Lando Norris takes pole in heavily-delayed wet Brazil GP qualifying

Lando Norris claimed pole position in a heavily-delayed, rain-hit Formula 1 qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. 

After torrential rain caused Q1 to be almost immediately red-flagged, the session ended up being delayed for more than an hour in what turned out to be the second-longest qualifying in F1 history. 

At the end of the two-and-a-half-hour qualifying, it was Norris who came out on top, outpacing George Russell’s Mercedes by 0.204 seconds to take his third pole of the 2026 season. 

Norris has also completed a hat-trick of poles in Brazil, having topped qualifying at Interlagos for the past three years. 

F1 Brazil Grand Prix: Full qualifying results

“It’s been a long day. It’s been a great qualifying," Norris said. “To be on pole again here, two years in a row, different conditions to last year, but I’m very happy.

“It’s not easy conditions out there, especially when you know it’s going to rain a lot more. It was about getting two laps in at the beginning, not making any mistakes, and that’s exactly what we did, so it’s been a very good day."

Russell was left frustrated to miss out on pole, having been instructed by his race engineer to abort his final lap after encountering traffic. 

The 28-year-old Briton will however drop to seventh on the grid due to having a five-place grid penalty for taking on a fresh engine. 

Russell’s penalty will promote new F1 world champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli onto the front row alongside Norris for Sunday’s race. 

Charles Leclerc took fourth but he will drop 10 positions on the grid after Ferrari fitted a fresh power unit onto his car. 

As a result of the penalties, it will be Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg forming a shock second row of the grid following their brilliant qualifying performances for Racing Bulls and Audi respectively. 

Isack Hadjar qualified seventh but will move up to fifth on the grid, ahead of Ollie Bearman in sixth who reached Q3 for only the second time this season for Haas. 

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was another star of qualifying as he advanced to Q3 in his Aston Martin for the first time this year and set the ninth-fastest time. That will turn into a P8 start after Leclerc’s penalty is applied. 

Alex Albon was 10th-fastest in his Williams but will move up one position to ninth. 

Lewis Hamilton was 11th fastest in Q2 after choosing not to run on the intermediates with the seven-time world champion starting from the back of the grid anyway due to changing his power unit. 

The big shock in Q2 saw Oscar Piastri fail to progress into Q3 with a time good enough for only 12th, ahead of F1 debutant Rafael Camara in 13th. Camara starred in his first F1 qualifying session on home soil to advance into the second part of qualifying, before crashing at Juncao, which brought out a red flag. 

Arvid Lindblad was 14th after being told to stop with an issue in his Racing Bulls car, ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who locked up and ran wide at the tricky Turn 12, which caught out several drivers throughout qualifying. 

Verstappen was 16th after deciding to not run in Q2 to save his tyres, given he will start at the back of the grid because of his penalty. 

It proved to be a nightmare qualifying for Alpine, who lost both its drivers in Q1 with Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly only able to set laps good enough for 17th and 18th.

Lance Stroll was 19th for Aston Martin following an off-track excursion at the final corner as he outpaced the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez who took P20 and P21. 

It was a difficult session for home hero Gabriel Bortoleto, who slid off at Juncao and ended up rear-ending the barriers. Bortoleto could take no further part in Q1 as a result of the damage sustained to his Audi and was slowest of the 22 runners.

Rain could yet cause further chaos in Sunday’s race, with lights out at 5pm GMT.