Month: November 2024

New 2024 Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen scores his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix back in June by taking a surprising P1 at Qatar.

The Red Bull driver edged out George Russell by 0.055 seconds. As Lando Norris was third quickest.

After a series of struggles across the sprint sessions, Red Bull uncovered an extra pace to compete for the fastest time in qualifying, and Verstappen praised the turnaround in fortunes over the radio after clinching pole.

Russell had set the pace on the opening laps of Q3 with a time of one minute, 20.575 seconds, but his own efforts to improve on his second lap of the final session ended after losing time in the second and third sectors. This opened the opportunity for Verstappen, who set a time of one minute, 20.520 seconds to edge 0.055 seconds out of Russell’s benchmark.

However, Verstappen has an investigation pending with the stewards having been pinged for apparently surpassing the maximum allowed laptime on one of his sighter laps.

Lando Norris took third on the grid as McLaren seemed to drop back in qualifying versus its Friday one-lap pace, and starts Sunday’s race alongside Oscar Piastri on the second row of the grid.

Charles Leclerc took fifth on the grid ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as the Mercedes driver split the two Ferraris for the main race, while Fernando Alonso booked himself into eighth.

Although Kevin Magnussen seemed on for ninth on the grid with his early opening timed lap to the session, he was just nudged down to P10 by Sergio Perez by just 0.075 seconds.

For once, Checo made it through to all three parts of qualifying and it was refreshing to see Perez getting a top ten grid slot after so many disappointing qualifying performances.

Pierre Gasly was edged out of a Q3 appearance in the final moment and as he was on the receiving end of a flurry of late improvements for Hamilton and Alonso.

Alonso, who was yet to set a lap in Q2 after aborting his earlier effort, fired his way up to a provisional seventh in the order with his final lap. This put Hamilton into the bottom five, but the seven-time world champion swiftly responded with a lap good enough for fifth.

This left Gasly out of luck, having been just 0.012 seconds shy of Perez on the other side of the cut-off line. He was nonetheless clear of Zhou Guanyu, who appeared energised by Sauber’s upgrades and clinched P12 on the grid – two tenths clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Yuki Tsunoda was P14 as RB was still apparently short on pace in Qatar, as Lance Stroll was also eliminated in the intermediate qualifying stage.

Alex Albon was dropped into the bottom five at the climax of Q1 by Tsunoda, who crept above the cut-off line despite having not set a personal best sector in any of the three splits around the Losail circuit.

Unlike Tsunoda, Liam Lawson could not escape the drop zone on his final tour, but outqualified sprint-race points-scorer Nico Hulkenberg. The Haas driver received an apology over the radio from race engineer Gary Gannon, who noted that the team hadn’t “got the softs right”.

Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon also earned early exits from qualifying after propping up the order in Q1.

So what a turn around from Red Bull to give Max Verstappen the confidence and balance to get pole position. This qualifying result was more positive than the sprint race earlier. Going to be fascinating if the champion can win at Qatar on race day.

Qatar Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.520
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.575
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:20.772
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:20.829
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.852
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.011
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:21.041
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:21.251
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:21.425
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:21.500
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:21.437
12 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:21.501
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:21.731
14 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:21.771
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.911
16 Alexander Albon Williams 1:22.390
17 Liam Lawson RB 1:22.411
18 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:22.442
19 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:22.594
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.714

Lando Norris played the team game by letting Oscar Piastri take the sprint win at Qatar. McLaren scored a 1-2 finish and with this sprint result, 15 points has been gained which will be important in the constructors’ championship.

George Russell finished in third place and despite several attempts to pass the McLaren of Piastri, the Las Vegas Grand Prix winner had to settle behind the Papaya cars.

Norris ensured Piastri remained second by staying within DRS range, which allowed Oscar to resist the pressure from George throughout the 19-lap race.

Having looked to have sealed the victory, Norris then let Piastri through at the finish line to allow his teammate to claim the sprint victory – and admitted that he had long planned to pay Piastri back for giving up the sprint win in Brazil.

