Lando Norris will have a golden opportunity to eat into his 44-point deficit to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship later today, with the McLaren driver starting what promises to be a wet and wild Brazilian Grand Prix from pole and his title rival down in 17th place on the grid.
A dramatic, crash-strewn, rain-soaked qualifying session – which began at 7.30am local time after torrential rain at Interlagos forced an overnight postponement – ended in bitter frustration for Verstappen. Red Bull’s triple world champion was unable to complete his final flying lap in Q2 after a prang involving Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll brought out red flags with just seconds remaining.
Verstappen was lying 12th at the time. Combined with a five-place grid penalty for a switch of internal combustion engine earlier in the weekend, it means he will line up 17th for this afternoon’s grand prix, although he could yet rise a few places given the number of teams making last-minute repairs to their cars.
Either way, he was furious afterwards, saying it was “bulls—” that it had taken “30-40 seconds” for the red flags to come out, time which might have allowed him to get another lap in.
You could see what his early exit meant to everyone at Red Bull, Verstappen banging his steering wheel in frustration, his father Jos Verstappen looking apoplectic and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase holding his head in his hands on the pit wall.
Verstappen should have plenty of opportunities to overtake in the race. Interlagos is one of the easier tracks at which to pass. But it is also one of the most dangerous, particularly in the wet, with little visibility and lots of nervous drivers.
Qualifying was absolute carnage. There were five crashes in total, bringing out five red flags, a new Formula One record Norris ended up taking pole, just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, but the 24 year-old also endured some nervous moments.
He only just scraped through to Q2 after an earlier crash involving Williams’ up-and-coming star Franco Colapinto caused a delay. By the time the drivers were sent back out, the rain had got heavier, leading to some nervous moments for those in the drop zone. That included both Mercedes drivers and, for a time, Norris.
The McLaren driver just about squeaked home in 15th, one place above Hamilton, who looked to be suffering with confidence issues as he went over two seconds slower than his team mate Russell in the same conditions.
Afterwards, Hamilton called the car “undriveable” but for a man once known as the king of wet weather conditions, this result will have felt mortifying. It was Hamilton’s second Q1 exit in three races and he now trails his team mate 16-5 in qualifying this season.
The fact that Russell went on to take second on the grid will only compound Hamilton’s frustration. It is Norris and Verstappen, though, on whom all eyes will be concentrated, on what could prove to be a defining day in the title race.
“I’m super, super happy,” Norris admitted. “To end up on pole, I’m a little surprised but that final lap felt good.”
Asked about his chances of victory, he added: “It’s never easy in these conditions. We’ll see. Hopefully we can get a race in. That would be a start.”
Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1min 23.405secs
George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:23.578
Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:24.111
Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:24.475
Liam Lawson (Nzl) RB 1:24.484
Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:24.525
Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:24.657
Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:24.686
Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:28.998
Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin No Time Set
Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1:26.472
Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:27.771
Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:28.158
Carlos Sainz Jr (Spa) Ferrari 1:29.406
Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:29.614
Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:31.150
Oliver Bearman (Gbr) Haas F1 1:31.229
Franco Colapinto (Arg) Williams 1:31.270
Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 1:31.623
Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber 1:32.263
So just under three hours for those teams to make those repairs. I would be surprised if they all make it to the grid, especially Albon. We will fire up the blog again in around 90 minutes or so and bring you any updates from that. This could be a race for the ages.
Aston Martin: Stroll and Alonso
Williams: Albon and Colapinto
Ferrari: Sainz
Only Colapinto is behind Verstappen’s provisional grid slot of 17th so there’s a good chance he will move up one way or another.
“Our focus now is on the race. What’s happened happened. These things are on a knife’s edge. Lando was nearly out in Q1 and has done a good job in the end there in Q3. At least we’ve got two cars in one piece in the garage. There’s a lot of teams that have got a [lot of work to do]. Let’s hope we get a race. There’s still a lot that can happen, the day’s not over yet.”
“It’s hugely frustrating. A session like that there’s a huge amount going on. Don’t understand why it took so long for the red flag to come out… 40 seconds it took to throw the red flag. It’s the second day in a row that we’ve had very late calls. The other red flags were all instantaneous. Very, very harsh but it is what it is. We will have to try to fight back this afternoon.
“All you’ve gt to do is focus on the safety. It’s not about cars finishing laps or not. As soon as you have an accident like that [you have to put out the red flag]. Lance Stroll wasn’t trying to get that car going again, it was screwed! It was in the middle of the track there at turn three, that’s a red flag. Unfortunately we’ve fallen on the wrong side of it today, but it’s a tough one.”
