It’s time for a rare Friday Night Qualifying. Let’s see who came out on top in changeable conditions at Interlagos.
Q1
In Qualifying 1: Nicholas Latifi, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher were the five slowest drivers. Nicholas Latifi will feel pretty solid about his efforts, but he still wasn’t quite able to make it into the next round of qualifying. Alfa Romeo had a pretty bad day today; Zhou Guanyu came in ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Fair play to Zhou. Yuki Tsunoda was pretty awful yesterday. He didn’t seem to have any pace and he ended Q1 nearly 2 seconds behind his teammate. Mick Schumacher came in last; I can’t see him staying in F1 next season. McLaren’s Lando Norris topped Q1 by over 3 tenths to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Q2
In Qualifying 2: Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Alex Albon was brilliant yesterday. To get his Williams into P11 is incredibly impressive. He was also less than five hundredths off making it into the Q3. Pierre Gasly qualified in 12th, a decent day for the Gasman. Aston Martin weren’t amazing today; Seb Vettel could only get his car into P13. Daniel Ricciardo had another tough day as he qualified in 14th place and Aston’s Lance Stroll came last in Q2. Max Verstappen topped Q2 over Carlos Sainz by just 9 thousandths of a second.
Q3
Kevin Magnussen is on pole! K-Mag got his lap in first and that ended up being enough to take a famous pole position for Haas. Double World Champion Max Verstappen took P2, he’s sitting in a nice spot. George Russell was the cause of a red flag that ended up seeing Kevin Magnussen qualify on pole. He won’t mind too much though as he will still start in P3 for the sprint. Lando Norris qualified in P4; this guy continues to perform incredibly well. Carlos Sainz will probably be slightly disappointed with 5th place, but he could still get a medal come the end of today’s sprint. Alpine will feel pretty happy with a 6th and 7th place with Esteban Ocon coming ahead of Fernando Alonso. Lewis Hamilton didn’t get a good lap in so he starts in P8 and Sergio Perez will feel very annoyed. Checo’s first lap was ruined by Charles Leclerc and after he went purple in the first sector in his second lap, the red flag was called. And finally, Charles Leclerc was screwed over by Ferrari. For whatever reason, Ferrari put intermediates on Leclerc’s car when it clearly was too dry for them. A bad day for Charles.
Starting Grid for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint and my Qualifying grades
Kevin Magnussen: 10
Max Verstappen: 9
George Russell: 7
Lando Norris: 10
Carlos Sainz: 7
Esteban Ocon: 8
Fernando Alonso: 7
Lewis Hamilton: 5
Sergio Perez: 5
Charles Leclerc: 4
Alex Albon: 8
Pierre Gasly: 5
Sebastian Vettel: 5
Daniel Ricciardo: 4
Lance Stroll: 4
Nicholas Latifi: 4
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Yuki Tsunoda: 1
Mick Schumacher: 1
My Predictions for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint
Max Verstappen
George Russell
Carlos Sainz
Lando Norris
Lewis Hamilton
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