Impressive Norris on Sao Paulo pole after sprint win

McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix hours after extending his championship lead with victory in the sprint.

The Briton shrugged off an error on his first lap that left him down in 10th place going into the final runs of qualifying to secure pole position by 0.174 seconds from Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

Norris' team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri, fastest on the first laps in the top 10 shootout, could manage only fourth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the McLaren drivers' only realistic title rival, suffered a shock elimination in the first session and will start 16th.

Norris had it all to do after locking his front brakes going into the first corner on his first run in the shootout.

Piastri crashed out of third place in the sprint earlier in the day to fall nine points behind Norris in the championship but he nailed his first lap to go fastest from Leclerc.

But Norris has looked the man to beat all weekend and he delivered an impressive lap on his final run, under intense pressure, to beat his team-mate by 0.375secs.

"I felt good. I was under a bit of pressure because I locked up on my first lap so a little bit more stressful than I would have liked but stayed cool and very happy," said Norris.

"Locking up into Turn One puts unnecessary pressure on myself but when I'm in a good rhythm, when I can out it all together, I'll be on top.",

Piastri said: "Obviously, bit disappointed with the result but the car has looked quick this weekend, especially over a longer run, so hopefully I can take advantage of that tomorrow.

"Ultimately, I'll try and take whatever opportunities arise and if I can make progress forward and put pressure on, I will. But yeah, got to get there first.

Verstappen was already struggling for pace in the sprint and Red Bull made changes to his car for the grand prix qualifying in the hope of finding more grip.

But they backfired and he was already fearing the worst after his first lap, when he said to his engineer: "The car and ride is a tiny bit better but now sliding even more."

But he failed to improve on his final run and he suffered his first Q1 elimination since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.

"It's not what you want see," Verstappen said. "The whole weekend has been already quite tough.

"This was unexpected after changing a lot on the car. I had no grip in the car. I had to massively under-drive it and it just didn't work. Just no feeling."

Antonelli, who pushed Norris all the way in the sprint, has been the lead Mercedes driver all weekend.

"I am a bit annoyed I am again behind him," the 19-year-old said. "We were so close again behind him, very tough to put the lap together with the wind. But managed to put a decant lap on the final run and happy with that."

Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson took fifth and seventh, split by the Mercedes of George Russell, while Oliver Bearman did not sound too disappointed to be eighth despite setting third-fastest time on the first runs, and being second in the second session.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10, while Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in the second session and will start 13th.

Bearman said: "I had a great feeling from lap one and was surprised by our competitiveness. We were very strong and then Q3 I felt like I did a good one but I didn't improve to what I managed in Q2 and then the same again on the final lap, didn't improve.

"Definitely strange but the order was like it was and the track was not evolving that much. But otherwise a really good qualifying for us."

Sao Paulo Grand Prix

7 November

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