pole

Piastri’s pole came despite a major oversteer moment on the entry to Turn Four, which he estimated had cost him about 0.2secs and he described as “pretty scary – turning left in a right-hand corner is never good, especially when you’re doing however many hundreds of kilometres an hour you’re doing there”.

Underlying Verstappen’s troubles, the Dutchman was beaten by his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying for the first time this season, the Japanese faster by 0.009secs.

Verstappen was complaining, with added swear words, through the session over the radio about the car bouncing.

Despite that, he was fastest in the first session, and within 0.1secs of the McLaren drivers in the second. But he damaged his floor with an off at Turn Four on his first flying lap in the final session, compromising his car’s performance.

It was the first time he had been out-qualified by a team-mate since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen said: “Not good. From the first lap just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would switch into oversteer in high speed. Just not what you want. We tried to change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked.

“With this balance, in the sprint it will not be a lot of fun. It will be more about trying to survive and then make some changes going into qualifying.”

Although overshadowed by the title fight, arguably the star of sprint qualifying was Fernando Alonso, who put the Aston Martin fourth on the grid – an outstanding performance for a team that lies eighth in the constructors’ championship.

“One of the best results of the year,” he said. “Tough circuit, high-speed sections and the car seemed in the window already in first practice. A bit of stress in Q2 because of traffic but we made it into Q3 and then we put a lap together.

“Twenty-four years’ experience, 44 years old, it has some disadvantages. I get a bit more tired with the jet lag.

“But I know the tracks, the tyres, and know how to extract everything on Fridays, and then on Saturdays it’s true we open parc ferme and make some small changes to the cars and everyone seems to get on top of the circuit.”

Behind him, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was seventh, with the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon sandwiching Leclerc.

Hamilton said almost nothing in his sole media interview after the session.

Asked how tricky the car was, he said: “Same as always.”

The conditions were treacherous, the session starting after heavy rain on a track wet enough for the extreme wet tyres, which nearly all drivers used throughout the first two sessions.

Norris was not especially fast on the extreme wet tyres, but once on to the intermediate tyres in the final session was consistently the fastest driver on track.

Verstappen, usually so strong in wet conditions, was not quite on the Briton’s level but his second place on the grid makes him a serious threat for the lead into the first corner of the race given his usually aggressive start to races.

Norris survived a wobble on his final lap when he hit the kerb through the Turns 14, 15, 16 chicane but was still fast enough for pole as others behind him were affected by a yellow flag caused by Piastri as he tried to negotiate Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar on his inside, which forced him to run wide.

“That was stressful, stressful as hell,” Norris said. “I didn’t know no-one else would get a lap after me. The first two sectors were good. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong it’s tricky, it snapped one way and then the other but good enough for pole.

“No-one’s driven here in the wet before. After Q1, every corner you felt like you could crash every corner. One lap at a time. It was a tricky one.”

Piastri told Sky Sports: “There was more out there that we didn’t get to use. We’ve got a good car underneath us that seems to be working well in all conditions so we can have a strong race tomorrow and hopefully make up some spots.”

Hamilton also faces an investigation for failing to slow sufficiently for the yellow flags waved when Leclerc lost control.

Norris topped all three sessions in sprint qualifying and had a comfortable advantage over Piastri throughout.

He said: “It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked. But we did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today.

“Qualifying is always one of the best things here. It’s difficulty, it’s bumpy, it’s tricky, always a joy, always puts a smile on your face.

“But a long weekend, another qualifying and another couple of races to go but a good start.”

Rain is forecast for Saturday morning in Sao Paulo, when the sprint race is due to start at 14:00 GMT. Qualifying for the grand prix is at 18:00.

Norris’ result is the best possible start to the weekend and gives him the opportunity to build his championship lead – eight points are awarded to the winner of the sprint, seven for second and so on down to eighth place.

Antonelli impressed in second, his best time set on his first lap, while the surprise package of qualifying was Alonso, who set the fastest time in the second session and was just 0.253secs off pole in his midfield car in the final shootout.

His team-mate Lance Stroll was seventh fastest, ahead of Leclerc, Racing Bulls’ Iscak Hadjar and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.