Norris takes rain-hit São Paulo pole; Verstappen and Hamilton start from back
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Lando Norris gave McLaren pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix on Saturday, his third successive pole at Interlagos, after qualifying was suspended for more than an hour by torrential rain at the Brazilian circuit.
The session could not begin at its scheduled 15:00 local start because standing water made conditions too dangerous; the first lap was run an hour and 26 minutes late. Times fell as the track dried through the early stages, then rose again as rain returned in the final segment. Norris’s time of 1 minute 27.470 seconds, set on intermediate tires as the weather worsened, stood as pole.
“It’s been a long day, a great qualifying,” Norris said. “Felt more confident in the wet than we did in the dry.” The 2025 world champion has looked quick all weekend in an upgraded McLaren introduced with one eye on next season’s regulations.
The grid will be reshaped heavily by penalties. Max Verstappen took a full set of engine components amounting to a 30-place penalty and chose not to set a time after the first session to save tires, starting 20th. Lewis Hamilton, who also took a new internal combustion engine after a problem in final practice, qualified 11th and will start from the back. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified fourth with a 10-place penalty, promoting Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson to third on the grid. George Russell takes five places of penalty. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was knocked out in the second session but starts 10th through the penalties, and Brazil’s Rafael Camara lines up 11th on his Formula 1 debut despite crashing his Haas.
Oliver Bearman was blunt about the conditions. “Definitely the wettest conditions I’ve experienced in a race car, if not any car,” he said.
McLaren secured the constructors’ championship last weekend alongside Kimi Antonelli’s drivers’ title, its first double since 2020 and ninth constructors’ crown, leaving Saturday’s fight about pride and development direction. Rain is again expected for Sunday’s race, scheduled for 17:00 local time, at a circuit where Verstappen has repeatedly recovered through the field.