Norris held off the pressure of starting from pole and led the way in Turn 1, leaving fellow front-row starter Russell in close company of Piastri – hanging his McLaren around the outside and held the favoured line for Turn 2 to complete the move.

With Norris driving off into an early lead, Piastri came under renewed pressure from Russell when the Mercedes driver collected DRS. This prompted Piastri to defend at the start of the third and fourth laps.

Norris then backed off to keep Piastri in DRS range, ensuring that the car number 81 had more tools to contain Russell over the rest of the race.

It got to a point where Norris admitted to struggling with his front tyres, and asked if he should continue to help Piastri stay in his wake – McLaren responded in the affirmative, and thus Norris continued to aid McLaren’s claim to a 1-2 finish.

Piastri didn’t manage to get DRS in the final lap which opened him up to a final Russell assault, but the eventual winner held firm – and then moved past a slowing Norris at the line to pick up the win.

Russell had Carlos Sainz behind him throughout the race, although the Ferrari driver was locked in the DRS train and unable to interlope on the battle for a top-three finish.

Charles Leclerc wrested fifth from Lewis Hamilton with an impressive move at the start of lap 13, in which the Monegasque gathered pace with DRS and went down the inside into Turn 1.

Hamilton held on around the outside and looked to have defended with the inside line into Turn 2, but Leclerc kept his foot in and went around the outside to gain the upper hand into the next corner.

Nico Hulkenberg got valuable points on the board for Haas with seventh, as the new 2024 champion Max Verstappen finished eighth – the Red Bull driver was wayward in the opening lap and got passed by a fast-starting Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Gasly after suffering with oversteer.

Verstappen reclaimed the final point from Gasly ahead of the race’s halfway point, but could make no inroads into Hulkenberg. Gasly finished just under a second clear of Kevin Magnussen, who made a stunning getaway off the line to convert P15 into P10.

Zhou Guanyu and Sergio Perez were the only stoppers in the race – the Sauber driver soft-tyre gamble did not pay off, while Perez was slow to get away from his pitlane start and was passed by fellow slow-lane occupant Franco Colapinto on the pit exit. The Red Bull then stopped for a new front wing after spending the early laps stuck at the back.

So respect to Lando Norris to gift the sprint win to Oscar Piastri as payback to what happened in Brazil. Yes, the drivers’ championship is over but playing the team game to score the most points in the constructors’ is the most important factor.

Qatar Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 27:03.010
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.136s
3 George Russell Mercedes +0.41s
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +1.326s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.073s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +5.650s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +8.508s
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull +10.368s
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +14.513s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +15.485s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +19.204s
12 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +23.351s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +24.421s
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +30.379s
15 Alexander Albon Williams +33.062s
16 Liam Lawson RB +34.356s
17 Yuki Tsunoda RB +35.102s
18 Franco Colapinto Williams +35.639s
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +71.436s
20 Sergio Perez Red Bull +74.371s

Lando Norris will start the Qatar Grand Prix sprint in pole position, edging ahead of last weekend’s Las Vegas race winner George Russell.

The McLaren driver set a lap time of one minute, 21.012 seconds on his first attempt on soft tyres, doing so without the preparation lap that other drivers attempted to use.

Norris then touched the gravel on his second run at Turn 2, which prompted an early return to the pits having already secured pole. A challenge from Oscar Piastri came with a purple first sector on his second attempt, but with time lost over the rest of the lap.

As Piastri could not improve, Russell took advantage and moved up to second position – just 0.063 seconds shy of Norris at the chequered flag.

Carlos Sainz joined Piastri on the second row for the sprint race with his sole lap emerging at the end of the session – the Ferrari driver had to back out of an earlier attempt at a lap, which forced him into taking three preparation laps before his final run.

