Lando Norris gets better of title rivals to land sprint pole in Brazil

Lando Norris delivered under intense pressure to take pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris, who reclaimed the world championship lead with a statement win in Mexico a fortnight ago, will have a golden opportunity to further extend his advantage with both of his title rivals behind him on the grid for Saturday’s 24-lap dash to the chequered flag in Interlagos.

Oscar Piastri, just one point adrift of Norris with 114 points still to play for across the remaining four contests, is third on the grid.

Max Verstappen, 36 points behind Norris, is only sixth as he complained his Red Bull was “completely broken” and “just undriveable”.

Amongst the championship contenders, Kimi Antonelli qualified second, with George Russell fourth in the other Mercedes. Fernando Alonso is a place ahead of Verstappen in fifth.

Norris finished 0.097 seconds clear of Antonelli with Piastri 0.185 sec off the pace. Verstappen was a third-of-a-second down.

“It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked,” said Norris. “We did the job we needed to do which was to be fastest today. I have not been feeling as comfortable as I did in Mexico so far, so it is a great result.”

Norris saw off his adversaries under blue skies, but rain is set to disrupt Saturday’s schedule. The sprint race is due to start at 11:00 (14:00 GMT) prior to qualifying for Sunday’s main event later in the day.

Norris continued: “We’ll wait and see what tomorrow’s going to do. It’s meant to rain a lot in the morning, it’s meant to be incredibly windy, so make sure everyone brings their rain jackets.

“But no point worrying about anything for now. I’m happy with today. It was difficult. It was a good job. I put things together. Now, the focus will switch to tomorrow.”

Hamilton, who idolised Ayrton Senna, enjoys huge support in the Brazilian’s homeland. But his fans had little to cheer about after seeing their man eliminated in Q2.

Hamilton, whose wait for a first podium in Ferrari colours has extended into his 21st appearance for the Scuderia, will start the sprint from 11th.

The seven-time world champion started his final run in the drop zone and was not helped when team-mate Charles Leclerc spun in the closing stages of the lap. He did not improve and was left shaking his head as he trundled back to the pits.

“P11 and box,” Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami said. “Yeah, every time, mate,” came the disillusioned response from the 40-year-old.

Despite his spin, Leclerc was able to progress to the concluding phase of qualifying and will line up three places ahead of Hamilton.

Hamilton’s day was at risk of getting even worse with the stewards investigating a yellow-flag infringement. However, following the probe, Hamilton escaped with only a reprimand.