“It was very tricky. Certainly I enjoyed it. I think we had a good pace from straight away.. had a couple of mistakes but had a luck as well. I think as a team, including Liam as well, we did a good job. This track especially is one of the trickiest tracks. Once you build confidence and try to push a bit you have massive consequences as we saw today. I felt much better than yesterday, the car felt good. I think we had good pace in the race as well.”
“Really pleased to be lining up P2. I loved it. It reminded me of the karting days, waking up and having breakfast in your race suit and just going out there and driving. It was a great session but let’s see what we can do in the race.”
“It was a lot going on today. But super, super happy because I was struggling a lot at the beginning of qualifying. I was not comfortable at all. I worked at it a lot in qualifying. A little surprised to be on pole but some nice laps, it felt good in the end. It felt good for us.
“You are always trying to find that next little bit. You saw how many people were going off and crashing. It’s easy to do something badly… end up in the wall.”
That could be crucial in their fight with Haas ahead in the constructors’… Haas qualified down in 17th and 19th.
NOR 1:23.405
RUS +0.173
TSU +0.706
OCO +1.070
LAW +1.079
LEC +1.120
ALB +1.252
PIA +1.281
ALO +5.593
STR (NO TIME)
One hour and 44 minutes after the session began we have a pole sitter! It’s Lando Norris again and this is an enormous boost for his championship hopes with Verstappen down the grid.
Russell second, Tsunoda third and Ocon fourth.
Ocon goes third to split the RBs! Norris improves by 0.687sec…. and stays fastest.
Can Russell beat it? No! Second!
Leclerc only sixth! He had to lift off after Piastri went off.
Piastri will be eighth… he aborts his final lap.
Not massively but this next lap will be crucial. Piastri doesn’t threaten the front row, he doesn’t improve. He has another chance but blows that by locking up heavily at turn one! He does well to keep it out of the barriers but will be third at best…
Lawson improves to the front row! Will he stay there? No! Tsunoda beats him and narrowly misses out on pole.
Ocon locks up at turn one and this lap will not be an improvement. Norris does his best first sector time. Most drivers will get a chance to do two hot laps. The two RBs and Russell will have only one lap.
Norris was warned about keeping it out of the barriers if conditions were worse. They do not seem to be… the track is improving judging by the timing screens. Norris up on his previous best lap…
Just a few minutes left on the clock. Can anyone beat Norris? Can everyone keep it on the black stuff and out of the barriers?
I don’t think the conditions have been treacherous but this is a track that promotes mistakes and the barriers are close in at plenty of the corners.
Only seven cars will be able to take part… will they all make it to the end of the session?
No word on a restart yet.
So plenty of time for more laps. What could have been a front-row start for Williams… well, who knows what it is going to be now?
All of these crashes of drivers ahead of him… there may well be some penalties and some drivers simply not able to take to the grid.
Albon says he’s OK.
The medical car is at the scene of the crash and Albon is getting out of the car quite gingerly. He lost the rear end under braking at turn one.
“Did the brakes fail?” he says. The rears locked and into the barriers he went…
Tsunoda has stopped at turn four but eventually gets going… Norris’s first lap is about a second off his previous best. Leclerc posted a good sector one but nearly lost the rear end.
Albon has crashed at the start of the lap! Turn one in fact? Another big crash and that is going to be a nightmare for the Williams mechanics. He was on for a front row start. Will he even be able to take part?
It’s another red flag…
Eight cars out there after the crashes of Stroll in Q2 but finished 10th and Alonso, in Q3.
Russell runs off the track at turn five. Piastri has spun. Perhaps taking a little while for the tyres to reach temperature again even though it hasn’t rained since the red flag came out.
Just under seven minutes to go and George Russell leads them away. Can anyone dislodge Norris in this time?
That is the message to Lando Norris. We are going to restart Q3 in 90 seconds.
If you don’t like this then you don’t like F1.
Q3 will resume in just under three minutes.
So a good amount of time for several laps when we resume. However, the conditions might not help drivers trying to improve.
Albon on for a front-row start here…
NOR 1:24.158
ALB +0.499
PIA +0.528
OCO +0.927
RUS +1.527
LEC +1.860
TSU +1.878
LAW +4.193
ALO +4.840
STR (NO TIME)
Alonso spun at Mergulho and in fact went in rear right first before smashing the front. That could be a gearbox change. This grid is going to be a mess, I feel.
