Norris beats Antonelli to Sao Paulo Sprint pole, Piastri to start third

Lando Norris claimed pole for the Sprint in Sao Paulo ahead of Kimi Antonelli, with Oscar Piastri set to line up directly behind his McLaren teammate in third.

It took until SQ3 for Norris to top qualifying, but he was unbeatable in the battle for top spot, setting two laps fast enough to secure pole position on a single set of soft tires. His final lap set the benchmark at 1m09.243s, locking in a narrow but decisive 0.097s margin ahead of Antonelli to become the fifth different Sprint pole-getter of the season.

“It was a little bit tougher than I would’ve liked,” he said. “It was close between a lot of cars. Mercedes were quick on the softs.

“We did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. Trickier than Mexico – I’ve not been feeling quite as comfortable, but therefore it's a great result. It's only Friday, so another quali and a couple of races to go, but a good start.”

Antonelli threatened on his second flying lap, but a snap out of Junção corner before the long climb up the hill to the finish line ensured he couldn’t better his first lap, locking him into a front-row start.

Piastri, one point behind Norris in the title standings, overshot the first corner with his first flying lap, leaving him almost 0.4s down on his teammate. His second attempt closed the gap, but only to 0.185s, putting him third on the grid.

That second lap was enough to put Piastri ahead of George Russell, who had been ahead after the first laps, but the Briton couldn’t keep up the pace with his second attempt, leaving him fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth.

Max Verstappen topped SQ1 and ended the day fastest in the first sector but never threatened for pole. The Dutchman lamented during the session that his “car is completely broken, it’s just undrivable,” and he was seen shaking his head in disappointment as he crossed the line with the sixth-fastest time of SQ3.

Lance Stroll will line up seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc, whose eighth place was representative of Ferrari’s pace in Interlagos, with Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg completing the top 10.

Lewis Hamilton will line up 11th after a poorly executed SQ2 in which he stumbled around traffic on his final out-lap – including double waved yellow flags for spun-out teammate Leclerc – and miss the checkered flag, leaving him without the chance to improve his time.

“Every time, mate,” he radioed frustratedly.

Hamilton will also see the stewards over an alleged yellow flag infringement, the Briton appearing to have put his foot down as he passed his spun-around teammate in pursuit of a chance to set a second lap.

Alex Albon qualified 21th ahead of a frustrated Pierre Gasly, who was on track to improve his time before encountering yellow flags guarding against Leclerc spun-around Ferrari, whose error may have prevented others from pushing him into the knockout zone.

Home favorite Gabriel Bortoleto was eliminated in 14th ahead of Haas driver Oliver Bearman.

The newly re-signed Franco Colapinto will start 16th for Alpine ahead of Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson.

Yuki Tsunoda’s painful day continued. After missing around half of practice following a crash, the under-pressure Japanese racer never looked in contention to break out of SQ1 and ended up knocked out of qualifying 18th and 1.065s off the pace.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon will line up 19th ahead of last-placed Carlos Sainz, for whom a lock-up at the first corner put him wide through the first turn and left him unable to improve on with his final flying lap.

RESULTS