The Friday in F1 Brazil GP saw the new surface playing some role as weather remained dry, with McLaren showcasing good pace as Red Bull’s woes continued.
It was cloudy on Friday in F1 Brazil GP at Interlagos, but it remained dry in the end for the sprint qualifying where McLaren ended up 1-2. Oscar Piastri piped teammate Lando Norris at the last minute to take the sprint pole and set up a direct fight.
Piastri went for that second lap and improved, but post-session alerted that he will give up the win if needed to help Norris, who made a mistake on his second lap and aborted it. The Brit was upset with questions about the title scenario and rival Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman could only manage a fourth place finish, that too by dragging the car in, when teammate Sergio Perez suffered a SQ2 exit along with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who was downbeat. His teammate George Russell made it in SQ3, but couldn’t challenge for the top spot.
The Ferrari pair was thereabouts on a track which doesn’t suit them as much, with Charles Leclerc keeping his nose ahead in third. He is trying to catch Norris for second. Teammate Carlos Sainz managed a Top 5 result, as together they are hunting down McLaren well.
Piastri: “We’ll see what the pace is like for both of us tomorrow. I think first and second is the first objective and then we’ll see what order it is. I know that I’m not in the running for the drivers’ standings and for the team, it doesn’t matter which way around we are. I know that’s the case and we’ll see. Yes. I’ve said I would from when we first had these discussions. It would be nice to win, but it’s one point difference, and it’s not the main race so we’ll see. Lando needs the points in the drivers’ standings a lot more than I do, but of course I still want to win. So if I put in the effort and have good pace, I’m sure that won’t go unnoticed, but let’s see.”
Norris: “A little bit surprised that we were so quick today, but a pleasant one of course. A good lap, I made some mistakes on my final lap and just boxed. Good job as a team. I don’t care [where Verstappen finished in terms of title]. I hate this question so much. I’m just going to race, I don’t care about where I qualify. For me, I just focus on my own job and that’s it. It’s the same question every time but it doesn’t matter. If he’s first, if he’s last, I’ll do the best I can. Tomorrow’s a completely different day so we’ll see. We definitely made some good steps forward.”
Verstappen: “As soon as we went into qualifying it looked like we were definitely off. Our car, [it was] a bit difficult on the bumps – they did the resurfacing but I think they actually made it worse to drive! It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our car. So all the bumpy areas, the car’s jumping around a lot and it’s costing me quite a bit of lap time unfortunately. For tomorrow I don’t know. Normally when you are already quite a bit off over one lap, I don’t think we are particularly the strongest in the race, so we’ll have to see how that goes tomorrow in the Sprint. Of course I also know there is maybe some weather around that can come but maybe not for the Sprint. We’ll have a look.”
Hamilton: “Pretty bad, but it’s the same as every qualifying for me, not that I’m happy about it. I just don’t have any confidence in the car so a big struggle for me. FP1 was like Baku 2022 for us down the straight, it was hitting so hard so we did lift the car. It was a little bit better in terms of it wasn’t hitting the deck so badly, so I wasn’t in pain or anything like that. The thing’s hopping through all the corners so the thing’s very hard to drive. It is what it is, it will be what it will be. I’m not really massively bothered, if I’m honest. I think if I can move forward in the Sprint, great. I’ll try again in qualifying two, make some changes to the car and see what we can do.”
Leclerc: “I’m relatively happy with our Sprint Qualifying, I think we maximised our result for the session today and I don’t think there was anything more to gain. The McLarens were particularly fast, and we’ll give it everything to challenge them in the Sprint Race. It will be important to bring home every point we can.”
Perez: “We had a good Q1, but then into Q2, we were struggling a little bit with the balance. We had a little bit of understeer with the track coming down and we tried to do it basically with the brake balance, the tools that I had available, but I ended up a little bit too rear-limited. And then it was a bit confusing on the programme. We thought we might have a chance for a second lap, and unfortunately we didn’t. It was a strong FP1 but I think today we did struggle quite a bit. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s qualifying really. We got caught out with the conditions unfortunately, and that’s really what was the difficult bit.”
With no Hamilton and or Perez in SQ3 along with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, it put four midfield team drivers in the Top 10. The pick of the lot ended up being Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who felt pretty good in the car, even though teammate Esteban Ocon was knocked out in SQ1.
