SAO PAULO – Lando Norris took pole position in the sprint race in Brazil in what he hopes will be a weekend to take control of the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.
Norris’ lap of 1:09.243 was enough to start Saturday’s race at the front of the grid, 0.097 seconds ahead of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and 0.185 quicker than his McLaren teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri.
Norris took the championship lead from Piastri with a dominant win at the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago and looks to be the one to beat again this weekend.
There is one point between them in the championship standings. Points are distributed to the top eight finishers in an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 format, so the chance of building a significant gap may be slim if they both finish, but with only four races remaining, every increase in points is invaluable.
“It’s been a little tougher than I would have liked,” Norris told Sky Sports. “It’s close to a lot of cars. Mercedes is fast on the soft. But it’s always difficult when you have the medium and the soft and you know how much to push.”
“But we did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. Harder than Mexico. I didn’t feel completely comfortable, but so it’s a great result.”
Max Verstappen, considered an outsider to the title race, only managed to finish sixth in a disappointing result for anyone hoping to see the Red Bull driver close the 36-point gap to Norris this weekend.
“The car is completely broken down, it can’t be driven,” the four-time world champion complained at one point.
Verstappen will be hoping the rain forecast for Saturday – Interlagos is where he made one of the greatest drives of the modern era last year in a topsy-turvy race held in wet conditions – will hold true.
Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will start in the grid slots between Piastri and Verstappen.
Ferrari endured another downturn session, with Charles Leclerc qualifying eighth behind Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll.
Lewis Hamilton was unable to pass the middle qualifying session, qualifying 11th on the track, and dramatically winning the first of seven Drivers’ Championships in 2008.
Hamilton escaped a grid penalty for failing to slow down for a yellow wave during the session – the stewards later accepted that the nearest light panel to Hamilton “had only been lit for a split second” before he passed it, meaning he avoided falling further onto the grid.
Racing Bulls driver Isak Hajar, nominated for this season’s Rookie of the Year award, qualified ninth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who set Sauber’s pace promising a place in the final qualifying session.
Hulkenberg’s teammate, Gabriel Bortoletto, is the home favorite this weekend but failed to join Hulkenberg in SQ2, having to settle for 14th behind Hamilton, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly. Mexican Grand Prix standout Oliver Biermann qualified 15th for Haas.
Friday began for Franco Colapinto by confirming that he will continue racing in the Alps in 2026, ending months of speculation about his future – but he was unable to progress through SQ1.
Pressured Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, who took a break in testing several hours ago, also failed to reach 18th place behind Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.
“We paid a little for the time lost on the track this morning,” Red Bull coach Laurent Mekes told Sky Sports after the session. “You lose some confidence because of the lack of running, and then you don’t get a clean training session.”
Tsunoda replaced Lawson earlier this year, but one of them looks set to be the odd man out at Red Bull with the company keen to promote Hager to the first team and young F2 driver Arvid Lindblad to Racing Bulls next year.
Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz will start from the back row of the grid.