentinean did climb out of the Williams unaided. “Sorry mate,” he said to
his mechanics who had a fair amount of work ahead before the 12:30PM Grand Prix
start.
As heavier 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 while Russell was off the
track before returning to the racing line right in front of Albon, who had
moved up seventh. He jumped to second on his next lap, pushing Hamilton back
into the drop zone. Hamilton briefly made it out only to be pushed back in by
Lando Norris. “Damn car!” said Hamilton.
Oliver Bearman, Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou were
eliminated along with Hamilton. Max Verstappen was quickest with a 1:28.5,
ahead of Albon and Russell.
Max Verstappen out in Q2 after Lance Stroll crash
With no rain falling for about eight minutes, most of the
drivers went out on the full wets before Oscar Piastri opted for the
intermediate Pirellis. Max Verstappen laid down a 1:27.7 on the wet tyres with
Piastri forth, 1.1s down. But as he learned where the grip was, the McLaren
driver upped his pace to a 1:27.1.
Russell wasn’t having as much luck on the inters as he went
spinning, but for Sainz it was a crash. He lost it at and went sideways into
the barrier between the Senna S and the pit lane. Moments before Piastri had
gone quicker still, a 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 at the
restart and went third fastest but his rivals were also improving. Fernando
Alonso went P1, Norris went faster, and Lance Stroll crashed at Turn 3. Out
came the red flag, and Verstappen was caught out! Bottas, Verstappen, Perez,
Sainz and Gasly were eliminated.
Lando Norris on pole, reds for Alonso and Albon
Q3 began with light rain falling over the Interlagos
circuit, McLaren warning Norris that the first five minutes of the session
would have the better conditions as heavier rain was forecast. Piastri set the
benchmark time, a 1:26.0 but that was beaten by Norris by four-tenths.
As the timesheets swung back-and-forth Ocon went quickest,
then Piastri, then Albon, and Norris. The benchmark was down to a 1:24.1 when
the red flags were out again, this time for Alonso who was nose first in the
barrier.
As the marshals continued to repair the barrier, Russell left the Mercedes garage four minutes before the restart to head the queue ahead of Norris. Back underway, Russell struggled to stay on the track, Piastri and Tsunoda spun, and Albon had a huge crash to bring out the fifth red.
.webp)