Likewise Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson felt better to be in the Top 10, but Yuki Tsunoda was out in SQ1. Both Ocon and Tsunoda felt good with their respective laps, but were left confused with the gap to their teammates. Williams’ Alexander Albon showed better pace in Top 10 finally.
Teammate Franco Colapinto couldn’t get his lap together to be out in SQ2, where Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg ended up as well after not feeling the harmony with the car. Stand-in teammate Oliver Bearman made merry after a last-minute call-up due to sickness to Kevin Magnussen.
The Brit will see-through the whole weekend which will remove his rookie status, considering he will complete three race weekends. Aston Martin’s Alonso did not find pace to be knocked out in SQ1 like Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu – who couldn’t start the final quick lap due to team error – whereas Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas made it in SQ2.
Bearman: “The car was feeling really good all day, honestly. From the first lap I did in Q1 I had a great feeling. I’m happy to be in SQ3 and finally make it to the third stage of a qualifying session. I just did a little mistake in Sector 1, which cost me a lot of time. The rest of the lap was really, really good, so I’m a bit disappointed. Ayao woke me up this morning at like 0630 with his call. When I saw his name, I wasn’t so mad. If it was my mum or something, not realising the time difference, I would have been a bit more angry! Of course, I give my best to Kevin, because I know he’s feeling bad and he has had a lot of success on this track – he did pole here. But, of course, I’m very happy to jump back in the F1 car and it’s always a pleasure.”
Gasly: “I’m delighted. Third Q3 in a row. SQ3, but… It’s been a very, very strong qualifying. I felt good in the car. I had some good potential, I managed to put the laps [together] one after the other. Top of the midfield, so that’s definitely a sign of good improvements over the last few weekends, so I’m very happy. Honestly, it’s probably the best the car [has] felt over the last few races. It was a strong race in Mexico, it does feel like on this track it’s working well as well. I don’t want to jinx ourselves, but so far the car has been working well. I’m pretty confident we’re going to be in the battle tomorrow for a few points.”
Lawson: “[I’m] very happy. It’s a good step obviously, it’s my first time back into Q3 – I know it’s a Sprint. It’s positive. We made a good step from this morning. The track was really challenging I think for everyone this morning. I know that obviously everybody made probably quite a big step, so I’m stoked that what we did worked. I’m really happy and pleased with the work that everyone’s done. Obviously it’s going to be tough tomorrow, but we’ll be pushing for points. We’re right on the cusp of [points] there. Honestly, we struggled this morning in the long run, but we were also on a soft. Let’s see. Anything’s possible. We’ll obviously do our best but I’m sure it’s going to be a tough race.”
Albon: “I was definitely happier on the mediums than on the softs. We need to understand why because obviously tomorrow we’re going to be qualifying on that soft tyre, so we just need to make sure we’re trying a different out-lap. We’re missing grip on that soft tyre. The medium, honestly, felt pretty good, so we’ll do our homework, we’ll figure out what fell away from us. The car’s feeling fairly good. I’m really surprised by Ollie’s pace, Pierre’s pace as well has been really strong. I expected the RBs to be quick, but we’ve got our work cut out. The car feels okay on race pace – I think our race run was strong. It’s unbelievable degradation here. It’ll make it interesting.”
Bottas: “It was good to make it into SQ2 today, especially after a challenging start to the weekend. We found the track really bumpy, so we had to adjust the setup quite a bit for qualifying. I’m glad we did, though, because it taught us a lot about the setup direction for the rest of the weekend. The car feels more drivable now, though the balance still needs to be improved. We’ve got some work ahead of us for both qualifying and the race, but first up is the sprint from P15. We’ll try to maximise everything we can while also focusing on learning more about the setup for the main days. Making it into SQ2 was a positive step, especially since reaching that stage hasn’t been so common for us lately.”
Alonso: “We didn’t have the pace in Sprint Qualifying today. We had to make some changes to the car after Free Practice 1 due to the bumpy track conditions, which we knew would be detrimental to our pace. It’s going to be difficult to score points tomorrow in the Sprint, so we have to keep ourselves focused on Sunday.”
Tsunoda: “It was a tough Sprint Qualifying. I felt my lap was pretty good, and normally it should have been enough to get through SQ2, but unfortunately, I just didn’t have pace. I’m surprised that we’re so far away in terms of lap times. Tomorrow it won’t be an easy Sprint starting from the back but I’ll give my best.”
Here’s how F1 Brazil GP sprint panned out
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