This moved him ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, while championship winner Max Verstappen was sixth – having also been unable to improve on his final lap.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh fastest, with half-a-second’s gap to eighth-placed Pierre Gasly. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth ahead of Liam Lawson, as the RB driver had a better lap deleted for track limits.

Fernando Alonso lost his place in SQ3 after Gasly’s late lap in the intermediate stage, as the Alpine driver found just under a tenth on the Aston Martin driver to take his chance in the top ten shootout.

Alex Albon was also displaced from the top ten among the final runs after a twitch at Turn 15 appeared to cost a bit of time on his last lap.

The Williams driver was 0.012 seconds clear of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who could not deliver on the time he had made up in the opening two sectors and fell short at the final moment. Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen were also eliminated in Q2.

Sergio Perez was knocked out during the opening stage, having fallen short of Albon by 0.013 seconds. He maintained a 0.004 seconds advantage over Yuki Tsunoda, who could not find enough time in the final sector to progress.

Esteban Ocon dropped into the bottom five at the end of the session as a group of drivers behind him on the timing screens found improvement – Alonso, Stroll, and Hulkenberg broke out of the relegation zone with their last runs to leave Ocon out of luck.

Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto propped up the order, having been in the bottom five ahead of the final runs – neither could improve sufficiently to change that.

Qatar Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:21.012
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:21.075
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:21.171
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:21.281
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:21.308
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:21.315
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.474
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:21.978
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:22.088
10 Liam Lawson RB 1:22.577
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:22.433
12 Alexander Albon Williams 1:22.526
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:22.538
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:22.599
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:22.738
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:22.718
17 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:22.722
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.906
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:22.948
20 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:23.423

George Russell was victorious at Las Vegas following a pole to win drive for Mercedes. Max Verstappen finished one position ahead of Lando Norris to secure his fourth drivers’ championship.

Verstappen simply had to finish ahead of Lando Norris to secure a fourth successive title, and did so after crossing the finishing line fifth – Norris was sixth. The Red Bull driver was running third, before losing position to both Ferraris in the final ten laps.

In the meantime, Russell had an increasing threat from Hamilton to contend with in the final stages of the Las Vegas Grand Prix – Hamilton had recovered from P10 on the grid with passes on Oscar Piastri and Yuki Tsunoda in the early laps, before going long on his first stint to bring him on the tail of Verstappen, the Ferraris, and Norris.

This had initially confused Hamilton who, having looked at the alternate-strategy midfielders around him on the circuit, initially believed he had lost a handful of positions – but he became aware of his situation and soon put a move on Norris to start applying the pressure on the Ferraris.

Ferrari rather gifted Hamilton the opportunity to get past when, during the second stage of pitstops, Carlos Sainz dropped out of entering the pitlane at the last minute while ahead of Hamilton. This gave Hamilton an undercut for a second set of hard tyres as the Ferrari duo stopped later, having lost grip on their first set of the Pirelli as the stint progressed.

Hamilton then made a move on Verstappen with apparent ease at the end of lap 31, putting him just under ten seconds behind Russell.

Russell attempted to maintain the gap, but Hamilton was closing it at a decent rate – the gap fell to 7.1 seconds by the start of lap 40, and 5.7 seconds two laps later, but it was at this point where Hamilton’s tyres began to grain – and the gap stabilised in Russell’s favour.

This ensured Russell could claim a second victory of this season, and led home a Mercedes 1-2.

So a fantastic double podium for Mercedes and it was a solid drive for George Russell to take race victory at Las Vegas. As for Max Verstappen, he finished ahead of his title rival to secure his fourth drivers’ title to equal Sebastian Vettel’s achievements at Red Bull Racing. Well done Super Max!

Las Vegas Grand Prix, race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:22:05.969
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +7.313s
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +11.906s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +14.283s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull +16.582s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +43.385s
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +51.365s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +59.808s
9 Yuki Tsunoda RB +62.808s
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull +63.114s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +69.195s
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas +69.803s
13 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +74.085s
14 Franco Colapinto Williams +75.172s
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +84.102s
16 Liam Lawson RB +91.005s
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
Pierre Gasly Alpine DNF

George Russell secured pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in a very competitive Q3 qualifying session, as champion-elect Max Verstappen was fifth fastest ahead of rival Lando Norris.