That’s two Aston Martins who have binned it in qualifying. Damage to the front of Alonso and the rear of Stroll’s car. With all these crashes Verstappen might well end up starting a few places higher in practice if some of these cars cannot be repaired in time.
Ocon on his second lap goes fastest but can Piastri beat that? He can, by four-tenths. Over to you Lando… Albon then goes fastest but Norris beats that by half a second.
Yellow flags again… red flag in fact. Alonso has stopped and is in the wall!
The two McLarens are coming up next. Piastri with a 1:26.099. Norris beats that by nearly half a second. Good stuff but plenty of drivers left to go. Lawson fourth, Alonso fifth. Russell struggling in the middle sector on intermediates.
Tsunoda splits the McLarens!
10 minutes, 10 drivers and one man on pole.
“It’s just the car hits the wall it needs to be straight red. I don’t understand why they need to wait 30, 40 seconds. Honestly, I’ll let it go. It’s so stupid anyway to talk about – it’s ridiculous.”
“I think if it keeps raining like this we should just stay out,” he says.
…and he got to choose the track and the conditions, he would probably pick “Interlagos” and “raining”. Still, back there can be a very tricky place to be in tough conditions with very low visibility.
Of course, Norris might end up starting in 10th anyway. But let’s wait and see.
“That must have felt excruciating for Lewis Hamilton exiting in Q1 for the second time in three races. Hamilton is rated as one of the greatest wet weather drivers in history. He called the car ‘undriveable’ afterwards but Russell managed to go 2sec quicker in the same car/conditions.”
NOR 1:24.844
ALO +0.191
PIA +0.335
LAW +0.810
ALB +1.045
LEC +1.253
OCO +1.362
RUS +1.463
STR +1.490
TSU +1.620
ELIMINATED:
BOT
VER
PER
SAI
GAS
Understandable. Verstappen didn’t seem to be improving but that was probably because he had to back off because of Stroll’s crash in any case. Stroll, despite that crash, has made it through to Q3 but will take no further part in it. I don’t think the repair job on the Aston Martin is as big as Ferrari’s.
This could be big for the championship!
Stroll cannot get going again! Verstappen is out!
12th place and he will start the race in 17th! Norris is into the top 10.
But he doesn’t improve. We have double waved yellows as Lance Stroll has gone off… Verstappen is in 11th. If this is red flagged now then he will be out… no signs of a red flag yet though…
Both Red Bulls in the drop zone, in fact…
Norris goes fastest!
1.2sec off Piastri’s pace. Piastri’s lap was set on his second lap on intermediates. Albon can’t beat Norris’s time, nor can Tsunoda. That is good news for Norris. Alonso goes fastest of anyone, beating Piastri by 0.144sec. Bottas into sixth. He’s driving well at the moment.
Two minutes remain…
He is improving already on his previous time as he heads into turn four. A couple of tenths up on Sainz who is the 10th place benchmark. This looks fairly tidy and steady. The rain does not appear to have worsened, so I think everyone is likely to be improving here.
A very important few laps for him here. Conflicting reports from the teams on whether the rain will intensify or ease through the session.
Good, that should ease Norris’s worries slightly. He still needs to put the lap in, though. He has not exactly lit up the time screens in these conditions. Unlike his team-mate who was the first to go out on intermediates.
The longer the delay the closer the heavier the rain gets and then the harder it will be for him to improve. Sainz’s Ferrari is already out of the barriers but that will be a significant rebuild job at the back of the car before this afternoon’s race. I am going to say it is going to be doubtful if we start as scheduled.
PIA 1:25.179
RUS +1.128
STR +1.731
VER +2.592
LAW +2.951
PER +2.979
BOT +3.266
ALO +4.153
LEC +4.227
SAI +4.404
ELIMINATION ZONE:
NOR
GAS
ALB
TSU
OCO
Sainz gets to the end of turn one, puts the pedal down slightly and loses the rear end and goes sideways into the barriers.
Five minutes and 51 seconds left on the clock which means there is time for those in the drop zone to get out again and improve. They are: Norris, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon.
Of course if the rain gets heavier then they might not be able to improve…
Sainz has stopped on track it seems. Russell goes second fastest. Sainz is in the walls in fact and that is surely going to be a red flag!
Indeed it is…
He is now 2.6sec faster than Verstappen…
Norris is about to begin his first flying lap on the intermediate tyres. He has struggled on the full wets so let’s keep an eye on this times.
Can’t think many will stay out on the wets now, if any. Gasly, Lawson, Albon, Ocon and Tsunoda the men in the drop zone. Yellow flags in sector two and it’s George Russell who has spun on the intermediates. He gets it going again, though.
