After an unacceptable comedic performance on Saturday, they caught up today in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Lando Norris took pole position.
In Q1, which was postponed until the following day, the field faced almost the same conditions as before. Accordingly, the first stage was a cautious exploration, with many slips and accidents. Franco Collapinto was the first to fall victim, hitting the wall, which prompted a short red flag phase. The conditions were best read by Max Verstappen, Alexander Albon and George Russell, while the eventual eliminations included Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hülkenberg and Zhou Guanyu, alongside the aforementioned Collapinto.
We only reached almost the middle of Q2 when Carlos Sainz repeated Franco Colapinto's performance and crashed his Ferrari into the wall almost at the same place where his Argentine colleague had crashed earlier. Another red flag followed... At that moment, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Lance Stroll were leading, but it was clear that with the use of intermediate tires, this would not be the final order. Shortly after Stroll crashed, an avalanche started, followed by red flags one after another. Valtteri Bottas, two Red Bulls, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly also had to say goodbye, because despite the remaining time, this stage was not restarted. All this came in handy for McLaren, especially Norris...
Q3 turned into total chaos, first Alonso crashed, then Albon smashed the Williams, in the end only seven drivers remained in the top 10. In the last few minutes of qualifying we could see a constant improvement, where the trio of Lando Norris, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda were the fastest.