Russell was the final driver to set a time in Q3, and his lap time of one minute, 32.312 seconds was enough to carry him ahead of provisional polesitter Carlos Sainz in the final result.

The Mercedes driver had led the first runs of the session, setting a time of one minute, 32.811 seconds before the final ten drivers switched tyres, as Q2 headliner Lewis Hamilton had abandoned his lap after going off at Turn 14.

The following runs then put Russell’s earlier time under pressure as Charles Leclerc set a time of one minute, 32.783 seconds to move ahead, although Sainz found three more tenths on his Ferrari teammate to claim P1.

Russell, however, put together a final charge to take pole – claiming the front row advantage over Sainz.

Pierre Gasly was excellent in his charge to third on the grid, allowing the Alpine driver to split the Ferrari duo. This follows his podium finish in Brazil.

Verstappen and Norris closed out the third row, while Yuki Tsunoda was seventh fastest over Oscar Piastri. Nico Hulkenberg was ninth, just 0.750 seconds away from Russell’s pole lap.

Hamilton was unable to set a representative time – although he completed a second lap, he lost the rear in Turn 4 and understeered off-track which led to the lap-time deletion. Either way, it was only enough for P10 and, had he replicated his Q2 time, would have been third.

Q2 was brought to a close by Franco Colapinto’s massive crash on the exit of Turn 16, although most drivers had already completed their final runs before he created the red flag and delay.

The Williams driver clipped the inside of the barrier and slid into the opposite wall – which stripped his car of three corners and also caused heavy damage elsewhere to add to the team’s repair costs.

Esteban Ocon had been unable to improve enough to get into the top ten, as teammate Gasly push through at the last minute to knock out Kevin Magnussen in the process.

Zhou Guanyu was a rare sighting in Q2 and managed to set P13, as Colapinto takes P14 following his accident. Liam Lawson’s final attempt at a lap was abandoned as he retreated to the pits, resulting in P15.

Sergio Perez again fell out of the qualifying reckoning in Q1, complaining of a lack of grip in his Red Bull, as he was pushed towards the drop zone by a series of late improvements.

He will thus line up P16, ahead of Fernando Alonso – neither Aston Martin made it out of Q1 as Lance Stroll was the slowest driver, as his car was repaired from an FP3 halt as his power unit appeared to switch off.

Alex Albon and Valtteri Bottas were also knocked out at the first hurdle, and Bottas will start last in the Las Vegas Grand Prix owing to a grid penalty.

So a fantastic qualifying result for George Russell with pole. The Mercedes was quick in all three practice sessions so to get P1 is a nice reward. As for the title contenders, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are next to each other. Will be fascinating what happens in the race. Game on!

Las Vegas Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.312
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:32.410
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:32.664
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.783
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.797
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1:33.008
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:33.029
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:33.033
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:33.062
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:48.106
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.221
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:33.297
13 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:33.566
14 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:33.749
15 Liam Lawson RB 1:34.257
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:34.155
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:34.258
18 Alexander Albon Williams 1:34.425
19 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.430
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.484

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen drove a brilliant race in a wet Interlagos event and the championship leader recovered from P17 to come home first. A pure masterclass drive.

Alpine scored an awesome double podium with Esteban Ocon second and Pierre Gasly third ahead of early leader George Russell, which promote the team to sixth in the constructors’ standings.

Lando Norris came home sixth – despite starting on pole – behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but the McLaren driver faces a post-race investigation for a surreal aborted start incident over two hours earlier in the heavily disrupted contest. In the end, the stewards decided to fine and a reprimand for not following the correct procedure at the start.

