Norris on pole after chaotic rain-hit Brazil qualifying
Lando Norris has been given a huge boost in his bid to win his maiden world championship after he took a brilliant pole position at Interlagos for the Brazilian Grand Prix, with rival Max Verstappen a shock 17th.
Verstappen was eliminated from a chaotic rain-hit qualifying on Sunday morning, carried over a day after Saturday’s running was abandoned due to bad weather.
Following his brilliant performance in the sprint on Saturday, which he dominated before letting teammate Norris pass him for the victory, Australian Oscar Piastri had a difficult session and will start from eighth on the grid.
The triple world champion Verstappen had been on course to improve his time in the wet conditions but Lance Stroll’s crash resulted in the third of an astonishing five red flags, and Q2 did not resume.
It left a furious Verstappen 12th and, with the Dutchman to serve a five-place engine penalty, he will be way down the order for the 71-lap race later on Sunday.
“The car hits the wall, and it needs to be a straight red,” said Verstappen.
“I don’t understand why it needs to take 30 to 40 seconds for a red flag to come out. It’s just b***s***. It’s so stupid anyway to talk about. It’s ridiculous.”
Verstappen’s dramatic demise handed the advantage to Norris, who trails his Red Bull rival by 44 points with 132 still available across the remaining four rounds.
And in the treacherous conditions, which saw both Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon crash out of Q3, the British driver held his nerve to put his McLaren at the front of the grid for the race which has been brought forward by 90 minutes for a lunchtime start local time in an attempt to beat the bad weather.
There were other crashes for Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll in the chatic session.
“You saw how many people went off and crashed so it was easy to end up badly, in the wall, or not even make the race. I have got some quick guys behind. I hope we can get a race in later. That will be a good start,” said Norris.
George Russell took second for Mercedes, 0.173 seconds behind Norris to form an all-British front row. Yuki Tsunoda impressed for RB to qualify third.
Albon finished seventh but the London-born Thai’s Williams was left in bits, putting his participation in the race in serious doubt. Albon was also seen holding his wrist as he walked away from the accident.
Lewis Hamilton is considered one of the sport’s best ever wet-weather drivers. But the seven-time world champion suffered a humiliating Q1 exit here – his second in three races.
The 39-year-old bemoaned the handling of his Mercedes. “This damn car, man,” he said over the radio after he slid off the circuit.
Hamilton, in his final season with Mercedes before he heads to Ferrari, has now been outqualified by Russell at 16 of the 21 rounds so far.
#Norris #pole #chaotic #rainhit #Brazil #qualifying