Sprint Qualifying:

SQ1:

After only one hour of free practice, the 20-strong grid were quick to return to the track on Friday for Sprint Qualifying, with 30 minutes of track time determining the grid for the penultimate Sprint race of the season at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.

Leclerc led the pack on their first flying lap attempts, as the green lights appeared to start the first 12-minute session.

With the times beginning to make their way onto the board, the track seemed to be evolving quickly as a multitude of driver begun to top the leaderboard, However, it was McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who claimed the provisional top spot with a 1:10.265s attempt, two tenths ahead of Hulkenberg in second, with RB’s Lawson following in third.

Williams’ Franco Colapinto saw his lap time deleted as a result of exceeding track limits, seeing himself relegated down to the elimination zone alongside Alonso, Bottas, Stroll and Zhou, as SQ1 entered its final minutes.

The majority of the grid headed back out onto the track during the closing stages, to set a final lap, with Piastri remaining on top, whilst Leclerc moved himself up into second place.

Perez improved his own time to go third fastest, ahead of his Red Bull teammate Verstappen in fourth.

Whilst Alonso initially moved himself out of the danger zone, as others improved – including the likes of Gasly, Bottas and Colapinto – the Aston Martin driver was ultimately pushed down to 16th, in what was a disappointing session for the team as Stroll also exited in 18th place.

McLaren’s Lando Norris moved into P1 in the final moments of the session after a late surge saw him clock a time of 1:09.477s, whilst Ocon and Zhou found themselves eliminated in 17th and 20th place respectively.

SQ2:

With dark clouds looming over the track, most drivers were quick to get underway as soon as the green lights were shown on the second 10-minute qualifying segment.

Norris once again went fastest with a 1:09.063s, placing him only four tenths clear of the nearest challenger of Sainz. Verstappen looked set to take P1 after going purple in Sector 1, and then logging personal bests in Sectors 2 and 3, however, ultimately missed out and slotted into P2.

Further down the order, the drivers at risk from elimination included Colapinto, Bottas, the two Haas’ of Bearman and Hulkenberg and Lawson, with the latter three having yet to set a time before the final minutes of the session. Perez and Hamilton sat close to the danger zone in ninth and 10th place respectively.

Haas’ risk to leave Bearman’s attempt so late into the session seemed to pay off as the young driver – substituting for Kevin Magnussen who was unwell going into the weekend – moved up into fifth place. 

Elsewhere, Hamilton and Perez saw themselves move into the danger zone, with Perez running out of time to make another attempt and finishing in 13th, whilst Hamilton could only improve to 11th, meaning both drivers were shockingly out of the rest of qualifying.

Those drivers also eliminated included Hulkenberg in P12, Williams’ Colapinto in P14 and Kick Sauber’s Bottas in P15.

SQ3:

With the final eight minutes of Sprint Qualifying underway, the McLaren pair were quick to take to the track, on the mandatory soft compound tyre. Elsewhere, other driver were beginning to get themselves ready in the pitlane including the likes of Bearman and Lawson, both of which were competing in their first ever SQ3 sessions.

Piastri initially set the fastest lap of the first efforts, before Norris once again set an impressive lap time of 1:08.928s, going almost three tenths faster than his teammate.

With SQ3 entering its final minutes, other drivers began to join the track in their attempts to beat Norris’ benchmark time. Bearman slotted into ninth place after a mistake at Turn 2, before the Haas driver’s time was then deleted after being deemed to have exceeded track limits.

All eyes turned to the front as Piastri moved into provisional pole position with a time 1:08.899s, with Norris opting to return to the pit box instead of completing his final attempt – ensuring that Piastri sealed P1 ahead of his team mate.

P3 went in the way of Leclerc, with Verstappen claiming P4 ahead of Sainz and Russell in P5 and P6 respectively. Gasly, Lawson, Albon and Bearman all completed the top 10, with Bearman being the only driver who failed to put a time on the board.

Sprint Race:

There were some alterations to the starting grid for Saturday’s Sprint Race, as the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, as well as Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, would all be set to start from the pit lane as a result of changes being made to their cars under parc ferme conditions.

