Sao Paulo GP Qualifying: Norris on pole, Antonelli stars, disaster for Verstappen
F1 NewsSaturday, 08 November 2025 at 20:10
Lando Norris continued his dominance of the Formula 1 field in Sao Paulo and took pole for the Grand Prix on Sunday on a day when Championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen struggled.
It was Norris' 15th career F1 pole position and while he made a mistake on his first lap in Q3, came back and finished the job with a lap time of 1:09.511 putting himself in the best position to win maiden F1 Drivers' Championship especially as Piastri was fourth while Verstappen was a disastrous 16th.
The Dutchman simply did not have the ammo to fight for a top ten result, let alone pole position as it seems that Red Bull Racing went down another rabbit hole with the setup of the RB21.
And while many now will try to remind us of Verstappen's victorious drive from 17th at Interlagos last year, this time he will need a lot of luck and intervention from the weather and the Racings Gods with Norris looking supreme in the McLaren.
It was a Qualifying that showed no respect to big names as seven-time F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton was another casualty and was knocked out in Q2 and will start the race from 13th on the grid.
Aside from negative shocks, Kimi Antonelli delivered a positive one and qualified second fastest, 0.174s slowed than Norris after an impressive performance which showed that pole would've been his had he more experience.
It was bittersweet result for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc took third spot on the grid, almost three tenths off the pace and ahead of Piastri in fourth.
The Aussie, still unable to launch a comeback, would've hoped to deliver a better result after his crash in the Sprint Race, but he simply had no answer to his teammate's devastating pace.
In fifth cam the ever-solid Isack Hadjar as George Russell was sixth in the Mercedes, the Briton opting for Medium tyres in his final Q3 lap.
Liam Lawson capped off a great day for the Racing Bulls and was seventh fastest with Ollie Bearman a disappointing eighth.
While it may not be disappointing for a Haas to be in Q3, in Bearman's case it was, as he showed much promise as he was second fastest in Q2, but simply couldn't finish the job when it mattered.
Pierre Gasly continued his strong form and was ninth in the Alpine while Nico Hulkenberg was tenth as his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto did not take part as Sauber could not get his car ready in time for qualifying after his horrific crash in the Sprint.
What the top three said
After taking his sixth pole position in the 2025 F1 season, Norris insisted it was not straight forward; he said: "Again, tough out there with the conditions. Just slippery, inconsistent, but good fun. It's always a pleasure around this track. I felt good.
"I was under a bit of pressure because I locked up on my first lap. So a little bit more pressure than I would have liked but stayed calm and put it all together when it mattered.
"Very happy," the Briton concluded.
Antonelli was not happy with his second place; he commented: “I’m a bit annoyed I’m again behind him. We were so close this morning in the Sprint as well.
“It was a very tricky session with the wind, very tricky to put a lap together. But still managing to put a decent lap, I’m happy with that.
“Starting P2 tomorrow, of course they’re very fast, so it’s going to be important to have a good start and try to set a good pace," the Italian concluded.
As for Leclerc, he added: "Very good laps in Q2, Q3 and everything is so close it goes from being a disaster of a weekend to a really good weekend in a matter of a few hundredths.
"I am happy I could put everything together in Q2 and Q3, which was crucial for us as everything was on the limit, and then P3 I'm satisfied with that. It has been a difficult weekend for us," he concluded.
Q1: Verstappen out!
Conditions were dry at the start of Qualifying for the Sao Paulo GP but there were some clouds hovering over Interlagos as track temperatures were at 47 degrees Celsius with air temperatures at 26 degrees.
The start of the session was delayed as repair work was done on the barriers at Turns 10 and 11 following damage during the support race.
Sauber will not complain about that as they were racing to get Bortoleto's car ready after his huge crash as the end of the Sprint Race a few hours earlier.
Sauber boss Jonathan Wheatley revealed that the team opted to build another car for the Brazilian rookie instead of repairing the damaged one. He also revealed issues with Hulkenberg's car which were sorted.
Here is a reminder of Bortoleto's 57G impact!
Both Williams were impatient and raced to the pitlane exit with Carlos Sainz ahead of Alex Albon waiting for the green light which was illuminated just five minutes after the original time.
Sainz and Albon made an installation lap on Medium tyres before returning to the pits as Bearman was the first driver to start a timed lap and went to the top.
