Key events
The FIA has just confirmed that Verstappen will still start in P17 despite Albon not racing. Everyone else will move up one place but the Dutchman remains because of his penalty.
It will be interesting to see how Red Bull and Verstappen’s mindset once the pit lane opens. Verstappen was extremely frustrated after his qualifying exit and Christian Horner said it was “the second day in the row that we have had late calls”.
“I don’t understand why it took so long for the red flag to come out” 💬
Christian Horner reacts to a hectic qualifying session in Sao Paulo 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/iyougnQT14
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 3, 2024
Alex Albon will not race for Williams after damage was sustained to his car during qualifying due to the weather conditions. Albon progressed to Q3 and was up in second position when he lost control of his car for the first corner and crashed into the barriers causing damage to all four corners. Full team statement below.
It was a nightmare qualifying session for Verstappen and Red Bull in Brazil. The Dutchman and his teammate Sergio Perez went down in Q2 after a late red flag caught them out following a Lance Stroll crash. Verstappen was visibly angry about the delay in throwing the red flag because he felt it had lets others to knock him out of the top 10.
It’s stupid, it’s ridiculous. If a car hits a wall it needs to be a straight red flag, I don’t know why it has to be 40-seconds for a red flag to come out.
A review of the session shows it did not make a difference to Verstappen, who will start all the way down in P17 given he has a five-place grid penalty.
Norris, on the other hand, secured pole position after scraping by in the first session. He was in the drop zone before jumping up to 15th and was the final car to progress.
Here are the full results:
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Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:23.405sec
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George Russell (Mercedes) +0.173
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Yuki Tsunoda (VCARB) +0.706
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Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +1.070
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Liam Lawson (VCARB) +1.079
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Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1.120
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Alex Albon (Williams) +1.252
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Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.281
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Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +5.593
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Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – no time
ELIMINATED IN Q2
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Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
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Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
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Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
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Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
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Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
ELIMINATED IN Q1
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Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
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Oliver Bearman (Haas)
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Franco Colapinto (Williams)
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Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
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Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
Preamble
São Paulo’s current weather forecast may leave much to be desired but it certainly won’t dampen our spirits on what may be the most important race of the year.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 44 points and the two have been at odds due to the defending champion’s aggressive driving style despite reportedly being good friends. All eyes will be on the two today to see if there is any movement at the top.
It would also be silly to discount Ferrari. After going back-to-back in Austin and Mexico City, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are in good form and will want to continue their hot streak.
The race time was moved up to 3.30pm GMT/12.30pm BRT but before we get to that let’s see how qualifiers went.
