Lando Norris sails to serene Sao Paulo pole after lengthy Interlagos rain delay

Lando Norris will start on pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, after the qualifying session was delayed by nearly 90 minutes due to rain.

The session had started on time at 15:00 local time, but was red-flagged at 15:02 local time due to heavy rain, with the restart not coming until 16:26 local time, when conditions were deemed acceptable, with the field on the full wet extreme tyres.

Conditions had improved enough for drivers to use the intermediate tyres in Q3, which effectively became a one-lap shootout as the rain returned.

Norris ultimately clocked the fastest time with a 1:27.470 to take P1, with George Russell second on the road, but will drop to seventh after a grid penalty for fresh engine components.

Kimi Antonelli will be boosted to the front-row, with Liam Lawson equalling his career-best start with third, once Russell and Charles Leclerc's penalties are applied.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both fell in Q2, but both are consigned to back of the grid starts for engine changes.

Q3

With rain starting to fall, the early laps were decisive in determining the grid. 

Norris ultimately set the quickest time on a 1:27.470, before the running was abandoned, as Russell took a disappointed second.

He came up against the slow moving Albon in the middle sector, and was told to back off by race engineer Marcus Dudley, who copped Russell's frustration at belieivng he had lost a potential pole lap. 

Russell ultimately finished P2, 0.204s behind Norris, who bagged a third straight Interlagos pole, but will drop to seventh after his five-place grid penalty is applied.

This demotion handed Antonelli a front-row slot, with Charles Leclerc fourth on the road, but will drop down because of his penalty, with Liam Lawson equalling his career-best start with third. 

Nico Hulkenberg will start fourth, on the 16th anniversary of his first career pole in 2010, with Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso, and Alex Albon rounding out the top 10 on the road.

Verstappen and Hamilton fall in Q2 - but it doesn't matter

Q2 started in visibly brighter conditions, but cars were still out on the full wet tyres, until Alonso was the first to sample the green-walled intermediate tyres.

Verstappen did not take part in the session, owing to his back-of-the-grid penalty, with Hamilton taking part, but not switching to the intermediates, and was also felled in 11th place.

The end of the session was brought about early following Camara's crash at Juncao at the end of the session. 

The red flags were flown, which was good news for Norrid and Antonelli as they survived, but Oscar Piastri was eliminated on pure pace, in 12th. 

He was joined by Hamilton, Camara, Arvid Lindblad, Carlos Sainz, and Verstappen - who did not set a time to save tyres for the expected wet race.

Lindblad had been told to stop the car with a technical failure at Turn 4. 

The session was topped by Russell, from Lawson, and Hadjar, as Alonso bagged Aston Martin's first Q3 appearance of the season, with Albon ending his personal drought, stretching back to the 2025 Belgian GP. 

Huge delay to Q1 but qualifying starts

Qualifying started on time at 15:00 local, but at 15:02, the red flags were flown owing to the torrential downpours.

After checks by the medical car and the safety car, the session resumed at 16:26 local time, a delay of 1hr:24 minutes, with the entire field on the full wet, extreme tyres, full of fuel to make laps.

Debutant Camara suffered a spin but kept on going, with Juncao, the left-hander at the bottom of the hill the most treacherous place.

Gabriel Bortoleto spun off and damaged his rear wing, which put him out of the session, with Albon, Bearman, and Lance Stroll among the other drivers to go off at the corner. 

Ultimately, as the drivers gained confidence, the lap times dropped from the high 1:40s to the low 1:30s, with Norris topping the segment with a 1:30.939. 

The six eliminees were Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly of Alpine, Stroll's Aston Martin, the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez and Bortoleto's Audi.