Sportsupdated 21m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 25 August 2024Lando Norris Takes Pole For São Paulo Grand Prix After Rain-Delayed Qualifying
11 Other7 Local Western6 Western Mainstream2 Other source typesPhoto: Original: Steffen Prößdorf; Derivative work: Mb2437, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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Lando Norris took pole for the São Paulo Grand Prix after rain-delayed qualifying. Qualifying was halted for over an hour by torrential rain at Interlagos.
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Pole in Interlagos rain
Lando Norris took pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix after qualifying was delayed by nearly an hour and a half for heavy rain at Interlagos. George Russell finished second but was fuming that he could have been faster after his engineer told him to abort a faster lap before the rain became heavier. Kimi Antonelli lined up alongside Norris on the front row after Russell received a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his permitted number of engine parts.
Charles Leclerc qualified fourth but faced a 10-place grid penalty, which promoted Liam Lawson to third and shifted the front of the grid. The session began at 15:00 local time, was stopped before anyone could set a lap because conditions were too dangerous, and restarted an hour and 26 minutes after the originally scheduled start time.
Penalties reshape the grid
The penalties changed the starting order beyond the top three, with Max Verstappen not taking part in the second session because he knew he would be starting at the back of the grid. Lewis Hamilton qualified 11th but still started from the back of the grid after saving his tyres for the race and because of the same engine-related penalty logic. Nico Hulkenberg qualified sixth and will start fourth, while Oliver Bearman qualified eighth and will start sixth, and Fernando Alonso qualified ninth and will move up one place to eighth.
Oscar Piastri was knocked out in Q2 and will start 10th because of the penalties, and Brazilian Rafael Camara will line up 11th on his F1 debut despite crashing his Haas towards the end of the second session. Bearman described the conditions as "Definitely the wettest conditions I've experienced in a race car, if not any car, and that's saying a lot given I grew up in the UK."
What Norris said next
Norris said the qualifying was about "getting two laps in at the beginning and not making mistakes, and that's exactly what we did."
“Norris said: ‘It's been a long day, a great qualifying.”
Russell said, "Congrats to Lando. That was definitely the pole lap," and added that the rain was coming and they "should have just finished the lap."
The BBC described the wet-weather levelling effect as helping drivers like Alonso, whose Aston Martin had been among the slowest cars in the field all season.
The BBC also noted that Norris repeated his pole from Brazil last year and will start from the front for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix in September.
The São Paulo Grand Prix is set for Sunday at 18:00, with rain still a factor after a qualifying day shaped by stoppages and engine-related grid penalties.
