F1 Brazilian GP Live Commentary and Updates - Qualifying
Minute-by-minute updates of qualifying for the 2024 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix
McLaren team orders saw Lando Norris lead team-mate Oscar Piastri home for a one-two in the Brazilian sprint race earlier on Saturday.
Max Verstappen was third after besting Charles Leclerc in a lengthy battle, but dropped back to fourth following a post-race penalty for a virtual safety car infringement.
Rain arrived in time for what was supposed to be qualifying but to such an extent that the session was delayed, so we have qualifying and the race on the same day - the latter pulled forward to avoid further forecasted inclement weather.
The delayed qualifying session gets under way at 10:30am GMT, 07:30am local time.
Live Standings
Summary
Live Text
Currently in the bottom five are Norris, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon.
With more rain on the way, Norris could be in serious trouble here!
Moments before the red flag, two things happened.
1: Norris narrowly escaped the same incident as Sainz
2: Russell put in a flying lap to go second with a 1m26.307s.
Sainz was attempting to pick the power up into Turn 2 and the rear of his Ferrari came around before clattering the wall. The right left suspension, rear wing and potentially gearbox are completely ruined.
A huge repair job for the grand prix.
Sainz has made heavy contact with the barriers at Turn 2. The rear of his Ferrari is completely destroyed!
Red flag!
Piastri is flying now, with a 1m25.179s. The timing screen is lighting up all over the place with green and purple micro sectors now!
Proving conditions are still treacherous despite now moving to intermediates, Russell has a low-speed spin at Bico de Pato.
Leclerc is the final driver to pit for the green-walled rubber.
As others now pit for intermediates, Piastri moves to P1 with a 1m27.141s. The crossover has been reached.
Piastri on intermediates goes third with a 1m28.707s, before Verstappen drops him a place with a session best 1m27.771s.
The benchmark is dropping with ease car that crosses the line, with even Bottas briefly topping the table. Perez is currently top with a 1m28.158s.
A 1m29.406s for Sainz - an effort 0.9s better than his Q1 effort.
Sainz begins his lap and gets a big swapper on around the Senna S.
Piastri has gone straight for the intermediate rubber while all other runners have fitted wets.
Not such a race from drivers to get out in this session.
Q2 is go. Conditions have eased with no more rain falling.
Falling just shy of 2.5s behind Verstappen in Q1 and 0.8s off team-mate Piastri, Norris has significant time to find in Q2.
"Why?" asks Hamilton. He has no answer for what has just happened.
That's the second time in the last three races that Hamilton has made a Q1 exit.
In the closing seconds, Verstappen piles on the pain for McLaren with a 1m28.522s to go fastest.
Hamilton, Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Zhou are all out. What a hectic session!
Norris improves to go 15th and returns serve on Hamilton, dropping the Mercedes driver out of qualifying!
Hamilton climbs to 14th and dumps Norris into the bottom five, but he's not improving and has traffic!
The chequered flag is out.
But look at Norris too, who is only one place out of the drop zone and is not on a particularly special lap.
Big problems for Hamilton as the clock ticks down to one minute. His latest effort puts the wet weather expert up only to 17th.
Hulkenberg's off has caused a headache for Verstappen, who lost his time as a result and drops to 12th.
A huge improvement for Russell despite being blocked by an Aston Martin on the run to the line. He goes third.
Yellow flag - unclear why, but it's cleared quickly in sector three. Potentially, Hulkenberg took a trip across the grass.
A first representative time for Hamilton and he improves only to 14th, but is immediately relegated a place as Albon flys up the order to seventh.
With Russell slowest of all, Mercedes could face a double elimination here.
Piastri climbs from 13th to fifth, but Norris is still floundering in 12th.
The timed laps start once more, and the visibility is far, far worse than before. Some small improvements but not a lot.
Not wanting to waste time, Russell almost found himself in the wall on pit exit as he weaved between drivers in a bid to improve his track position.
Just under eight minutes remain in the session.
Just as the green light shone, Haas pulled Bearman out of the queue to take off the intermediate tyres and join the rest on wet rubber.
Green flag!
"It's a lot more rain," reports Norris from his position of second in the queue.
McLaren respond by saying the rain should ease again in two minutes.
Currently, Tsunoda leads the was from Leclerc, Ocon, Perez and Alonso.
By: Sam Hall