With five lights out and 24 laps to go, Piastri got a good launch off the line from pole position to immediately place a gap between himself and teammate Norris, whilst Verstappen looked to make a move on Leclerc who ultimately maintained position by holding the racing line.

The McLaren pair had looked to have dropped Leclerc and Verstappen as they increased the gap out in front, with Verstappen still looking to try to find a way around the Monegasque driver,

Behind this battle, Sainz, Russell, Gasly and Lawson were all running in the points-paying positions from fifth to eighth.

Norris was still on the tail of Piastri with the Briton closing to less than one second behind by Lap 6. However, he soon lost ground – dropping further behind Piastri – with the #4 then looking increasingly at risk from Leclerc and Verstappen.

Further down the order, Perez made a move on Bearman for P10, whilst Stroll had also made a move on teammate Alonso for P18. Norris, was still attempting to keep his gap to the chasing Leclerc and Verstappen as the Sprint race reached the halfway mark.

Onto Lap 16, McLaren told Norris over the radio that they were happy to hold positions until the final lap, with Piastri being warned two laps later to not make life difficult for Norris if he was to make an attempt of an overtake. Meanwhile, Verstappen had successfully made a move on Leclerc going into Turn 4, before setting his sights on the Papaya’s up in front – cutting the deficit to 1.6s with three laps to go.

Hulkenberg’s Sprint race soon came to an end as he pulled his Haas to the side of the track due to a mechanical issue, bringing out the yellow flags in Sector 2.

McLaren finally carried out their team-order switch on Lap 22 to move Norris into first place. However, this now placed Piastri in danger of losing a position to Verstappen, with the reigning World Champion now only around half a second behind.

Moments later, a Virtual Safety Car was called in order to clear the abandoned Haas of Hulkenberg.

The Virtual Safety Car period soon ended in time for a final lap shootout, with Piastri fending off a quick Verstappen, before ultimately holding onto the position, as McLaren claimed a one-two result with Norris claiming victory as the chequered flag fell.

Verstappen had to settle for third place, although it was noted that the Red Bull driver would be investigated for a Virtual Safety Car infringement after the Sprint. After a hearing between a representative of the team and the stewards, it was announced that Verstappen would receive a five-second time penalty as well as one penalty point on his licence for being above the minimum time at VSC end, relegating him down to fourth in the results.

In his place, Leclerc was promoted to third place, with departing Ferrari teammate Sainz in fifth, Mercedes’ Russell in sixth, and Gasly in seventh, whilst the second Red Bull of Perez scored the final point on offer in eighth place.

Qualifying:

Q1:

Whilst Qualifying was originally planned to be on Saturday, hours after the Sprint Race, it was postponed due to poor visibility caused by heavy rainfall. The new Qualifying session would instead be held on Sunday morning at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace to set the grid for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix later the same day.

With Q1 getting underway amidst uncertain weather, a lengthy queue of cars had formed in the pit lane, all fitted with full wet tyres, looking to set an early lap time in case the weather deteriorated further,

Yellow flags soon flew at Sectors 2 and 3, as a result of Lawson going off the track at Turn 12 before getting the RB going again. Zhou soon afterwards did exactly the same thing at the same point of the circuit, whilst Stroll had his own brief trip onto the grass.

Kick Sauber’s Bottas was the first to trial the intermediate tyres as Q1 headed into the halfway mark. Ocon, meanwhile, surprisingly set the fastest lap of the session so far with a 1:29.916s, putting him 0.291s ahead of Alonso.

Tsunoda slotted himself into P1 on a 1:29.172s shortly before the red flags were thrown for the stricken Williams of Colapinto after he crashed into the barriers due to a spin whilst going into Turn 3. The Argentinian driver came over the radio to report to the team that he was okay as the marshals worked quickly in order to clear the scene.

The session resumed with eight minutes left on the clock, Albon, Zhou, Russell, Bottas and Hamilton were all at risk as the field queued up to get going again – all of this coming amidst deteriorating conditions as heavier rain fell across the circuit, leading to Bottas to opt back to the full wet tyre.

