After just a single free practice on a resurfaced track, the entire field headed out on the medium tyre for the 12 minutes of SQ1 and the threat of rain in the air.
SQ1
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the first car out on track followed by teammate Carlos Sainz. Leclerc set the first time of the session with a 1:11.654, a time that was quickly beaten by several drivers.
After the first round of laps, Oscar Piastri is leading with a time of 1:10.265, 0.188 ahead of Charles Leclerc, who improved on his second lap, and Nico Hulkenberg in P3. With Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Zhou, and Franco Colapinto, who had his lap time deleted in the knockout zone.
Norris took the fastest lap in SQ1 with a 1:09.477, an impressive seven-tenths ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. Alex Albon in the William rounding out the Top 3.
Alonso, Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Zhou were eliminated, while Bottas in P15 made it through.
SQ2
SQ2 starts with everyone heading out on the medium tyres, with George Russell being the first to set a lap time of 1:09.683. With the chance of rain still looming in the air in Sao Paulo, Russell’s time was beaten by Lando Norris, who went over half a second quicker with a 1.09.063. Max Verstappen, on a fresh set of mediums in P2 just 0.011 ahead of Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari.
The Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Oliver Bearman set their first times of SQ2 towards the end of the session. Bearman set a time of 1:09.629, which was fast enough to get him into SQ3.
Norris was again quickest with a 1:09.063 ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Franco Colapinto, and Valtteri Bottas were knocked out in SQ2.
SQ3
With only 8 minutes in the final segment, the McLaren duo is the first out on track, joined only by Alex Albon in the Williams while the other teams are waiting in the pits. Piastri was the first to set a lap, but teammate Lando Norris set a time of 1:08.928, putting him on the provisional pole for the sprint.
Oscar Piastri improved on his second run with a 1.08.899, snatching Pole from Norris, who aborted his lap. Norris’s previous time was fast enough to place P2 ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon, and Oliver Bearman, who had his lap time deleted after a big moment at turn 2, complete the Top 10.
