Piastri pips team mate Norris to sprint race pole position · F1 · RaceFans
Oscar Piastri secured pole position for the Interlagos sprint race by beating team mate Lando Norris with his second attempt in SQ3.
Piastri improved on his second run to beat his team mate by 0.029s, while Norris abandoned his last lap due to making too many mistakes.
The two McLarens will start on the front row for Saturday’s sprint, with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen behind them on the second row.
SQ1
After the earlier practice session took place under clear skies, clouds covered the circuit as the first phase of sprint qualifying approached. Race control confirmed a slight threat of rain as the field headed out of the pits, led by the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr.
As per the regulations, all drivers had to use medium tyres for this first session. Leclerc was quickest out of the two Ferraris at first with his first lap of a 1’11.654 They were beaten comfortably by George Russell, before Oscar Piastri posted the new fastest overall time with a 1’10.265, kicking up a shower of sparks on the new track surface as he completed his lap.
Despite all 20 drivers looking to find room on the track in the closing minutes of the relatively short session, the drivers all managed to find room on the track to complete a final flying lap. Franco Colapinto had lost his only previous timed lap for exceeding track limits at Descida do Lago, meaning he had to make his final lap count. He did just that, however, jumping straight up to ninth as he took the chequered flag.
Failing to make it through into the second phase were Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda, who claimed his lap was fine, but just had no grip with his RB. Lance Stroll was also knocked out in 19th, while Zhou Guanyu could not follow his team mate Valtteri Bottas into SQ2. As the session ended Lando Norris produced a stunningly quick lap to head the times by almost eight tenths of a second.
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SQ1 result
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SQ2
After Norris posted a time which was comfortably the quickest of the day at the end of SQ1, the McLaren driver jumped straight to the top of the screens once again with a 1’09.063, almost half a second quicker than his team mate as well as the Ferraris or Mercedes.
It was up to the Red Bulls to try and beat Norris, but while Verstappen went second-fastest with his first attempt, even he was four tenths slower than his championship rival.
Both Haas drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson decided to make just a single run at the end of the session. That meant both Perez and Hamilton would need to improve to avoid being a risk of elimination. However, Perez missed the timing line to start his flying lap in time, meaning he was now sure to be out.
Bearman managed to comfortably go through, which came at the expense of Hamilton, who improved on his final effort but missed out on the top ten by just under a tenth. Hulkenberg could not follow his rookie team mate through and was out in 12th, with Perez 13th, Colapinto eliminated in 14th and Bottas slowest in the session.
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SQ2 result
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SQ3
The third and final session of sprint qualifying would be the only one where drivers received soft tyres to push at their ultimate pace.
The vast majority of those still remaining in qualifying opted to remain in the garage until the end of the session, except for the McLarens who headed out early, with Norris setting the initial provisional pole time with a 1’08.928. Albon also took advantage of a clear track to post his sole lap of the session, a second slower than the McLaren.
Both McLaren drivers then joined their rivals in the closing minutes by heading out again. Norris could not improve on his used softs, but Piastri managed to do better than his first effort, snatching sprint pole away from his team mate by less than half a second.
Leclerc took third on the grid ahead of Verstappen, with Sainz fifth in the second Ferrari. Russell will be the highest starting Mercedes in sixth ahead of Pierre Gasly, Lawson, Albon and Bearman in tenth after his only SQ3 lap was deleted for exceeding track limits.
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SQ3 result
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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