2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying Review

After heavy downpours yesterday, it was time for a super-early Qualifying Session to set the Grid for today’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix!

Q1

In Qualifying 1; Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, and Zhou Guanyu were the five slowest drivers! Lewis Hamilton just did not have the confidence to get his Mercedes through to Q2 in what was a bitterly disappointing outing whilst Oliver Bearman being out wasn’t the biggest surprise as he’s never driven in the wet before (in Formula 1). A crash from Franco Colapinto resulted in the Williams driver being out in Q1 whilst Nico Hulkenberg massively struggled for Haas, and Zhou Guanyu was slowest! Honestly, I can’t understand Zhou’s performances anymore! It was Max Verstappen who topped Q1 ahead of his former teammate Alex Albon! Interesting!

Q2

In Qualifying 2; Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, and Pierre Gasly all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Valtteri Bottas did a really good job, and was unfortunate to miss out on a Q3 appearance whilst the big story surrounds Max Verstappen getting eliminated after the FIA took far too long to call the Red Flag following a crash for Lance Stroll. I’m sorry, but this was absolutely ridiculous, this literally made no sense, especially given Red Flag’s were always brought out straight away after the other 4 incidents we had! Anyway, Sergio Perez also lost out despite looking quicker today whilst Carlos Sainz also crashed his car, and it’ll be interesting to see if it gets fixed for the Race later on. Pierre Gasly ended up slowest in Q2, and I’m not really sure why he was so far off compared to his Alpine teammate! Lando Norris bounced back to top this session, a couple of tenths clear of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso!

Q3

In Qualifying 3; a 1:23.405 was enough for Lando Norris to take a critical Pole Position ahead of today’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix! Lando needed this for his Championship challenge, and now he needs to finish the job in the Race today! George Russell did a superb job to take P2 for Mercedes whilst Yuki Tsunoda will start third for Visa Cash App RB in what was probably the lap of his career! Esteban Ocon will start 4th after a terrific session himself, ahead of the other VCARB of Liam Lawson (who should also take a bow) whilst Charles Leclerc will probably be disappointed with P6 all things considered! Alex Albon had a terrible crash at Turn 1 which took him out of the running for both a Top 3 start and potentially the Race itself, and a mistake by Oscar Piastri cost him dear! The good news for Aston Martin is they locked out the 5th Row of the Grid with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll. However, the bad news is both guys crashed (definetly a "what could’ve been" for Aston)!

Starting Grid for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades

1. Lando Norris: 10

2. George Russell: 10

3. Yuki Tsunoda: 10

4. Esteban Ocon: 10

5. Liam Lawson: 9

6. Charles Leclerc: 6

7. Alex Albon: 4

8. Oscar Piastri: 4

9. Fernando Alonso: 4

10. Lance Stroll: 3

11. Valtteri Bottas: 8

12. Sergio Perez: 5

13. Carlos Sainz: 2

14. Pierre Gasly: 3

15. Lewis Hamilton: 1

16. Oliver Bearman: 3

17. Max Verstappen: -

18. Franco Colapinto: 1

19. Nico Hulkenberg: 1

20. Zhou Guanyu: 1

    

My Predictions for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

1. George Russell

2. Lando Norris

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Max Verstappen

5. Oscar Piastri

Note: Firstly, it’s unclear as to whether all 20 drivers will start the Race, so bear that in mind with the Starting Grid. And secondly, this is by far the hardest session I’ve had to give out Driver Ratings for (and I've been doing it for well over 2 years now), so that’s a bit why it’s all over the place compared to normal!