{"id":15233,"date":"2025-11-08T20:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T20:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/?p=15233"},"modified":"2025-11-08T20:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T20:40:46","slug":"sao-paulo-gp-lando-norris-beats-kimi-antonelli-by-a-tenth-with-oscar-piastri-fourth-in-an-intriguing-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/sao-paulo-gp-lando-norris-beats-kimi-antonelli-by-a-tenth-with-oscar-piastri-fourth-in-an-intriguing-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"SAO PAULO GP \u2013 Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli by a tenth with Oscar Piastri fourth, in an intriguing qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lando Norris has beaten Kimi Antonelli by a tenth and three-quarters to take his second pole of the weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The McLaren driver has looked like the champion in waiting as he looked strong and has the edge all weekend over his teammate, as he edged out Kimi Antonelli, who he beat in the sprint by a tenth and three-quarters.<\/p>\n

Norris looked throughout qualifying to continue to have the pace in a dry but unpredictable session, he kept his calm to secure pole as he looks to further extend his championship lead. Despite an error on his first run in Q3, Norris bounced back to take pole with Antonelli missing out on a maiden Grand Prix pole, having taken sprint pole in Miami.<\/p>\n

If Norris goes on to win the Grand Prix, like last year, it could be seen as the weekend where he secured his first championship, though it cannot mathematically be won. His performance all weekend, and particularly the way he bounced back in Q3, was a sign perhaps of a champion in waiting.<\/p>\n

McLaren sent Norris out earlier than normal to ensure he avoided any untimely yellow or red flags and he delivered with a clean lap. Charles Leclerc and Antonelli both improved to bump down Piastri, who was knocked down to fourth and will find it tough to beat Norris on the track from the second row of the grid.<\/p>\n

Leclerc was nearly a tenth and a quarter behind Antonelli, while Norris\u2019s main championship rival and teammate, Oscar Piastri, did not improve on his final attempt, leaving him fourth, eight hundredths off Leclerc. Piastri needed a strong qualifying and indeed Grand Prix as yet more questions after crashing out of the sprint earlier in the day.<\/p>\n

Piastri was nearly half a tenth ahead of the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar, despite going fastest on his first run he failed to find the same improvement and was shuffled down to fourth.<\/p>\n

Norris said, \u201cJust 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonelli continued to be the quicker of the Mercedes pair on his first Interlagos outing and could be Norris’ biggest rival on Sunday. He said, \u201cStarting 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hadjar was a hundredth faster than George Russell, the 2022 sprint and Grand Prix winner, managing to split the Racing Bulls as he went two hundredths faster than Liam Lawson. Ollie Bearman had to settle for eighth. The Haas driver looked particularly strong as he topped Q1 and was second in Q2, but he was over two tenths slower than his best time which came in Q2, when it mattered in the final part.<\/p>\n

Bearman said, \u201cI am a bit annoyed I am again behind him. We were so close again behind him, very tough to put the lap together with the wind. But managed to put a decent lap on the final run and happy with that.\u201d The Englishman not sounding too disappointed to be eighth despite setting third-fastest time on the first runs, and being second in Q2.<\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly put his Alpine ninth as he went over a quarter of a tenth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg to complete the top ten. Hulkenberg\u2019s teammate, Gabriel Bortoletto, did not take part in Grand Prix qualifying despite Sauber trying to repair the car; he will start last.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso was fastest of those knocked out in Q2, the two-time champion missing out by just over a hundredth and a half. The Aston Martin driver going half a tenth ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon, while his former teammate Lewis Hamilton was six hundredths ahead of current teammate Lance Stroll by six hundredths. While Carlos Sainz was the slowest in Q2 three tenths off Stroll.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen was knocked out in Q1 on pure pace for the first time in his decades-long career, another dent in his slim hopes of a fifth title. For the Dutchman, it was his first Q1 or SQ1 knock-out since Sochi in 2021, a weekend where a heroic drive effectively sealed his fourth championship a year ago, a fifth now appearing unlikely.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cIt’s not what you want see. The whole weekend has been already quite tough. This was unexpected after changing a lot on the car. I had no grip in the car. I had to massively under-drive it and it just didn’t work. Just no feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the sprint and GP qualifying, he had made changes to the set-up of Verstappen’s car after he found himself in no man’s land in the Sprint on his way to fourth, but it did not pay off and the reigning world champion will need a repeat of his spectacular comeback win at Interlagos a year ago to stay in title contention.<\/p>\n

Esteban Ocon put his Haas seventeenth nearly two tenths ahead of Franco Colapinto, with Yuki Tsunoda completing the field. Tsunoda over three tenths behind Verstappen<\/p>\n

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