São Paulo, Brazil, Nov 3 (EFE).- McLaren’s Lando Norris will start Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix in pole position after a rain-soaked qualifying session.
His championship rival Max Verstappen will start in 17th after dropping out in Q2 and being handed a 5-place grid penalty.
Qualifying had already been postponed on Saturday because of the heavy rainfall at Interlagos.
Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton – who will move to Ferrari next season – failed to make it out of Q1 after a disastrous session in which he was two seconds slower than his teammate George Russell.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz then crashed out of Q2, as did Lance Stroll of Aston Martin. The second incident red flagged the session, meaning Verstappen was unable to make it into the top 10 drivers to move on to Q3.
Sunday morning saw a total of five red flags after heavy crashes amid the treacherous driving conditions.
Russell will start in second behind Norris, while Yuki Tsunoda of RB will start P3, one place ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and RB’s Liam Lawson.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start in sixth, Williams’ Alex Albon is seventh, and Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri will start eighth.
Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Stroll round out the top 10 starting grid for the race, which takes place later on Sunday. EFE
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