Gasly proved it was possible, despite the challenging conditions, to improve after bettering his effort in the Alpine. Meanwhile, Hamilton had got himself out of the danger zone by moving into P14 with only a few minutes of the session remaining. The other Mercedes of Russell also looked to be having a difficult time, sitting down in 20th place after having a brief moment off the track.

Russell soon managed to complete a lap time to put himself up into second place on his next lap, whilst Hamilton now sat in the drop zone and seemed to be struggling to get the most of his Mercedes machinery. Elsewhere, Norris sat on the edge of the elimination zone in 15th after having his lap time deleted due to track limits. Hamilton managed to scrape going through to the next session by moving up into 14th, dropping Norris down into the elimination zone.

On a last lap attempt, Norris managed to do enough to claw his way into P15, which again demoted Hamilton down to P16 and out of Qualifying. In what was a disappointing session for Haas, Bearman and Hulkenberg saw themselves exiting in P17 and P19 respectively., with Colapinto separating the pair in P18 and Zhou brought up the rear in P20.

Q2:

With the weather seeming to have eased off a bit, Q2 quickly got underway with Piastri having opted for the intermediate tyres for his opening run whilst the remainder of the field were still running on the wet tyre compound – the Australian driver proceeding to go third fastest with a 1:28.925.

This fast pace from the McLaren prompted several other drivers to start to box for the inters, as Piastri went even faster to take the top spot from Verstappen by 0.6s. 

The track grip seemed like it was going to be a problem in this session, with Mercedes’ George Russell experiencing a spin, before Sainz ended up losing the rear of his Ferrari and going off track at Turn 2, triggering the yellow flags which were soon upgraded to the second red flag of Qualifying. With Q2 being halted with five minutes left on the clock, the drivers at risk at this moment in time were Norris, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon.

With the session recommencing, the Briton appeared eager to move himself out of the elimination zone, having made his way to the front of the pit lane queue, putting himself up into third place, as others continued to improve including Alonso who went quickest of all.

Lerclerc proceeded to move himself out of the danger zone while Norris went fastest of the rest on his next attempt with a 1:24.844s, however, another red flag was triggered as a result of Stroll crashing – meaning disaster for Red Bull as there was no time for either of the constructors World Champions cars to improve.

Those drivers eliminated in Q2 included Bottas in P11, Verstappen in P12 – although he would be set to start the race from P17 on the grid as a result of a five-place grid drop due to a power unit change – Perez in P13, followed by Sainz and Gasly in 14th and 15th place respectively.

Q3:

With three flags already in this Qualifying session, the rain began to fall once again as the weather conditions started to deteriorate, with all eyes on the top-10 shootout. Whilst Stroll had made it through to Q3, he would obviously not be starting the session given the damage to his Aston Martin from his crash in the previous session, with the remaining nine drivers beginning to form a queue in the pit lane.

The first lap times began to make their way onto the board with the advantage going towards Norris after he clocked a 1:24.158s moments before the session was once again red-flagged.

This time the pause in the session came as a result of Alonso’s Aston Martin making contact with the barriers with just under seven minutes left on the clock. Fortunately the two-time champion was able to walk away from the crash as the marshals continued with what would be a very busy day.

When Q3 resumed it was Russell who led the remaining eight cars back out onto track, as everybody made their attempts to improve amidst the declining conditions.

With three minutes left on the clock, a fifth red flag was thrown after Albon made heavy contact with the wall after seeming to lose control of the back of his Williams under braking.

With only seven cars left in the running, Norris, Piastri, Ocon and Leclerc were straight out on track to set another flying lap time, whilst Russell, Lawson and Tsunoda all remained in the pits, seemingly opting to go for just one final flying lap.

Norris went fastest to claim provisional pole position with a 1:23.405s, with teammate Piastri not being able to better his time after suffering a spin on his attempt. Fellow Briton Russell would instead become Norris’ closest challenger, sitting in P2 some 0.173s off the pace.

