F1 Brazil GP live commentary and updates: qualifying

THAT'S IT FROM QUALIFYING

Bizarre scenes as the world champion is eliminated in Q1. Lando Norris on pole. Oscar Piastri P4. A scattered assortment of Ferrari and Mercedes around them. Could be a thriller!

Join us again tomorrow to find out – race start is 14:00 local.

So Bearman ends up P8 after all those heroics earlier on. The track did ramp up a bit in those final minutes and he paid the price for being early to go for a second run – but even so, he didn't execute as well as those previous laps.

Extraordinary delivery by Norris, Antonelli and Leclerc on an afternoon with rapidly changing conditions, uncertain grip, and gusting winds.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Yes, personal bests in sectors one and three but sector two isn't good enough for Piastri. 1m09.886 – P3.

Piastri NOT improving...

Russell out on a new set of mediums. Figures, because after the first runs he said "I'm getting nothing from these tyres."

Leclerc goes P1 with 1m09.805s, but almost immediately Norris does a1m09.511s.

Piastri now has to work hard...

Hadjar and Gasly exiting on new softs.

Bearman hasn't gone quicker through sector one, had a little wobble in the Senna Esses. Sector two is a bit of a horrorshow as well. And sector three – no improvement for Bearman.

Piastri and Lawson also out on new softs.

Bearman out on another set of new softs. Ditto Leclerc and Norris. Hulkenberg trying again on a used set.

So Norris really needs to deliver at the second time of asking. Advantage Piastri as we await the final Q3 runs. But it's very much a top 10 of two halves: P1 to P5 is 0.166s. P6 to P10 takes us from 0.264s off the lead to 0.651s.

Antonelli's rear axle tried to overtake the front at Mergulho, otherwise that lap might have been good for P1 – he was only 0.105s off.

Norris had an iffy first sector, eight tenths off Bearman, owing to a lock-up at Turn 1, but he persists and clocks a 1m10.548s. P9 for now.

Piastri then does a 1m09.987s to go P1, displacing Leclerc, who has just done a 1m09.899s. Bearman still P3.

Antonelli and Russell P4 and P5 for now just over a tenth off P1.

1m09.997s for Bearman. Not his fastest, but 0.409s faster than Hulkenberg.

Antonelli on used softs – probably the ones he's just scrubbed – while Russells are showing as new.

Gasly, Lawson and Hadjar on pre-loved softs too.

"No further investigation" into the Russell-Hamilton impeding incident.

Hulkenberg on scrubbed/used tyres according to our data screen.

George Russell "noted" for potential impeding of Hamilton.

Obviously Max won from the nether regions of the grid last year but he will need another cyclone to brew up overnight for a repeat of that.

"I couldn't push at all, the car was all over the place" says Verstappen in the media 'pen'.

Norris, meanwhile, closed out that session P1 because that final lap was a 1m09.616s, 0.139s faster than Bearman who was P2. The Haas driver did not improve his time in that final flurry of laps.

Oscar Piastri 0.219s off his team-mate but through to Q3.

No, Russell pits but Antonelli is going through – but not going for it. Scrubbing tyres, perhaps?

Russell and Antonelli out there too – they will just cross the line before the chequered flag.

Norris out on softs and purple in sector one.

Two minutes to go and Hulkenberg goes P8 on 1m09.985s. That bunks Hamilton out of the top 10.

Bearman going back out – does Haas think 1m09.755s isn't going to be enough to make the Q3 cut?

Leclerc and Hamilton back out, on new softs according to our data feed.

Hamilton currently P10, 0.353s off P1, Leclerc P13. Very fine margins here.

Improvements up front now but nobody had usurped Bearman yet. Antonelli goes P2, 0.019s off the Haas. Russell P4 with a 1m09.880s.

Norris currently P5 with 1m09.930s. According to our screens the McLarens set their times on used softs.

Russell complaining of "no grip". That's interesting, and reflects what happened yesterday – track conditions went away from the softs. Track temperature currently 38C.

Bearman goes top again! 1m09.755s Slightly more representative in a session where the improvements have been a bit more incremental than Q1. Piastri 0.080s down, Lawson P3 and 0.195s off.

Dear oh dear, Leclerc can only summon 1m10.240s on his next attempt – P11 as we type.

Charles Leclerc had to contain a lurid oversteer moment at the exit of Turn 4. He was purple in the first sector but that's killed it – yes, he's bailed out.

Sainz was purple in the first sector but after that it seemed to go south towards then end of the lap.

Alex Albon first to complete a lap in Q2. 1m10.351s. Team-mate Carlos Sainz bails out of his lap and heads to the pits.

Dialing through the in-car footage on F1 TV and you can see Norris was a good car length or two 'faster' than Verstappen by the time they got to the end of the first sector. Plays into Max's analysis that the car was sliding all over the place in the first couple of corners – which was also visible, the car was understeering like a shopping trolley.

Meanwhile Jos Verstappen has left the Red Bull garage. Nobody get in the way of those fists, eh?

Verstappen was 0.747s off Norris's benchmark – a jumbo-sized gap these days.