It’s a Red Bull 1-2. Norris told to box for intermediates. His lap on the wets is not that great. Piastri goes fastest of anyone in the first sector. It’s right for intermediates.
Not faster than Verstappen’s best time in Q1. Leclerc then beats that but by less than a tenth. What is Piastri going to do on the intermediates?
His first sector is four-tenths down on Leclerc. He gets a bit of a twitch up the hill in the middle sector. Perez moves fastest by 0.549sec from Alonso.
Norris posts a time only good enough for P8, 1.4sec off Perez…
Piastri third with his first lap on the intermediates which suggests the time is right for intermediates. Or will be soon.
He is the only man to be on the green-striped tyres. That final sector is still a bit tricky as Carlos Sainz see-saws at his steering wheel at turn 14.
If not actually stopping. The session begins. Will we see intermediates soon? Probably at the end if no further rain falls.
All of these drivers are through to Q2.
VER 1:28.522
ALB +0.550
RUS +0.599
OCO +0.649
TSU +0.650
GAS +0.898
LEC +1.317
PER +1.513
PIA +1.592
ALO +1.685
SAI +1.781
STR +2.058
BOT +2.111
LAW +2.236
NOR +2.422
Hamilton, Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Zhou. That never looked likely for Hamilton. He’s normally good in the wet but he is not having a good time at the moment.
But is that enough?! Lawson knocks him down into 15th, knocking Hamilton out!
Zhou can knock Norris out but can he? He cannot. Verstappen crosses the line fastest and Norris gets through by the skin of his teeth!
Bottas improves and puts Norris in 15th. And he is not going very well at all on this lap… this is going to be very close for Norris.
Can Hamilton get out of the bottom five! He does, pushing Norris into 16th! Is he improving? He is but not by enough unless he aces the final sector!
He is still in the drop zone. It was track limits for Verstappen that had his lap deleted. Hamilton stays 17th. Norris and Verstappen are in danger here, slightly. Colapinto is still 13th, somehow, which suggests the conditions have not improved much at all yet.
Hamilton is on the cusp in 15th. Tsunoda leads Leclerc, Ocon, Perez, Piastri and Alonso. Norris in 13th and Verstappen 10th.
Russell improves to second but gets very, very close to Lance Stroll as he crosses the line. Norris in 14th. verstappen has a lap time deleted because of the double yellows waved in sector three.
Two minutes remain.
Hamilton on a better lap. Mind you, his previous lap was 11 seconds off the pace so that is not too hard.
He crosses the line and goes 14th… could be worse. His team-mate Russell is in last and may well be invesigated for an unsafe rejoining of the track.
Six minutes left in the session. Piastri with a decent first sector time. I think drivers will struggle to improve their lap times as it stands. Might take a few more laps of a drier line to be cleared up. That said, Gasly has improved to go ninth so I am probably bang wrong yet again.
Albon, Zhou, Russell, Hamilton and Bottas in the drop zone.
The rain has intensified but McLaren told Norris that it would ease off. I think that is going to be the order of the day. Haas sent out Bearman on intermediates but they choose to wheel him back in to change for wets which is wise, I feel.
Bottas switches back to the wet tyres after going to the intermediates.
The Williams mechanics face a race against time to get that ready for the race, though further delays will help them, I guess. His car is recovered and we shouldn’t be too long before a resumption.
TSU
LEC
OCO
PER
ALO
STR
VER
SAI
COL
NOR
HUL
GAS
PIA
LAW
BEA
ELIMINATION ZONE:
ALB
ZHO
RUS
BOT
HAM
Franco Colapinto’s car is in the barriers… and that brings out the red flag as the rain gets heavier.
The rain is getting heavier in places 🌧️
Esteban is P2, and Pierre P10 👊
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) November 3, 2024
Hamilton currently last… Russell has told his team to think about intermediates as Tsunoda goes fastest. Russell, Leclerc, Bearman, Hamilton and Bottas in the drop zone.
Not sure intermediates are the best choice here. Russell and Sainz get very close towards the end of the lap and nearly touch…
Ocon leads the way from Alonso, Tsunoda, Perez, Verstappen, Sainz and Norris. Hamilton currently in the drop zone.
That is the trickiest place so far with three drivers coming a cropper there. Bottas he been told to box for intermediate tyres apparently?
A lot of spray on the pit straight as Norris crosses the line with a 1:31.608, some 23 seconds or so slower than his sprint pole yesterday. Replays show Lawson manages to stay on the asphalt of the perimeter road after locking up before getting going again. Another yellow flag as Zhou seems to have stopped at the same place as Lawson.
