SAO PAULO, Brazil — Lando Norris turned an impressive lap to take pole position during Sprint Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Friday afternoon at the Interlagos circuit.
The Formula 1 point leader put his McLaren at the top of the charts ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and his teammate, Oscar Piastri.
After setting a benchmark with his banker lap during the final session, Norris went even quicker with his final effort of 1 minute and 9.243 seconds, a time that proved unbeatable to his rivals.
“It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked,” Norris explained. “It was close between a lot of cars – Mercedes were quick on the soft [tire]. It’s always tricky when you’ve got the medium and the soft and knowing how much more to push, or not push sometimes.
“We did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. It was trickier than Mexico. I’ve not been feeling quite as comfortable, but therefore it’s a great result.”
Antonelli was the closest challenger, the Silver Arrows racer 0.097 seconds behind as he took the other spot on the front row.
Piastri had to settle for third, while George Russell added to a decent day for Mercedes in fourth. Aston Martin also enjoyed a solid outing, with Fernando Alonso clinching fifth ahead of Lance Stroll in seventh.
Sandwiched between was Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who was disappointed with the effort.