The first start was aborted when Lance Stroll went off at Turn 4 on the formation lap and damaged his Aston Martin before getting it stuck in the gravel, after which Norris led several cars off the line again in reaction to an “Aborted Start” message, while Verstappen from P17 on the grid was among a separate group that waited for green lights before going around again.

A 10-minute delay then followed, after which Russell jumped Norris on the run to Turn 1 from second on the grid, while Verstappen moved his way through several cars to run P11 at the end of the first lap.

He continued to carve his way through the field for most of the first half, with a series of bold dives/overtakes at Turn 1, where the defending champion was super confident on the brakes in his RB20.

At the front, Russell and Norris pulled clear of the chasing Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon and Leclerc, but the McLaren could never get close to make an attack on the leading Mercedes.

By lap 15, Verstappen had reached Leclerc at the end of the chase group, but he then became bottled up behind the Ferrari in a similar manner to Norris.

Leclerc was a surprise early stopper with a huge increase in rain coming as the clouds got heavier around lap 24, which eased Verstappen’s progress.

The race was then altered significantly when Nico Hulkenberg spun off at Turn 1 with Russell on lap 27, which led to a virtual safety car under which several cars far back in the pack pitted and then the leaders came in at the end of the lap 28.

But this was just as the VSC was ending with the Haas moving again after getting pushing assistance from four marshals and so when Ocon and Verstappen stayed out – plus Pierre Gasly from further back in the other Alpine – they cycled to the lead as Russell and Norris dropped down, along with Tsunoda who had been jumped by Ocon pre-VSC.

The rain was really coming down at this point, with Norris taking advantage of Russell going steady into Turn 4 on lap 30 to final get by and while he shot towards Gasly and Verstappen the safety car was called and the race neutralised.

Under this, Franco Colapinto crashed and a near 25-minute delay ensued – during which Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly were able to switch to more intermediates without losing their places and Hulkenberg was black-flagged for being pushed backwards in the Turn 1 runoff and rejoining.

At the restart for the race’s second half, Ocon easily dropped Verstappen and then raced to a 3.3 seconds lead within a few laps.

But Carlos Sainz crashing slowly on lap 39 meant another safety car, after which Verstappen brilliantly jumped Ocon at Turn 1 at the restart – despite the Alpine appearing to once again initially nail his getaway.

Behind, Norris slid off at Turn 1 under attack from Leclerc, who also moved ahead of Russell, before the Ferrari driver went off at Turn 4 a few laps later and ceded fourth back to the early leader.

Verstappen then checked out with a series of fastest laps to lead by over three seconds with 20 laps to go, with Max constant lowering of the pace meaning he was a extending his lead to 19.3 seconds by the flag despite the rain briefly getting heavier again in the closing stage.

Ocon finished a chunk ahead of Gasly, who held off Russell to the finish, with Leclerc fifth and Norris seventh – losing significant ground to Verstappen, who scored his first Grand Prix victory since June’s Spanish race.

Oscar Piastri – who waved Norris through after his teammate’s second restart off – was seventh on the road by eighth in the results after a 10-second penalty he had accrued for colliding Liam Lawson pre-red flag.

Lawson took ninth after holding off Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez late on – the RB driver and the second Red Bull clashing again while the Mercedes driver was amongst those off the road at various stages.

Alex Albon did not take part as a result of his huge crash in qualifying.

So a champion’s drive by Verstappen. After many critics complaining his aggressive driving in COTA and Mexico, this result is the best response. Despite starting P17 after a tricky qualifying and grid penalty for a power unit change, the Red Bull driver rise to the top to take a masterclass victory.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:06:54.430
2 Esteban Ocon Alpine +19.477s
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +22.532s
4 George Russell Mercedes +23.265s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +30.177s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +31.372s
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB +42.056s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +44.943s
9 Liam Lawson RB +50.452s
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +50.753s
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull +51.531s
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +57.085s
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +63.588s
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +78.049s
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +79.649s
Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
Franco Colapinto Williams DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNS
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNS

Lando Norris took an important championship moment with pole position at Interlagos as title rival Max Verstappen got caught out by a red flag.

