SAO PAULO, Nov 3 (Reuters) – McLaren’s Lando Norris took an emphatic pole position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday after Red Bull rival Max Verstappen qualified only 17th in a wet and crash-strewn session at Interlagos.
George Russell will join his fellow-Briton on the front row for Mercedes in a qualifying postponed from Saturday due to heavy rain, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda a stunning third and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon fourth.
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The race was brought forward to start at 1230 Brazil time (1530GMT), leaving several teams in a race to repair badly damaged cars after a chaotic session halted five times by crashes.
Formula One championship leader Verstappen, who will have a five-place grid drop for an engine change, was caught out in 12th when the second phase of qualifying was halted with 46 seconds remaining.
Verstappen leads Norris, winner of the Saturday 100km sprint at Interlagos in a McLaren one-two, by 44 points with four grands prix and a sprint remaining.
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“There was a lot going on today, but I’m super, super happy,” said Norris of his fifth pole in the last seven races.
“You saw how many people were going off and crashing and locking up. It was easy to end up badly, end up in the wall or do something where you might not even make the race later today.”
New Zealand’s Liam Lawson qualified fifth for RB with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc sixth and Alex Albon seventh for Williams despite a big crash in the final phase while second on the timesheets.
The car was seriously damaged in a major blow for Williams, who also had Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto spin into the tyre wall with eight minutes and 50 seconds remaining of the first phase.
Norris had flirted with disaster in that same phase, going through by the skin of his teeth in 15th place after pushing Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton into the bottom five.
“The car was undriveable,” complained Hamilton, a three-times winner in Brazil, over the team radio after qualifying 16th.
