Lando Norris had the perfect start with pole and victory in the sprint, while main title rival Piastri crashes during the race.
SPRINT QUALIFYING
SQ1
Carlos Sainz had been struggling with illness on the lead up to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which may well have played a part in his performance in SQ1 which saw him go slowest of any driver during the session.
Yuki Tsunoda had a poor attempt during this first section of sprint qualifying, and while the Red Bull wasn’t as fast as it has been in recent races during this sprint qualifying session, he would have hoped for more than 18th place.
Antonelli was almost a surprise knockout, with the Mercedes looking pacey in Brazil, but he was just able to eek through to the next session.
ELIMINATED
16. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +0.060
17. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.285
18. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull +0.311
19. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.491
20. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.739
SQ2
Ferrari had looked pretty poor up to this point in the weekend, which saw Lewis Hamilton within the elimination zone before heading out for his final lap. While he seemed to improve, Charles Leclerc spun ahead of him during that last flying lap, causing him to have to slow down and ruin any chance of escaping the second part of sprint qualifying.
Gabriel Bortoleto would’ve hoped for a strong qualifying performance at his first home race, but while his teammate was able to go tenth fastest, he was only able to set a time good enough for 14th.
ELIMINATED
11. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.076
12. Alex Albon – Williams +0.078
13. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.117
14. Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber +0.188
15. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.211
SQ3
Despite earlier struggles, Antonelli looked rapid in the final part of sprint qualifying, having initially gone fastest ahead of Russell and Piastri, before being pipped to provisional pole by Norris, the gap being just under 7 hundredths of a second.
When it came to the end of the session and everyone setting their final times, Piastri did appear to have a much better lap, but it was only good enough to split the two Mercedes cars, while Norris would make a marginal improvement, though it would be enough to keep pole position, especially with Antonelli failing to improve his time.
Verstappen had gone the fastest of anyone through sector 1, but began to bleed time throughout the rest of the lap, and would eventually fall down to a qualifying position of sixth place.
Qualifying Results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:09.243
2. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.097
3. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.185
4. George Russell – Mercedes +0.252
5. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.253
6. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.337
7. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.428
8. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.482
9. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls +0.532
10. Nico Hulkenberg – Kick Sauber +0.692
SPRINT RACE
A greasy track was in order during the sprint race, thanks to rain having fallen earlier in the day.
Lando Norris managed to get a good start to easily stay in first place heading into turn 1, and while Antonelli’s start was suboptimal, the short run to turn 1 kept him ahead of Piastri after the first lap.
Verstappen had also made a good start and climbed up to fifth place, while Hamilton gained three places to bring himself up to eighth and right behind his teammate.
The race seemed to be somewhat settled early on, even if there were some decently close gaps across the field, such as Antonelli with Norris, Piastri following Antonelli and Hamilton chasing Leclerc down.
However, the race would be flipped on its head after Oscar Piastri would make it a second consecutive sprint race DNF after crashing at the Senna ‘S’, having gotten onto what was still a slippery kerb.
Piastri would be joined by Hulkenberg and Colapinto crashing at that same place just moments later, with this all coming together to bring out the red flag.
Verstappen struggled to get his new medium tyres warmed up on the opening lap of the rolling restart, having been put under threat by Alonso, who was now on softs. Fortunately for the championship contender, he was able to keep Alonso at bay, and stayed in what was now fourth place after Piastri’s retirement.
Also on the restart, there were some close inter team battles, with Russell putting Antonelli under threat and Hamilton threatening Leclerc, but each of the lead drivers stayed in front.
Leclerc would spend most of the sprint stuck behind Fernando Alonso, the greasiness of the track outside of the racing line proving to put drivers off making any daring moves. He would finally manage to make the overtake work on lap 22, but having been held up for so long there was no chance to gain any more positions.
Lando Norris’ soft tyres were starting to struggle towards the end of the race, with Antonelli able to close back in to within DRS range, but the championship leader was able to hold on to take the sprint victory win.
Hometown hero Gabriel Bortoleto had a massive crash on the final lap, his car turning sideways as he went into the braking zone of turn 1, where the car would then seemingly struggle to slow down. It would be a big ask to expect that car to be repaired in time for qualifying just a few hours later.