Then Esteban Ocon, Gasly and Lawson put in their laps, the latter going fastest as Piastri went for a banker and was only fifth on used Softs suffering from a huge lockup in Turn 1.
After that, Norris and Verstappen joined the action, the former going to the top as the latter went only fourth while Hamilton followed putting in two purple sectors to go fastest. Leclerc was eighth.
With 11 minutes remaining, Bortoleto remained in the Sauber garage the floor of his car still not installed.
Then the Mercedes pair went out, and with the first runs done, the order was: Antonelli - Hamilton - Russell - Norris - Hulkenberg - Lawson - Bearman - Verstappen - Albon - Ocon - Leclerc - Lance Stroll - Fernando Alonso - Hadjar - Sainz.
That order did not last long as the second runs commenced with some drivers heading out early as Verstappen was one of those and went for a lap but did not improve.
He reported that the ride was better but the car was sliding...
With less than four minutes remaining, a big number of drivers went out for their final runs and in the end Norris was fastest with a 1:09.656, 0.229s clear of Gasly as Bearman was third.
The rest of the top 15 were: Piastri - Leclerc - Russell - Hamilton - Stroll - Hadjar - Lawson - Albon - Alonso - Sainz - Antonelli - Hulkenberg.
But then came the shocker! Verstappen was only 16th fastest, 0.066s slower than Hulkenberg in 15th! The Dutchman was furious and radioed a sarcastic "brilliant" to his team.
Ocon was down in 17th ahead of Colapinto who was 18th in the Alpine with Yuki Tsunoda in 19th.
Bortoleto did not take part and was 20th.
Q2: Hamilton out!
Albon and Sainz were out first as Q2 was given the green light with the former starting his lap first. He went fastest, but then the Spaniard returned to the pits after aborting the lap, took on new boots and head back out.
With 12 minutes remaining, all other drivers except Russell and Antonelli hit the track for the first round of laps in Q2.
Leclerc was on a decent lap, but then had a snap having gone wide on the kerbs of Turn 4, and barely caught it and had to abort the lap as Piastri, Hamilton, and Bearman started their laps.
Piastri went to the top as Hamilton went second fastest only for Bearman to go to the top, 0.080s faster than Piastri!
Hadjar went third fastest as Alonso slotted in fourth with Lawson then jumping to third with Gasly going seventh. Stroll eighth and Leclerc ninth on the second attempt.
Norris then went third fastest on used tyres with Russell going third with Antonelli going second.
Order after the first runs was: Bearman - Antonelli - Piastri - Russell - Norris - Lawson - Hadjar - Alonso - Albon - Hamilton.
In the drop zone: Gasly - Stroll - Leclerc - Hulkenberg - Sainz.
With four minutes remaining, the second round started as driver looked to book a place in the top ten shootout and with that over, Norris was fastest with a 1:09.616, 0.189s clear of Bearman in second, as Antonelli was third.
The rest of the top ten were: Leclerc - Piastri - Gasly - Russell - Lawson - Hadjar - Hulkenberg.
Alonso was the first driver to lose out on Q3, missing out by a painful 0.016s and was ahead of Albon who was 12th in the Williams.
But then another big name got eliminated as Hamilton was only 13th in the Ferrari, followed by Stroll in 14th as Sainz was 15th.
Q3: Pole for Norris again!
Bearman was the first driver to start a flying lap in Q3 and went to the top of the board as Hulkenberg went second fastest.
The came Gasly in second place as Leclerc went fastest, 0.078s faster than Bearman.
Norris then came fifth fastest after making a mistake in sector one - a lockup in Turn 1 - as Piastri followed and went even faster than Leclerc.
Russell started his banker lap after that and was only fourth as Antonelli came in his wake took fourth from his teammate after a mistake in Turn 9. He might have been on provisional pole otherwise.
It was provisional pole for Piastri:
With less than four minutes remaining, the final runs of Qualifying began, and Bearman once again was the first to go as Leclerc and Norris followed him.
Bearman could not improve and stays third as Leclerc went to the top with Norris going fastest by three tenths as Piastri just started his final lap but stayed in third.
In the end, Norris took another pole in 24 hours and will share the front row with Antonelli who put in the second-best time in the final moments of Q3.
Leclerc did well to go third fastest as the rest of the top ten lined up as follows: Piastri - Hadjar - Russell - Lawson - Bearman - Gasly - Hulkenberg.
Sao Paulo GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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