03/11/2024
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's qualifying session the air temperature is 20 degrees C, while the track temperature is 22 degrees. Guess what... it is still raining.
In all honesty, all bets are off what with yesterday's heavy rain and the fact that we've only had one practice session.
Albon is first out, followed by Norris, Gasly, Ocon and Lawson.
An early spin for Lawson at Turn 13 sees the yellow flags being waved.
Albon posts a 32.456 but Norris responds with a 31.608.
Zhou goes off at Turn 13 as Ocon goes quickest (30.096).
"A bit of aquaplaning at Turn 4," says Norris when asked about the conditions.
Alonso goes second ahead of Tsunoda, Perez and Verstappen as Bottas takes the gamble and switches to Inters.
Norris has his time deleted after running wide in Turn 2, as Perez improves to second with a 29.916.
"Doesn't seem to be that much standing water," reports Russell, "so think about Inters."
Colapinto is off and in the barrier at Turn 3.
The session is red-flagged.
"Sorry," says the Argentine as the replay shows his rear-left going over the kerb.
The clock stops with 8:50 remaining, and Albon, Zhou, Russell, Bottas and Hamilton in the drop zone.
Ahead of the restart Bottas switches back to full wets.
"There's a lot more rain," says Norris, who is told that it will last for two minutes.
The session resumes and Gasly is first out, followed by Norris, Hulkenberg, Lawson and Ocon.
"It's raining a lot less," reports Perez, as Russell gets frustrated by Tsunoda's antics as they leave the pitlane. "What the hell, he almost put me in the wall," says the Briton.
Tsunoda subsequently goes quickest with a 29.172, as Leclerc is told that the track is improving. The Monegasque subsequently goes second.
Piastri goes fifth ahead of Alonso, as Hamilton improves to 14th, courtesy of a tow from Alonso.
Verstappen goes quickest in S2, finally crossing the line at 30.615 to go ninth, while Russell fails to improve on 20th.
Next time around, despite a face full of spray from Stroll, Russell goes second with a 29.172.
Hulkenberg and Verstappen have their latest times deleted, as Hamilton remains 17th.
Norris has dropped to 14th, and when Hamilton posts a 31.150 to go 14th it drops the McLaren driver into the danger zone.
Norris goes 15th on his final lap which demotes Hamilton, while Ocon goes fourth with a 29.171, as a 28.522 sees Verstappen go top.
Verstappen is quickest, ahead of Albon, Russell, Ocon, Tsunoda, Gasly, Leclerc, Perez, Piastri and Alonso.
We lose Hamilton, Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Zhou.
"Why," asks the seven-time world champion. "We'll look into it," he is told.
Albon is told that the rain has eased off, as he heads out on wets, behind Sainz, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Russell and Stroll.
Piastri heads out on Inters.
Sainz posts a benchmark 29.406, while his teammate responds with a 29.332.
Russell posts a 29.372 to go second but is demoted when Stroll stops the clock at 29.308 asnd his Aston Martin teammate at 28.707.
A 28.158 sees Perez go top, however all eyes are on Piastri who goes third (28.925) on his Inters.
Verstappen goes quickest with a 27.771 as Norris is told to pit for Inters.
Ocon has his time deleted as Tsunoda, Bottas, Stroll and a whole heap of others follow Piastri's example and switch to the green-banded rubber.
Russell gets going again following a spin in Turn 12.
Piastri posts purples in all three sectors, crossing the line at 25.179.
Sainz is off at Turn 2, as Russell improves to second with a 26.307.
The session is red-flagged as Sainz has gone into the barrier opposite the pit exit. "Oh, I crash, sorry guys," says the Spaniard.
Replay shows he lost the rear as he hit the throttle in the Senna S, showing just how sensitive these cars are in these conditions.
With 5:51 remaining, the Spaniard is currently 10th, while Norris, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon comprise the drop zone.
As he awaits the green light, Piastri is told that the rain may "pick up" in four minutes. At the other end of the queue Perez isn't happy, feeling he should have been sent out earlier.
Norris leads the way, followed by Tsunoda, Albon, Lawson and Piastri.
Norris goes third with a 26.406, 1.227s down on his teammate's best.
Tsunoda goes fourth, as Alonso goes quickest in S2, finally crossing the line at 25.035 to go top.
Stroll goes fourth while Verstappen can only manage tenth.
As Norris goes top with a 24.844, Stroll has gone off and into the barrier at Turn 3.
As yellows are waved, both Red Bulls are in the drop zone.
The session is red-flagged for the third time and it's disaster for Red Bull, as Verstappen already has that 5-place grid penalty after taking on a new ICE.
