Sao Paulo GP Sprint Qualifying: Norris beats Antonelli and Piastri, Verstappen sixth
F1 NewsFriday, 07 November 2025 at 20:20
Lando Norris confirmed the early pace he showed in practice for the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and took pole for Saturday's Sprint Race as Kimi Antonelli was a surprise second while Max Verstappen flopped.
By taking pole, and with Oscar Piastri only third, Norris boosted his chances as he attempts to increase his gap over his teammate in the 2025 Formula 1 Drivers' Championship.
And by finishing Sprint Qualifying in sixth, Verstappen was dealt an early blow on a weekend in which he was hoping to make inroads in the leads of Norris and Piastri in the Championship.
But the Dutchman never appeared to be in contention which was clear in practice and that was reflected in the final outcome of Sprint Qualifying where he was over three tenths off the pace.
Piastri, who looked a bit more himself in practice, failed to finish the job in SQ3 and was third fastest, 0.185s slower than his teammate and on the back foot early on this weekend.
Norris: Make sure everyone brings their rain jackets
“It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked," Norris admitted after Spring Qualifying. "Close between a lot of cars. Mercedes quick on the soft. But it’s always tricky when you’ve got the medium and the soft and knowing how much to push.
“But we did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. Trickier than Mexico. I’ve not been feeling quite as comfortable, but therefore it’s a great result.
“It’s only Friday, so another qualy, another couple of races to go, but it’s a good start," he admitted.
With rain forecasted for Saturday and the Sprint Race, Norris commented: “We’ll wait and see what tomorrow’s going to do.
"It’s meant to rain a lot in the morning, it’s meant to be incredibly windy, so make sure everyone brings their rain jackets.
“But no point worrying about anything for now. I’m happy with today. It was difficult. It was a good job. I put things together. Now, the focus will switch to tomorrow," the Briton concluded.
Going further down the order, George Russell ended the session fourth fastest, 0.252s off the pace, despite flirting with the top position on a couple of occasions but in the end could not do better on a day when his teammate managed to outdrive him.
The came Fernando Alonso, fifth fastest in the Aston Martin, which might be a disappointment for the the Spaniard who was the fastest driver at the end of SQ2. Nevertheless, a decent result for Aston Martin.
With Verstappen in sixth, Lance Stroll did well to go seventh fastest in the sister Aston Martin beating Charles Leclerc on a bad day for Ferrari that saw Lewis Hamilton get eliminated in SQ2 just after his teammate spun in front of him.
Isack Hadjar delivered a solid performance to go ninth fastest as Nico Hulkenberg was tenth while his teammate and local hero, Gabriel Bortoleto was down in 14th.
SQ1: Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz out!
Clear conditions remained as Sprint Qualifying began with the track temperature up to 43 degrees Celsius while air temperature was at 19 degrees.
With the green light at the end of the pitlane illuminated, driver head out on track with the Medium tyres, mandatory for the first 12-minute stage, bolted to their cars.
Tsunoda led the way out on track with both McLaren cars following him.
Norris posted the first lap, but then Piastri went even faster with Alonso, Stroll, and Tsunoda, third, fourth, and fifth respectively.
Then Hadjar slipped into fourth as ore drivers started setting lap time, Liam Lawson going sixth fastest as Hamilton and Leclerc came following in seventh and eighth respectively. Then Bortoleto took eighth from the Monegasque.
And with less than seven minutes remaining, Verstappen started his first flying lap and went to the top of the timing screens.
Both Mercedes drivers came next, with Russell leading Antonelli while Norris went for another lap. Russell went fastest only for Norris to go even faster as lap time dropped dramatically with the track evolving. Piastri jumped to second.
With less than three minutes, the final runs to make the cut to SQ2 began, and in the end, Norris was fastest with a 1:09.627, 0.348s clear of Verstappen in second as Alonso was third.
The rest of the top 15: Piastri - Russell - Bearman - Hadjar - Pierre Gasly - Bortoleto - Hamilton - Alex Albon - Leclerc - Stroll - Hulkenberg - Antonelli.
Out of Sprint Qualifying: Franco Colapinto was 16th, missing out by 0.050s with Lawson in 17th as Tsunoda was 18th in the Red Bull.
Then came Esteban Ocon in 19th as Sainz was only 20th ranting about the "worst execution" over the team radio.
SQ2: Hamilton out!
Then came the second stage of Sprint Qualifying, a ten-minute session on Medium tyres as well, and it was Bortoleto that went first posting the first lap time, a decent 1:09.946.
But then Hulkenberg soon after went faster to the top as Albon went second fastest as Alonso went to the top with Stroll behind him in second.
Hadjar then went second with Verstappen fourth ahead of Leclerc in fifth as Hamilton was seventh as the names continued to get reshuffled on the timing screens.
The came the McLarens as Norris went only second behind Alonso with Gasly following and going tenth as Piastri went only third.
Russell followed in fourth as Antonelli went fifth.
Order after first runs was: Alonso - Norris - Piastri - Russell - Antonelli - Hadjar - Stroll - Verstappen - Leclerc - Hulkenberg.
In the drop zone: Hamilton - Albon - Gasly - Bearman - Bortoleto.
With less than three minutes remaining, the second round of SQ2 laps began, and with those over, Alonso remained on top with a 1:09.330, 0.043s faster than Norris in second as Russell improved to third.
The rest of the top ten: Piastri - Antonelli - Hadjar - Stroll - Verstappen - Leclerc - Hulkenberg.
Out of contention began with Hamilton who was 11th fastest and losing out by 0.076s with a Yellow flag caused by Leclerc spinning not helping the seven-time F1 Champion's chances.
To mattersworse, Hamilton was noted for a Yellow flag infringement.
The came Albon who was 12th fastest ahead of Gasly who was 13th in the Alpine and was followed by Bortoleto who couldn't make it beyond SQ2. Bearman was 15th.
SQ3: Norris fastest, but Antonelli stars!
With Soft tyres bolted to their cars, both McLarens, both Mercedes, and Leclerc made their way out on track first as the other waited.
Russell went first and fastest and was followed by Antonelli who went even faster from his teammate while Leclerc went third.
The came Piastri who went only third after an error in the Senna Esses as Norris followed and went fastest by 0.069s from Antonelli.
Then Hulkenberg joined the action and started his lap as both McLaren remained out on track for another go apparently carrying enough fuel to do that.
Alonso, Stroll, Verstappen, and Hadjar finally made their way out with less than three minutes remaining.
Hulkenberg went sixth fastest as the remaining four drivers were on their out laps and making their way to the start/finish line. Piastri and Norris started another attempt.
Piastri improved to third while Norris slightly improved his best time as Alonso came to the line but was only fourth as Verstappen took the finish line in sixth.
Russell improved to fourth after his second run while Antonelli remained in second.
Sao Paulo Sprint Qualifying Provisional Classification
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