RB had an impressive session with Tsunoda and Lawson being set to start the race in third and fifth place respectively – the best ever qualifying results for both drivers – whilst Ocon would be sandwiched between the pair in fourth for Alpine. Leclerc took sixth place from Albon in seventh, with Piastri in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Stroll in 10th.

Race:

The consequences of the chaotic qualifying was felt prior to the race with several modifications being made to the starting order.

One driver that was confirmed prior to the race start that would not be participating was Alex Albon, with the team stating that the short window of time between Qualifying and the Grand Prix would not allow for the FW46 to be repaired. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Sainz would be set to start from the pit lane after his power unit and gearbox were changed.

Verstappen would also be set to start the race from further down the order than his original Qualifying position of 12th, as a five-place grid penalty was issued for taking on a new internal combustion engine outside of his allocation.

Drama occurred before the race had started as Stroll suffered from a spin during the formation lap. In an attempt to rejoin the track, the Canadian drove straight into the gravel trap becoming beached, leading to an aborted race start as marshals worked quickly to remove the stricken Aston Martin.

The aborted start led to some confusion, with pole-sitter Norris leading several cars away from another formation lap whilst the remainder stayed on the grid. With it being confirmed that everyone should have stayed on the grid for the aborted start, Norris found himself under investigation for a starting procedure infringement.

Colapinto also suffered an issue, as he initially pulled into the correct grid slot before moving forward into the vacant space left by stroll. 

Following another formation lap, with all 17 remaining cars making it back to their positions in one piece, the rain began to fall once again at Interlagos. With the lights finally out and the race underway, second-placed Russel got a stronger launch off the line than pole-sitter Norris, allowing the Mercedes to take the lead at Turn 1.

Further back, battles were occurring up and down the grid, with Tsunoda, Ocon and Lawson all duelling for third place before Lawson was forced to back out of the fight, allowing Leclerc to move through into fifth place.

Verstappen and Hamilton had both moved up the order, with the former title rivals fighting for 10th place. The Dutch driver seemed to have more confidence in his car as he claimed the position from Hamilton into Turn 1 – however, Red Bull teammate Perez was not having the same luck, suffering from a spin which saw him drop down to the bottom of the field.

Onto Lap 4, the rain looked to be falling heavier around the track as Norris began to close in on Russell after putting in the fastest lap of the race so far. Verstappen continued his charge despite the declining conditions, claiming ninth place from Gasly before making a move on Alonso for eighth.

Meanwhile, Russell, Tsunoda and Lawson had all been noted for a starting procedure infringement like Norris, while a separate investigation was also underway in regards to Bearman and Colapinto after a collision at Turn 10. This subsequently resulted in a 10-second time penalty for Bearman, after he made contact with the rear of the Williams and dropped down the order,

By Lap 10, Verstappen was not hot on Piastri’s tail as the Red Bull continued to slice his way through the grid, with the Dutchman wasting no time in making a move going into Turn 1, promoting him up to seventh place, before making quick work of Lawson to take sixth place.

Hamilton had a moment on Lap 12, triggering the yellow flags before he returned to the track in P12. Colapinto looked to capitalise on the seven-time World Champion’s mistake, having a wheel-to-wheel battle in which the William’s driver came out on top.

Race Control confirmed that the race would now only be 69 laps after the additional formation lap, with Verstappen looking to find a way past Leclerc for fifth place, whilst Ferrari teammate Sainz left the track at Turn 4, seeing him drop down to P15 as the rain began to fall heavier once again.

Lap 25 sparked the beginning of the pit lane visits, with Ferrari being the first to make a change as Leclerc pitted for another set of intermediate tyres. He rejoined the track in 13th place, as Norris seemed keen to do the same before being convinced by his team to prolong his stint on his current set of tyres.

Meanwhile, the stewards had confirmed that Mercedes were under investigation for a tyre pressure infringement between the aborted start and the actual race start.

