Lando Norris came through a red-flag strewn Sunday morning qualifying to grab pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix while his title rival Max Verstappen fell foul of the timing of Lance Stroll’s red and was eliminated in Q2.

Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon all brought out the red flags as they crashed in the wet.

Lewis Hamilton eliminated at the first hurdle

Sunday morning qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix began… and let’s take a moment to appreciate that. Anyway, it began on a wet Interlagos circuit but it was by no means Saturday’s deluge although with heavier rain forecast – and the possibility of red flags – the drivers lined up at the end of the pit lane minutes before Q1 went green with Alex Albon leading the way.

Liam Lawson was the first spinner of the morning, followed by Zhou Guanyu, and Lance Stroll had two offs while Carlos Sainz and George Russell had a close call as the Ferrari driver dived up the inside of the Mercedes who had been holding him up.

The great leveller in Formula 1, Yuki Tsunoda was P1 ahead of Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon when Franco Colapinto spun hard into the Turn 3 barrier and brought out the red flags. The medical car was deployed but the Argentinean did climb out of the Williams unaided. “Sorry mate,” he said to his mechanics who had a fair amount of work ahead before the 12:30PM Grand Prix start.

As heavier rain began to fall during the red flag period, the drivers lined up again in the pit lane with Albon, Zhou, Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the drop zone.

Hamilton improved but only to 14th while Russell was off the track before returning to the racing line right in front of Albon, who had moved up seventh. He jumped to second on his next lap, pushing Hamilton back into the drop zone. Hamilton briefly made it out only to be pushed back in by Lando Norris. “Damn car!” said Hamilton.

Oliver Bearman, Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou were eliminated along with Hamilton. Max Verstappen was quickest with a 1:28.5, ahead of Albon and Russell.

Max Verstappen out in Q2 after Lance Stroll crash

With no rain falling for about eight minutes, most of the drivers went out on the full wets before Oscar Piastri opted for the intermediate Pirellis. Max Verstappen laid down a 1:27.7 on the wet tyres with Piastri forth, 1.1s down. But as he learned where the grip was, the McLaren driver upped his pace to a 1:27.1.

Russell wasn’t having as much luck on the inters as he went spinning, but for Sainz it was a crash. He lost it at and went sideways into the barrier between the Senna S and the pit lane. Moments before Piastri had gone quicker still, a 1:25.1. Norris, Pierre Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon were in the drop zone.

Norris led the remaining 14 drivers out of the pits at the restart and went third fastest but his rivals were also improving. Fernando Alonso went P1, Norris went faster, and Lance Stroll crashed at Turn 3. Out came the red flag, and Verstappen was caught out! Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and Gasly were eliminated.

Lando Norris on pole, reds for Alonso and Albon

Q3 began with light rain falling over the Interlagos circuit, McLaren warning Norris that the first five minutes of the session would have the better conditions as heavier rain was forecast. Piastri set the benchmark time, a 1:26.0 but that was beaten by Norris by four-tenths.

As the timesheets swung back-and-forth Ocon went quickest, then Piastri, then Albon, and Norris. The benchmark was down to a 1:24.1 when the red flags were out again, this time for Alonso who was nose first in the barrier.

As the marshals continued to repair the barrier, Russell left the Mercedes garage four minutes before the restart to head the queue ahead of Norris. Back underway, Russell struggled to stay on the track, Piastri and Tsunoda spun, and Albon had a huge crash to bring out the fifth red.

He lost it at the end of the straight into Turn 1, his Williams hard into the barrier before bouncing off and spewing carbon fibre everywhere. The rear-end of the car was shattered, the sides not in a much better state. “Did the brakes fail?” he asked, and then told Williams he was okay. He was P2 at the time of his crash.

Back on track with three minutes on the clock, McLaren warned provisional pole-sitter Norris: “If conditions are slower, just be sensible. The race is in a few hours.” Norris upped his pace to a 1:24.092, Piastri locked up and ran off the track, and those behind them were running personal bests… Liam Lawson went second but was pipped by his VCARB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda before Russell overhauled them both and Ocon split them.

Norris claimed pole with a 1:23.405, 0.173s up on Russell with Tsunoda third ahead of Ocon and Lawson.

Times

1 Lando Norris 1:23.405

2 George Russell +0.173

3 Yuki Tsunoda +0.709

4 Esteban Ocon +1.070

5 Liam Lawson +1.079

6 Charles Leclerc +1.120

7 Alex Albon +1.252

8 Oscar Piastri +1.281

9 Fernando Alonso +5.593

10 Lance Stroll no time

11 Valtteri Bottas 1:26.472

12 Max Verstappen 1:27.771

13 Sergio Perez 1:28.158

14 Carlos Sainz 1:29.406

15 Pierre Gasly 1:29.614

16 Lewis Hamilton 1:31.150

17 Oliver Bearman 1:31.229

18 Franco Colapinto 1:31.270

19 Nico Hulkenberg 1:31.623

20 Zhou Guanyu 1:32.263