Lando Norris grabs season first as Max Verstappen suffers with 'completely broken' Red Bull

Lando Norris scored his first sprint pole this season to leave F1 title rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen trailing.

Norris was a cut above his peers across all three sessions ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix weekend, becoming the fifth different polesitter for the sprint across the five qualifying outings this year.

The McLaren driver finished with a time of 1:09.243s, finishing a tenth of a second clear of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, with Piastri having to settle for third, alongside the second Mercedes of George Russell.

As for Verstappen, the Red Bull driver lines up sixth behind Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, finishing a third of a second adrift of Norris.

After SQ2, with Verstappen scraping into the top-10 shoot-out by a tenth of a second, he described his car as "completely broken" and "undriveable". According to team principal Laurent Mekies, that was a consequence of his RB21 lacking balance.

Lance Stroll lines up seventh in his Aston Martin, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who caused a degree of mayhem in SQ2, with Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg ninth and 10th.

Leclerc causes issues with spin

After the opening 12-minute SQ1, with all drivers running mandated medium tyres, Norris was comfortably quickest by 0.148s over Verstappen with a lap of 1:09.627s, with Alonso a surprise third ahead of Piastri.

Franco Colapinto, fresh from being confirmed as an Alpine driver for next season, headed the list of those knocked out, leaving the Argentine lining up 16th ahead of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson.

The New Zealander, half a second adrift of team-mate Isack Hadjar, was at least ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who starts 18th, with the back row occupied by Esteban Ocon in his Haas, and Williams' Carlos Sainz.

The Spanish driver, who bemoaned "the worst execution" in his life, primarily suffered a lockup on the entry to Turn 1 on his final push lap that cost him around nine-tenths of a second.

For the 10-minute SQ2, again run on Pirelli's medium compound rubber, and as the track started to cool, so aiding lap times, it was Alonso who led the way with a 1:09.330s, by 0.043s to Norris, with Russell and Piastri third and fourth on the timesheet.

The session was compromised late on by a spin from Leclerc in the middle sector, affecting many behind him as it sparked double-waved yellow flags for a short period.

The end result saw Lewis Hamilton exit in his Ferrari, although it appeared as if he lacked pace anyway, followed by Alex Albon in his Williams, Alpine's Pierre Gasly, home hero Gabriel Bortoleto, and Oliver Bearman for Haas.