F1 Brazilian GP: Norris splashes to pole from Russell

McLaren's Lando Norris has claimed pole in a wet qualifying session at Formula 1's Brazilian Grand Prix, beating George Russell on a treacherous Interlagos circuit.

In a challenging session that was red-flagged by over an hour due to heavy rain and standing water, Norris topped the final Q3 shootout with a 1m27.470s lap on the intermediate tyres, pipping Mercedes' Russell by two tenths.

Russell was nursing a five-place grid penalty for a power unit change, but was still incensed by his Mercedes team asking him to abort his second flying lap in Q3.

Antonelli qualified third, six tenths behind Norris, with Charles Leclerc fourth in the Ferrari. As well as Russell's demotion, Leclerc's 10-place engine penalty elevated fifth-placed Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson to third on Sunday's grid.

Lawson is under pressure to retain his seat as Racing Bulls considers promoting reserve driver Nikola Tsolov instead, but the New Zealander delivered a standout performance to give the squad food for thought.

Nico Hulkenberg also shone in sixth for Audi, followed by Red Bull's Isack Hadjar and Haas driver Oliver Bearman. Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon completed the top 10 on Saturday.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

In Q2 Alonso was the first driver to switch to intermediates as he aimed to lift his Aston Martin out of the belly of the pack. Other soon followed suit, and Russell secured P1 with a 1m26.745s lap on the green-walled compound, ahead of an impressive looking Lawson and Hadjar.

Newly-minted world champion Antonelli only just managed to advance in 10th, knocking out Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who is already due to start at the rear anyway with a power unit penalty.

Oscar Piastri also failed to advance, the McLaren driver a disappointing 12th. Haas rookie Rafael Camara had done well to progress to Q2 despite going off, but he then crashed at the end of the session by going straight into the wall at turn 12, bringing out a late red flag.

In the second Racing Bulls car, Arvid Lindblad was dumped out in 14th due to a power unit issue, followed by Carlos Sainz in the Williams. Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who joins Hamilton at the back of the grid with an engine penalty of his own, did not go out in Q2 and was classified 16th.

Following an earlier downpour and more rain on the horizon, Q1 started on time but with conditions worsening right before the session went green.

Several drivers immediately parked their cars to be pushed back and exchange their intermediates for full wet tyres. Those who did go out confirmed that was a good idea, with cars heading straight back in after reporting aquaplaning as race control red-flagged the session.

Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

After a delay of over an hour and 20 minutes, the session was green-lit again with 15 minutes of Q1 running on the clock and conditions still treacherous enough to warrant full wet tyres.

With conditions still poor but continuously improving, that meant it was a matter of fuelling up the car, circulating and building up a rhythm to peak at the end of the session. Norris ended up leading the segment with a 1m30.939s, 10 seconds quicker than lap times just 15 minutes prior, ahead of Russell and Verstappen.

At the rear of the field Haas debutant Camara somehow survived a spin and contact with the wall after Turn 3, which broke his front wing but spared his suspension, to advance in 13th to the delight of the Brazilian fans.

Alpine was the biggest loser of Q1 with both Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly eliminated in 16th and 17th, ruing a complete lack of grip. Lance Stroll was also out in 18th, followed by Cadillac duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

The other Brazilian crowd favourite, Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto, was less fortunate than Camara and damaged the left-rear of his car after an off at Turn 12, engaging in a bit of tractor pulling to wrangle his car out of a deep muddy puddle and return to the pits.

F1 Brazilian GP - Qualifying report

cq

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	24	1'27.470		I	177.345
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+0.204 1'27.674	0.204	I	176.932
3	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+0.625 1'28.095	0.421	I	176.087
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	22	+0.819 1'28.289	0.194	I	175.700
5	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	24	+0.851 1'28.321	0.032	I	175.636
6	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	23	+1.198 1'28.668	0.347	I	174.949
7	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+1.293 1'28.763	0.095	I	174.762
8	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	22	+2.361 1'29.831	1.068	I	172.684
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	23	+2.841 1'30.311	0.480	I	171.766
10	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	24	+2.986 1'30.456	0.145	I	171.491
11	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	13	+2.531 1'30.001		W	172.358
12	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	20	+2.899 1'30.369	0.368	I	171.656
13	R. Câmara Haas F1 Team	51		Haas	Ferrari	18	+4.045 1'31.515	1.146	I	169.506
14	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	16	+4.217 1'31.687	0.172	W	169.188
15	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	19	+4.315 1'31.785	0.098	W	169.008
16	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	9	+3.768 1'31.238		W	170.021
17	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	12	+5.857 1'33.327	2.089	W	166.215
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	12	+5.979 1'33.449	0.122	W	165.998
19	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	11	+6.183 1'33.653	0.204	W	165.636
20	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	12	+6.304 1'33.774	0.121	W	165.423
21	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	12	+7.039 1'34.509	0.735	W	164.136
22	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	5	+14.094 1'41.564	7.055	W	152.735
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