Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen took pole for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix right before a monsoon hit the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on Friday (Nov 3).
It is Verstappen’s 31st career pole, and 11th of the season; he is on the hunt for his 17th victory this season.
“We didn’t know when [the rain] would hit in qualifying, we knew it would hit,” Verstappen said in the podium interview. “This is insane weather. I talked to Charles [Leclerc] about it, our laps felt terrible. But the winds started to change and become very strong, we lost a lot of lap time because of it. It was all quite hectic in the last lap.”
“In my whole career, I’ve never experienced something like that,” Leclerc said after qualifying second. “From turn 4 onward, there was no rain. But the car was extremely difficult to drive, no grip. I was thinking in just coming in on our hot lap, but I didn’t and we ended up P2.”
Lance Stroll had his best qualifying effort of the year, scoring third in his Aston Martin before conditions worsened to the point that a red flag was flown before Q3 was officially cut short.
On Saturday evening, George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were all assessed penalties for impeding other drivers during qualifying, resulting in each of them being set back three places on the starting grid for Sunday’s race.
Q3
Oscar Piastri was the last driver out of the pits, and ended up paying for it. The wind and the rain made conditions too slippery in the third sector, making the McLaren rookie go off track in turn 12.
Piastri did not finish his lap but was able to return to the garage undamaged. This was the only incident throughout all of qualifying.
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Team | Time from Leader |
| 1. | 1 | Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:10.727 |
| 2. | 16 | Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.294s |
| 3. | 18 | Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +0.617s |
| 4. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +0.660s |
| 5. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.742s |
| 6. | 63 | Russell | Mercedes | +0.863s |
| 7. | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | +1.260s |
| 8. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +1.262s |
| 9. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | +1.594s |
| 10. | 81 | Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | N/A |
Q2
All cars except for the Haas duo went out for hot laps immediately, as rain was threatening to come any moment. However, it never did in this round.
Alex Albon initially placed his Williams in position to advance, but had his best time deleted due to a track limits violation. Without enough time to put up another lap, Albon was eliminated in Q2 and will start 15th in Sunday’s race.
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 11. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | +0.172s |
| 12. | 31 | Ocon | Alpine Renault | +0.187s |
| 13 | 10 | Gasly | Alpine Renault | +0.192s |
| 14. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | +0.348s |
| 15. | 23 | Albon | Williams Mercedes | +0.465s |
Q1
This round was delayed by 15 minutes, as the marshals determined there needed to be a bit more clean-up of debris following a support series session. Rain threatened late in the session, but held off until Q2.
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 16. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri Honda RBPT | +0.044s |
| 17. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri Honda RBPT | +0.050s |
| 18. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | +0.162s |
| 19. | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams Mercedes | +0.242s |
| 20. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | +0.482s |
2023 F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying Results
Next up for the Brazil Grand Prix weekend will be the Sprint. Lights out for the event, following the Showdown qualifying session to determine its starting order in the morning, will come at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 4th. Coverage will be on ESPN.
About the author
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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