Lando Norris secures pole for Sao Paulo sprint with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third, extending his championship lead with rain forecast for Saturday.
SAO PAULO: Lando Norris secured pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint race on Friday, positioning him perfectly to extend his Formula One championship lead.
McLaren teammate and closest title rival Oscar Piastri qualified third, just one point behind Norris in the overall standings.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli joined the Briton on the front row for Saturday’s 100km race at Interlagos.
Norris’s first sprint pole of the campaign continues his growing momentum with four grands prix and two sprints remaining this season.
The sprint race winner earns eight points, with the top eight drivers all scoring.
“We did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today,” said Norris, who took the championship lead from Piastri in Mexico last month.
The McLaren driver acknowledged the conditions were trickier than in Mexico but expressed satisfaction with the result.
Norris warned that rain is expected for Saturday’s race, telling fans to “make sure everyone brings their rain jackets”.
Piastri sounded more competitive and happier than recently despite qualifying third.
“We can definitely fight with what we’ve got, and there’s obviously a lot more points on Sunday,” said the Australian.
George Russell qualified fourth for Mercedes at a track where he secured his first Formula One win in 2022.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualified fifth after setting the fastest time in the second qualifying phase.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen qualified an unhappy sixth, describing his car as “completely broken” and “undriveable”.
The Dutch driver, who won last year’s grand prix from 17th on the grid, now trails Norris by 36 points in the championship.
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged Verstappen’s frustration with the car’s current performance.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton failed to reach the final top-10 shootout, qualifying 11th after running out of time for a final flying lap.
The seven-time world champion was called to the stewards afterward for allegedly failing to slow for yellow flags.
Teammate Charles Leclerc qualified eighth despite spinning and triggering yellow flags that denied others faster laps.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll qualified seventh, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten. – Reuters
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