Norris is quickest, ahead of Alonso, Piastri, Lawson, Albon, Leclerc, Ocon, Russell, Stroll and Tsunoda.
We lose Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and Gasly.
"Come on guys, we gotta do better," says Perez, "what is the point of being the last car?"
It's going to be a busy break for Williams, Ferrari and Aston Martin as the crews seek to repair the cars of Colapinto, Sainz and Stroll in time for the race.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Sao Paulo here.
Ahead of a delayed Q3, it is spitting again as Ocon heads the queue of drivers eager to get underway again. He is followed by Albon, Piastri, Norris and Alonso.
"If it keeps raining like this we should just stay out," suggests Piastri.
Norris is told that the best conditions will be for the first five minutes as there will be more rain after that.
Verstappen is unhappy that it took so long to red-flag the session after Stroll's off, the Dutchman having been behind the Canadian when he went off.
With Stroll out, despite making the cut, there are only nine drivers on track.
Piastri goes quickest but is immediately leapfrogged by his teammate (25.631).
Ocon goes third, , ahead of Lawson and Alonso as Tsunoda posts a 26.036 to go second.
Ocon improves with a 25.085 as Russell goes third.
Piastri goes quickest but is demoted by Albon who in turn is leapfrogged by Norris (24.158).
The session is red-flagged for a fourth time when Alonso goes off at Turn 12, which means an absolute nightmare of a break at Aston Martin.
Re[lay shows the car simply snapped on the Spaniard in one of the fastest corners on the track. "Sorry," he says.
There is 6:59 remaining.
"I don't have any hopes for the race," admits Hamilton. "Just going to do what I can do. With the car I have right now, it's the worst I've ever driven so I probably won't be going very far with it. Maybe I'll start from the pitlane and... I don't know, we'll see, but it's undrivable."
Russell leads the way as the session resumes, the Mercedes driver followed by Norris, Albon, Piastri and Ocon.
We are now down to eight cars.
Russell continues to struggle, almost losing the car in Turn 3, while Piastri spins 360 degrees moments later.
Tsunoda spins at Turn 4 as Leclerc has a very, very big moment.
Albon has a big off in Turn 1, thereby bringing out the fifth red flag on the morning.
The Briton climbs from his badly damaged Williams, the Grove outfit, like Aston Martin, facing a very, very, very busy lunch break.
Replay shows he lost it under braking for the first corner. "Did the brake fail?" he asks. "The brakes look OK from our side," he is told.
There is 3:31 of running time remaining. Ironically, Albon is currently second quickest.
Indeed, as is stands, Norris has pole, ahead of Albon, Piastri, Ocon, Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Lawson, Alonso and Stroll.
"There will be some Class 1 rain starting imminently which will last until the send of the session," Norris is told. "If conditions are slower, just be sensible," he is told. "The race is in a few hours."
Ocon leads the way as the session resumes, the Alpine driver followed by Norris, Piastri and Leclerc.
At the start of his flyer, Ocon locks-up in Turn 1.
Lawson, Tsunoda, Russell and Ocon head out.
Ocon remains fourth, as Norris consolidates his top spot with a 24.092.
Piastri lock-up and fails to improve while Leclerc slows for the resultant yellows.
Lawson goes second with a 24.484 but is demoted by his RB teammate, as Norris posts a 23.405.
Ocon goes third but is demoted when Russell goes second with a 23.578.
Leclerc goes sixth while Piastri can only manage eighth.
So, Norris has pole ahead of Russell, Tsunoda, Ocon, Lawson, Leclerc, Albon, Piastri, Alonso and Stroll.
Bottas will start eleventh, ahead of Perez, Sainz, Gasly, Hamilton, Bearman, Verstappen, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Zhou.
That said, other than whether the cars can be rebuilt in time there is also the little matter of spare.
"Very tricky but I enjoyed it," grins Tsunoda. "We had good pace straight away, a couple of mistakes but some luck as well and with Liam, a good result for the team.
"This track is one of the trickiest tracks, you can build confidence and start to push but you'll have a big consequence like we saw with some of the others. I had one big moment but yeah..."
"Sao Paulo has great memories from a few years ago," adds Russell.
"I'm really pleased to be lining up P2.
"I loved this, reminded me of the karting days, waking up and eating breakfast in your race suit before going out and driving."
"There was a lot going on today, but super, super happy," says Norris. "I was struggling a lot at the beginning so to end up on pole... I worked on it a lot.
"I'm a little surprised again to be on pole, but some nice laps. I felt good at the end and a good result for us.
"You are always trying to find that next little bit but you saw people going off and crashing, that risk - reward was not easy today. So it is a relief."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Sao Paulo here.