George Russell will start second for this afternoon’s brought-forward race for Mercedes, with Yuki Tsunoda third for RB as Verstappen’s engine-change grid penalty means he will start P17 – behind Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in Q1.

In Q3, Norris led with a time of one minute, 25.631 seconds after the first runs on the intermediate tyres, with the cars fuelled to run long as the teams expected the fluctuating rain to intensify again.

Lando improved this to one minute, 24.158 seconds to head Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, before Fernando Alonso became the second Aston Martin driver of the session to crash out – the double champion losing his car through the plunging Turn 11 left at the end of the middle sector.

The drivers lined up to try again with seven minutes left on the clock and their first efforts back on track did not make any improvements as they built tyre temperature – Russell, Piastri and Tsunoda all having moments, the latter two spinning.

But before any purple sectors could be registered, Albon crashed hard at Turn 1 – appearing to brake on the wet white line while also wondering if he had a brake problem. A spin into the barriers wrecked the rear of his Williams and causing a fifth red flag.

Afterwards, the teams took two different approaches, with the McLarens fuelled to do two laps and improving the pole time with both – first to one minute, 24.092 seconds and then finally to confirm pole with one minute, 23.405 seconds.

Piastri did not improve on his first go and then locked up at Turn 1 and went off on his final lap, which meant the drivers that were kept in the garage for extra time with their inters in the tyre blankets and time for just one run, were able to gain.

First Liam Lawson got up to second before he was shuffled down to fifth by Tsunoda and Norris, while Esteban Ocon – a two-lap runner for the final efforts – sneak into fourth for Alpine.

Charles Leclerc ended up sixth as the lead Ferrari having got to Turn 1 with a yellow flag activated for Piastri’s off on his final lap, with Albon nudged down to seventh but still ahead of Piastri.

The crashed Astons of Alonso and Lance Stroll ended up with the ninth and tenth positions – the latter not taking part in Q3 due to his early incident in Q2.

That was a momentous mini-session for the title contenders, as Norris sat in P11 and on the verge of a shock exit when Carlos Sainz crashing at Turn 1 halting his progress – Norris having also struggled on the full wets used in Q1, before Piastri led the switch to inters in the middle segment.

But Norris was able to gain on his first lap out of the pits on the inters when Q2 resumed and then go even quicker, while Verstappen did not improve and along with his teammate, Sergio Perez, was shuffled down into the drop zone.

Both Red Bull drivers were then caught on the wrong side of a second red flag called with less than a minute less – caused by Stroll crashing at Turn 3.

That also eliminated Valtteri Bottas in P11 – the Sauber driver’s best qualifying result since he was P10 in China – the already out Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen led Q1, where Franco Colapinto crashed halfway through, which meant a tricky end to the session for the rest as the rain increased and the times only really began to improve right at the end.

Norris squeaked through in P15, while Lawson’s late improvement knocked out Hamilton, who was furious with “this damn car”.

Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg also failed to progress in a session when Bottas had made an unsuccessful switch to inters before the red flag. Valtteri’s teammate Zhou Guanyu had the chance to knock out Norris but the Sauber driver’s final lap was only good enough for last.

So a mixed up grid thanks to the wet weather with five red flags. The championship battle gets interesting with Lando Norris at the top with his rival Max Verstappen at the back. The postponed qualifying has certainly made this exciting and the race is next.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:23.405
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:23.578
3 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:24.111
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:24.475
5 Liam Lawson RB 1:24.484
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24.525
7 Alexander Albon Williams 1:24.657
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:24.686
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.998
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time
11 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:26.334
12 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:28.158
13 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.406
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:29.614
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.31.150
16 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:31.229
17 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.771*
18 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:31.270
19 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:31.623
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:32.263
*Five-place grid penalty for power unit change

Lando Norris scored valuable championship points by winning the sprint race at Interlagos following team orders from McLaren to switch position with Oscar Piastri.

