F1 – Piastri on pole for São Paulo Sprint ahead of Norris, Verstappen fourth
Oscar Piastri claimed pole for the Sprint at the 2024 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix as Lando Norris took P2 to make it an all-McLaren front row. Charles Leclerc took third for Ferrari, while Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen will line up third for the 24-lap event.
Norris had been the quicker of the McLaren drivers throughout as the Woking team dominated the session with the Briton dominating Q1 seven tenths ahead of his team-mate and finishing SQ2 two tenths of the Australian, but in the top-10 shootout Piastri made the most of a second run on Softs to post a lap of 1:08.899, 0.029s ahead of his team-mate.
The McLaren pair were the only drivers to dip below the 1m09s mark, with Leclerc sealing third with a lap of 1:09,153, 0.254 off Piastri. Verstappen, meanwhile was a little over six hundredths of a second slower than the Monegasque driver in fourth place.
Behind the championship leader, Mexico City Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz was fifth in the other Ferrari, while George Russell qualified sixth for Mercedes. Pierre Gasly once again shone over one lap for Alpine with seventh place while Liam Lawson finished in P8 ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon. Haas’ impressive Oliver Bearman might have finished higher than 10th but the Briton made a mistake at the start of his sole flying lap and eventually had his time deleted for going beyond track limits in Turn 2.
The major fallers in SQ2 were Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Pérez. The Mercedes driver exited the session in P11, missing out on a place in the top 10 shoot-out to Albon by just under a tenth of a second. Behind Him Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg went out in P12, six hundredths ahead of Pérez.
The Mexican, running an older RB20 chassis, looked solid in SQ1 as he went marginally quicker than team-mate Verstappen but after setting a time of 1:10.024 with his first SQ2 run Pérez was late out for his second run and couldn’t get across the line in time to start a second run before the chequered flag came out.
Behind the Red Bull driver, Williams’ Franco Colapinto exited in P14 ahead of Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.
Colapintyo made it through to SQ2 at the expense of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The Spanish veteran was ruled out along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, and Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
2024 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:08.899 – –
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:08.928 0.029 0.042
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.153 0.254 0.369
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:09.219 0.320 0.464
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:09.257 0.358 0.520
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.443 0.544 0.790
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:09.622 0.723 1.049
8 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 1:09.941 1.042 1.512
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:10.078 1.179 1.711
10 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari – – –
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.941 1.042 1.512
12 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:09.964 1.065 1.546
13 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:10.024 1.125 1.633
14 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:10.275 1.376 1.997
15 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:10.595 1.696 2.462
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.978 2.079 3.017
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:11.052 2.153 3.125
18 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:11.121 2.222 3.225
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:11.280 2.381 3.456
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:12.978 4.079 5.920