After taking victory in the Sprint, McLaren’s Lando Norris continued his strong weekend in Interlagos by landing pole position for tomorrow’s 2025 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix, beating Mercedes Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to top spot in qualifying. The Briton’s hopes of a strong Sunday were boosted by main title rival Oscar Piastri finishing fourth and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen exiting the session in Q1. 

Norris didn’t make life easy for himself, however, and his first run in Q3 was compromised by a lock up in Turn 1. That left the way clear for Piastri to take provisional pole with a lap of 1:09.897. 

Norris tidied things up on his final run, however and the Briton powered to his sixth pole of the season with a lap of 1m09.511s. Leclerc’s lap of 1:09.805s looked set to keep the Monegasque driver on the front row but in the final seconds of the session Mercedes rookie Antonelli delivered a lap of 1:09.685 to take his second front row of the weekend. 

Piastri was left with fourth place, almost four tenths of a second off his title rival team-mate. Isack Hadjar sprung a late surprise by taking his Racing Bull car to fifth place on the grid ahead of the second Mercedes of George Russell and the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson. 

Earlier it had been Haas’ Oliver Bearman who shaped up as the surprise package after he finished the opening two sessions in the top three, but in the top-10 shootout the 20-year-old Briton slipped back to eighth place ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the 10th-placed Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg. 

In Q2, Norris was also to the fore claiming top spot with a lap of 1:09.616s ahead of Bearman and Antonelli, but while Leclerc recovered from a poor opener to eventually take P4 behind Antonelli, there was no place in Q3 for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion couldn’t find the necessary pace and he slipped out of qualifying in P13 just 0.015s off 10th placed Hülkenberg. 

Also ruled out of Q2 were Aston Marting’s Fernando Alonso and Williams’ Alex Albon in 11th and 12threspectively and behind Hamilton. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Williams’ Carlos Sainz. 

Norris opened his clean sweep of qualifying segments with a lap of 1:09.656s that put him ahead of Gasly, Bearman and Piastri but at the other end of the timesheet the major casualty was Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman made changes to his car between the Sprint and qualifying and the direction proved to be the wrong one as he struggled for grip throughout. The four-time champion set two poor laps on the same set of softs which left the reigning world champion in the drop zone with five minutes to go.

He gained almost three tenths on his final flying lap but as others improved it proved too little, too late and finished a shock 16th, ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto. Yuki Tsunoda made it a double Q1 elimination for Red Bull as he dropped out in 19th. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortolet is set to start 20thafter failing to take part in qualifying following his crash in the Sprint. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:09.511 - -
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:09.685 0.174 
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.805 0.294 
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:09.886 0.375 
5 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:09.931 0.420 
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.942 0.431 
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:09.962 0.451 
8 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:09.977 0.466 
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:10.002 0.491 
10 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:10.039 0.528 
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.001 0.490 
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:10.053 0.542 
13 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:10.100 0.589 
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.161 0.650 
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:10.472 0.961 
16 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:10.403 0.892 
17 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:10.438 0.927 
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:10.632 1.121 
19 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:10.711 
20 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari - -