Lando Norris on pole at Interlagos, Kimi Antonelli takes front row away from Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari

Lando Norris took pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit. Second at 174 thousandths was the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, third at 294 thousandths was Charles Leclerc with the best of the two Ferraris.

Clamorous in Q1: world champion Max Verstappen with his Red Bull remains excluded from Q2, it hasn’t happened since the Russian GP in Sochi in 2021! The only hope for the four-time world champion is that it will rain tomorrow and he can make a super winning comeback like he did a year ago.

Also out with him are Esteban Ocon in the Haas, Franco Colapinto, fresh from his renewal with Alpine, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull; Gabriel Bortoleto in his Sauber did not even spin after the bang in the sprint race.

In Q2, Fernando Alonso with the Aston Martin, Alexander Albon with the Williams, Lance Stroll with the second Aston Martin, Carlos Sainz with the second Williams, but above all Lewis Hamilton, thirteenth, for whom the annus horribilis with Ferrari continues.

In Q3 Norris took his 15th career pole position, the sixth this year, while Antonelli mocked Leclerc at the last second, taking away the front row from the Monegasque of Ferrari and starting him there for the first time in a rainbow Grand Prix.

Fourth at 375 thousandths is an increasingly downbeat Oscar Piastri with the second McLaren, fifth and seventh Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawosn with the Racing Bulls, which overcame the confrontation with the “big sisters” Red Bull.

Sixth is George Russell with the other Mercedes, eighth Oliver Bearman with the Haas, ninth Pierre Gasly with the Alpine and tenth Nico Hulkenberg with the Sauber.