Norris lands another blow on Piastri… but rivals closely matched as severe weather threats loom
Series leader Lando Norris grabbed his first sprint pole position of the season on Friday (local time) to keep his title hopes on track as he topped qualifying ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and his McLaren teammate and rival Oscar Piastri.
The 25-year-old Briton, who leads Piastri by one point in the drivers’ championship with four Grands Prix remaining, clocked a best lap in one minute and 9.243 in the final seconds of a tense session at a warm Interlagos.
Antonelli was second, 0.097seconds adrift, with Piastri 0.185 behind in third ahead of George Russell in the second Mercedes and two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
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Max Verstappen, who is 36 points behind Norris in the title race, was an unhappy sixth for Red Bull, the four-time champion grumbling about the balance of his car, ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Red Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar qualified in ninth place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton 11th in his Ferrari.
Russell continues to fume post race | 03:02
“A good day for me today,” said Norris, who regained the championship lead for the first time in six months by winning in Mexico two weeks ago.
“It’s a long weekend and it’s only Friday — and it’s forecast to be windy and wet so we have to be prepared for that.
“It was a little bit tougher than I would’ve liked.
“It’s always tricky when you’ve got the medium and the soft and knowing how much more to push — or not to push sometimes, but we did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today.
“It’s trickier than Mexico and I’ve not been feeling quite as comfortable. Therefore, it’s a great result.”
Chaotic Mexico GP race recep | 09:18
Piastri was overall happy with his performance heading into Saturday’s Sprint, but admitted his first flying lap wasn’t ideal ahead of the threat of severe weather forecasts set to hit the circuit.
“The soft just was a bit different from what I expected. A couple of big moments on my first lap which wasn’t ideal,” he told Sky Sports.
“That was a bit of a shame, but ultimately I felt much happier today than the last couple of weeks.
“Practice went very well. I think Sprint quali we changed a few things which took a little bit of getting used to again.
“But, yeah, ultimately pretty happy. Would’ve liked a little bit more, but we can actually fight with what we’ve got and there’s obviously a lot more points on Sunday.”
Verstappen briefly took command in 1:10.107 but it was soon overhauled by Russell and then both Norris and Piastri while Ferrari struggled with Lewis Hamilton 10th and Leclerc 12th.
Verstappen managed to split the McLarens in the final seconds, reminding them of his threat in the title race, before SQ2 began with local hero Gabriel Bortoleto leading out in his Sauber.
By then, the temperatures were falling from 20 (air) and 43 (track) and that, with a strengthening breeze, brought changing conditions. On first runs, Alonso set the pace in 1:09.330, a lap-time that remained untouched ahead of Norris and Piastri.
Verstappen went through in eighth from SQ2, complaining that “the car is completely broken, it’s just undriveable!”
Hamilton was also unhappy and was noted for a ‘yellow flag infringement’.
This left Russell to clock the first fast lap on softs in 1:09.556, a time beaten by Antonelli and then Norris in 1:09.271. Piastri was three-tenths off in fourth as they prepared for their final runs in the shootout for sprint pole.
