Championship leader, Lando Norris confirmed a good phase at Interlagos this Friday (7). The McLaren driver won pole for the sprint race – the shortest race held this Saturday (8), at 11am (Brasília time).
“It was a little more difficult than I would have liked. It’s always difficult when you go from medium to soft tires. It’s very difficult to know how much you can accelerate, but we did the work we needed to do and we were the fastest today. It was a little more difficult than in Mexico. I wasn’t as comfortable with the car, but it was a very good result,” said Norris.
Kimi Antonelli, from Mercedes, stood out in the classification. The Italian, who is in his first year in F1, will start on the front row, in second place. Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate, qualified third.
Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, will be in 6th place. Lewis Hamilton, from Ferrari, qualified 11th. And Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, a Sauber driver, starts 14th in his debut on the São Paulo circuit.
“I think it would [para passar ao SQ3]. It just needed to be a little better on the first lap of SQ2. I think that’s where everyone did their best [volta]the tire was lasting longer there”, analyzed Bortoleto.
Bortoleto also apologized for the result in the classification. “My first time here at Interlagos too, a lot of things different. I’m very happy to be driving here in front of the fans. I’m sorry for not going to Q3 today, but tomorrow we’ll go with everything and God willing we can do it,” he said.
The Brazilian stage has 33 points up for grabs and will be decisive in defining the season’s champion. Norris leads with 357 points. Next is Piastri, with 356, and Verstappen, with 321.
The sprint race will be held this Saturday, at 11am (Brasília time). The Grand Prix takes place on Sunday (9), at 2pm (Brasília time). The championship continues with stages in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
sprint race grid
- Norris (4)
- Antonelli (2)
- Plates (81)
- Russell (63)
- Alonso (14)
- Verstappen (1)
- Stroll (18)
- Leclerc (16)
- Hadjar (6)
- Hulkenberg (27)
- Hamilton (44)
- Albon (23)
- Gasly (10)
- Bortoleto (5)
- Bearman (10)
- Colapinto (43)
- Lawson (30)
- Tsunoda (30)
- Ocon (31)
- Sainz (55)