A good lap from Ocon, 1.5sec ahead of Norris and at the top.
Liam Lawson has stopped on track at turn 13 and hasn’t moved. He may well be off the track and he finally gets moving. Not sure what happened there.
As you would expect. Alexander Albon is the man who leads them away to huge cheers from the beponchoed fans in the stands.
I’m impressed. Well done to F1 and the FIA for being flexible and giving the best chance of action.
Pierre Gasly is told that the rain may intensify in 15 minutes.
I think we’re going to get tgis qualifying session going… and on time!
It looks like the rain has eased somewhat, thankfully.
We still have 18 minutes until the scheduled start of qualifying, but I think that is an optimistic reading. We might just have to sit tight.
Not as bad as it was yesterday, though. The Aston Martin Safety Car followed by another support vehicle is currently out there. I would be surprised if we stick to the scheudled timings today but the reason the sessions have been moved is exactly for this reason.
Some big news overnight from the F1 paddock…
Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was postponed until Sunday by torrential rain at Interlagos, but an even bigger storm was brewing off the track with governing body the FIA understood to be investigating allegations by Red Bull that McLaren are among a number of rival teams illegally filling their tyres with water to improve their performance.
It is hard to describe a 44-point advantage as precarious but with Verstappen’s grid penalty today there is a chance for Norris to take another chunk from it. I think McLaren would prefer it to be dry today, even though rain brings unpredictability. Norris is good in the rain but Verstappen is just, well, superb. It may well remove any advantage that the McLaren has over the Red Bull.
20 seconds in the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend and more in Brazil this weekend. Yesterday he finished third on the road in the sprint race but later took a five-second time penalty that demoted him behind Charles Leclerc, which meant he lost three points to Lando Norris in the standings.
Here is why:
Oh, and don’t forget that he takes a five-place grid penalty for today’s race. So if he qualifies fastest, he will start sixth.
#F1 #BBCF1 #BRAZILGP SUNDAY: It’s 6.25am at a wet Interlagos after a night of periodic light rain. More of this is now spreading south across the circuit, with a gradual uptick in rainfall amounts/rates & heavier bursts at times this morning. Air temp currently 19.8C & track 20C
— Ian Fergusson (@fergieweather) November 3, 2024
This is the third race in an Austin-Mexico City-Sao Paulo triple-header and it is ending with its most intense day. At least there’s two weekends with no racing until we return in Qatar.
All of these drivers scored points.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
George Russell, Mercedes
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Sergio Perez, Red Bull
We are an hour away from qualifying starting and it looks damp with some rain about. Better than about 13 hours ago, mind you. This is from Autosport’s Jon Noble.
Qualifying: 10.30am GMT
Sao Paulo GP: 3.30pm
Whether or not these start on time remains to be seen…
This is a little earlier than we would have expected to be kicking off our Sunday Formula One blog, but nevertheless welcome to our coverage for today’s qualifying and indeed the race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, Brazil.
In case you missed it, yesterday’s qualifying was a wash-out. After McLaren had wrapped up a slightly dicey 1-2 in the sprint race earlier in the day the heavens opened in dramatic fashion just an hour or so before qualifying was due to start. They eased a little but the rain did not stop and after a couple of hours of waiting around and ‘estimated’ start times being pushed back until the FIA looked at the track conditions, the weather forecast and decided to call it quits.
So here we are, with both qualifying and the race to get through on a day when there is rain forecast throughout the day, too. Can we do it? Well, fingers crossed. It would be a crying shame if we cannot.
A few points of order on the day. The delayed qualifying has been rescheduled to 7.30am local time (10.30am GMT) with the race pushed forward 90 minutes to 3.30pm GMT. The reason that the FIA gave for that is that, clearly, with more rain around they wanted to ensure the longest possible window for the race – of any kind, I guess, not necessarily the whole thing – to take place. That seems sensible to me, as yesterday’s approach was.
This is not the first time that qualifying has taken place on a Sunday, though. Looking at the current weather forecast for Interlagos on the Met Office, there is at least a 70 per cent chance of rain every hour between now 7pm local tonight and, given the sun sets at 6.22pm that could mean a lot of waiting around again. The heaviest rain is expected at 2pm local time (90 minutes into the race) though with the way the weather is in this region, that is far from a guarantee. #
As ever, whatever happens we will be here to guide you through it all with qualifying up first. Fingers crossed we get that done without too much fuss and don’t have to consult the rule book to find out what session will be used to set the grid…
