Oscar Piastri snatched pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Formula 1 Sprint from McLaren team-mate Lando Norris right at the death of Friday’s qualifying session.
Norris held the benchmark heading into the final moments of Sprint Qualifying, but Piastri’s late 1:08.899s time bettered the Briton by 0.029s.
As is customary in a Sprint weekend, just one hour of practice preceded Friday’s Sprint Qualifying session at Interlagos.
McLaren’s Norris was top dog in the initial hour of running, ahead of Mercedes’ Russell and Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who was driving in place of the unwell Kevin Magnussen.
As Sprint Qualifying got underway, dark clouds loomed in the distance, triggering fears rain could intervene.
The opening SQ1sesion was dry however, and with just over a second separating first and an elimination, nobody could afford being complacent in the final minutes.
Aston Martin was the biggest loser at the first hurdle and the team’s headaches continue in 2024.
Despite reverting to an April-made Suzuka-spec floor, both Fernando Alonso (16th) and Lance Stroll (19th) went out in SQ1.
They were joined by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (17th), RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (18th) and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu (20th).
Norris meanwhile, put the rest of the field on notice with a time over seven-tenths quicker than his nearest rival.
Norris’ pace continued to show moving into SQ2, as his first effort was 0.437s quicker than second-best Carlos Sainz with five minutes to go.
At the other end of the field, three drivers elected to take just one run in SQ2, both Haas pilots and RB’s Liam Lawson.
That left this trio just two minutes to put in a lap in order to advance into the top-10 SQ3 shootout.
With Haas, that gamble paid off on Bearman’s side of the garage with the young Brit impressing after going fifth in SQ2.
Lawson also scraped through but the same couldn’t be said for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who was dumped out in 11th.
Nico Hulkenberg couldn’t make it a double Haas appearance in SQ3 and a downtrodden Sergio Perez finished 13th after failing to start his final run before the session timed out.
That left Williams’ Franco Colapinto in 14th and a valiant effort from Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas landed the Finn in 15th.
McLaren locks out front row for Brazil F1 Sprint
Moving into SQ3, eight minutes on the mandatory soft tyre separated 10 drivers from their final grid positions for the Sprint.
McLaren’s drivers went out first with the rival outfits waiting to see what pace could be set.
Piastri was first across the line, posting a 1:09.225s effort, before Norris pushed the benchmark to 1:08.928s.
The order flipped between the two McLaren drivers at the end in Piastri’s favour, as Norris abandoned his final run.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc slipped his SF24 into third ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly put in another strong qualifying performance in seventh with Lawson finishing eighth.
Williams’ Alex Albon took ninth with Bearman’s Friday ending with 10th position after exceeding track limits.
READ MORE – F1 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying Results
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