Hulkenberg continued with bad luck as the German became beached off track after a spin, triggering a Virtual Safety Car, before being able to rejoin the track and get racing again. This neutralisation of racing prompted a lot of action in the pitlane with the majority of the second half of the grid pitting, however, by the time Russell and Norris made their stops, the VSC had ended, meaning when they rejoined the track they were demoted to fourth and fifth, although Norris soon made a move on Russell as the Mercedes driver struggled for grip.

A full Safety Car was called on Lap 30 due to the worsening conditions, with Ocon leading the race some eight seconds ahead of Verstappen and Gasly, who were all yet to pit. Norris remained in fourth ahead of Russell, whilst Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty after he was deemed to have caused a collision with Lawson.

Lap 32 saw the racing stopped as the red flags were thrown due to a big crash for Colapinto, with the Argentinian driver hitting the barriers heavily before emerging from the car unharmed. This concluded what had been a disappointing day for Williams, after Albon crashed in Qualifying and was unable to start due to the damage sustained to his car.

With just over half the race distance left to go, the rest of the grid returned to the pit lane, meaning everyone would have a chance to change their tyres. It was during this time that Hulkenberg would learn that he had been given a black flag for receiving outside assistance from the marshals after he beached his car, meaning he was disqualified from the event.

The Safety Car led the pack out for one lap before the green flags waved and racing resumes, with the Alpine of Ocon holding onto the lead from Verstappen. Behind them, Norris went wide at Turn 4 before rejoining the track, allowing Russel through into fourth place, whilst Leclerc also had his own moment, the Ferrari being sandwiched in the order by the two McLarens.

Bearman suffered a spin into the barriers at Turn 7 on Lap 36. The only remaining Haas was able to get going again, although he soon suffered another moment only a couple of laps later. 

Another Safety Car was called on Lap 40, this time for the Ferrari of Sainz after he made contact with barriers. This brought down the remaining cars left on track to 15.

With the Safety Car period ending on Lap 43, Verstappen had a good restart to take control of the lead of the race from Ocon whilst Norris had a disappointing restart, dropping down to seventh following a moment where he went wide off the track.

McLaren came over the radio to enact team orders on Lap 46, with Piastri letting Norris through to move up into sixth place – possibly looking to optimise the amount of potential points in the Championship battle – before the Briton set his sights on Leclerc for fifth place. Leclerc had at this point been noted for returning to the track unsafely, after having his own moment, which allowed the Mercedes of Russell to move into fourth.

Double yellow flags made an appearance briefly on Lap 52 as a result of Piastri suffering from a slide, with the McLaren now defending against the RB of Tsunoda in a battle for seventh place. Back at the front of the grid, Verstappen had now opened up a gap of nearly seven seconds to Ocon.

As the race entered its final few laps, Verstappen was now a comfortable 15 seconds clear of Ocon, whilst Russell had closed to within a second of the third place Gasly.

However, when the chequered flag fell, there was nothing anyone could do to challenge Verstappen as he crossed the line to take his first victory since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, extending his Championship lead over Norris to 52 points. 19 seconds later Esteban Ocon crossed the line to take second place, while Gasly managed to hold off Russell to claim third place and give Alpine a well deserved double podium result.

Russell had to settle for fourth place in his Mercedes, with Leclerc and Norris following in fifth and sixth respectively. Whilst Piastri initially finished in seventh, the McLaren driver’s 10-second time penalty for his collision with RB’s Lawson demoted him down to eighth.

Tsunoda was instead promoted to P7, with RB teammate Lawson following in P7, closing the gap to Haas in the Championship standings. Alpine’s double podium result helped them move from ninth to sixth, ahead of them both.

Hamilton claimed the final point on offer in 10th place, whilst Perez just missed out in 11th. Bearman claimed P12, finishing ahead of the final classified runners of Bottas, Alonso and Zhou.

Sainz and Colapinto both received a DNF in the race due to their crashes, whilst Hulkenberg received a DSQ after being forced to retire his car due to receiving a black flag for outside assistance.  Stroll and Albon both missed out on appearing in the final classification, with Stroll having a moment on the formation lap and Albon having a DNS due to the lack of time to repair his Williams following his Qualifying crash.