Piastri was saved from a late race challenge by Max Verstappen by a virtual safety car.

However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.

At the start, polesitter Oscar moved across to cut off Lando’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third position.

The McLaren duo moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.

Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap sprint, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his teammate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first ten laps ended.

Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next stage before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.

But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.

Max quickly gained on Lando’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.

The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.

Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.

On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.

But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.

There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.

When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5 seconds, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.

Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement. Post sprint, the stewards added a five-second time penalty for not obeying the VSC and getting too close to Piastri on the restart. This drops Max to fourth and promoting Charles to P3.

Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards teammate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Mexico race winner having been dropped quickly in the early laps.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.

Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.

So a tense race from McLaren due to the radio messages to switch positions. In the end, the places was swapped and Lando Norris scored the maximum points which is valuable in terms of the championship.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 29:46.045
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.593s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.656s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +6.497s*
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +7.224s
6 George Russell Mercedes +12.475s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +18.161s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +18.717s
9 Liam Lawson RB +20.773s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +24.606s
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +29.764s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +33.233s
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +34.128s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas +35.507s
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB +41.374s
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +43.231s
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +54.139s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +56.537s
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +57.983s
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
*Five-second time penalty

Oscar Piastri beat his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take pole position for the sprint race at Interlagos, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

The McLaren drivers dominated sprint qualifying and took very different approaches to SQ3 compared to their rivals.

Elsewhere, there was a shock SQ2 exit for Lewis Hamilton, while Sergio Perez could only take the changed chassis on his Red Bull RB20 to P13 and Oliver Bearman again impressing for Haas.

In SQ3, the McLarens came out very early once on the softs they had all run for the opening two sessions, with rain clouds steadily building up and track temperatures dropping.

But with softer softs for the 2024 event here, the McLarens had no trouble firing them up, nor keeping the alive on the resurfaced track.

Norris went to the top with a lap time of one minute, 08.928 seconds with his first run, with Piastri trailing him before they quickly returned to the pits before having another attempt on the same set of softs.

Piastri used his second attempt to head Norris by 0.029 seconds with a lap time of one minute, 08.899 seconds, with Norris abandoning his second go after producing a poor middle sector compared to his first attempt.

The best of the single-effort runners in SQ3 was Leclerc, with Verstappen slotting in behind in fourth and Mexico Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz fifth.

Then came George Russell in the remaining Mercedes runner in SQ3, as Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Bearman rounded out the top ten.

Bearman might have done better had he not had a big moment in the Senna S and gone so wide in Turn 2 that he had his time deleted for track limits, before staying on a lap that would not count despite having time to back off and go again, plus with the soft tyres apparently capable of doing multiple laps here.

At the end of SQ2 Norris was looking in dominant form at this stage, Bearman and Lawson got through with just a single flying lap in the middle segment compared to most of the rest, while Nico Hulkenberg only had one shot too and he failed to progress.

Hulkenberg was knocked out around the big fallers in Hamilton and Perez, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas also eliminated for Williams and Sauber respectively.

Perez’s exit came after he failed to complete his final outlap in time and so was ordered to park his car in the pits by Red Bull.

In SQ1, which Norris also topped, Colapinto’s last-attempt improvement knocked out Alonso, who had previously jumped from the drop zone with his second and final run on the mediums.

He was joined in exiting at the first hurdle by Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, who all set personal bests on their final fliers before being shuffled back, plus Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

So a surprising pole for Oscar Piastri to jump his McLaren teammate to take the top spot in sprint qualifying. The sprint race is going to be fascinating as the two title contenders are in the top four.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:08.899
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.928
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.153
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:09.219
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:09.257
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.443
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:09.622
8 Liam Lawson RB 1:09.941
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1.10.078
10 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:09.629
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.941
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:09.964
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:10.024
14 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:10.275
15 Valtteri Bottas Haas 1:10.595
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:10.978
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.052
18 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:11.121
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:11.280
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:12.978