FORMULA 1
 Credit: Steven Tee In a dominant sprint qualifying from McLaren, Australian driver Oscar Piastri took pole position on Friday at the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Piastri was the McLaren driver who was behind his teammate Lando Norris for large parts of the session but with his last lap in SQ3, he managed to pull out an extraordinary lap time out the bag to take sprint pole position by a narrow margin of just 29 thousandths of a second (0.029s). The boy from Australia in just his second year of Formula 1 took pole position for Saturday's sprint race from teammate Lando Norris in what will be a McLaren front row lockout at Interlagos, in what is set to be a weekend of varying weather conditions. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc would qualify third as the scarlet Scuderia outfit would be another team to have both drivers inside the top five of sprint qualifying as Carlos Sainz, last time out's Mexican Grand Prix winner, qualified in fifth place. The Ferrari drivers were either side of Max Verstappen who qualified in fourth place in a decent effort for the championship leader. Verstappen comes into the final four rounds with a 47-point in the standings over Lando Norris and has suffered a set back for Sunday's Grand Prix. The reigning champion has been given a five-place grid penalty for taking on a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the penalty will drop him five places from where he qualifies, this therefore giving a slight advantage to Lando Norris. How Sprint Qualifying for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix unfoldedFriday at Interlagos since 2021 has brought about a qualifying session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, all before the qualifying for the Grand Prix. However, with a change of sprint format in 2024, the sprint shootout would take place on Friday to conclude the first day of track action. Lando Norris would top the day's earlier practice session, which would be the only practice session of the weekend due to the sprint format. He would be the driver feeling most confident ahead of sprint qualifying - a session which he topped in 2023 and took pole for the sprint race. It would be an all-British top three as George Russell would finish second for Mecedes, while Oliver Bearman would finish third for Haas. Bearman would be standing in for Kevin Magnussen for the sprint section of the weekend.
The green light and the session would be underway for the start of sprint qualifying with 12 minutes of running for drivers to try and put lap times together to make the top 15 and would make it through to SQ2. All cars would head out immediately on medium tyres, as is the mandatory rule, and there would be many drivers getting lap times in early. The two Ferrari cars would be the first ones across the line but they would be beaten as the track was constantly improving and cars were finding time. Therefore, many drivers were not staying in positions for very long. By the end of the first laps, Oscar Piastri would set the fastest time provisionally with a 1:10.265 ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and Liam Lawson of Visa RB as the top three. Soon enough half of the session had been completed and most drivers had headed back to the pit lane for a review of data while the Ferrari drivers both improved in to the top five but drivers were bound to improve on their final run. Both Red Bull drivers would improve as like the first flying laps the times kept flying in and with many drivers improving positions kept on changing with no drivers totally safe from elimination so their lap times had to count! As the chequered flag was waving only drivers on flying laps could complete their lap times and improve, which left a lot of drivers still competing for positions and a space in SQ2. Lando Norris would top the session with a stunning lap time of 1:09.477. A brilliant lap from the McLaren driver and he would be over seven tenths faster than teammate Piastri. Being eliminated would be both Aston Martin drivers in a disastrous session for the team in their fight with Haas for fifth in the Constructors Championship as both of their drivers made it through. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll would be eliminated along with Alpine's Esteban Ocon, Visa RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Sauber's Zhou Guanyu.
15 cars would remain as the drivers had progressed through to SQ2 after what was a very close and enthralling SQ1 session which saw Lando Norris be fastest and it was a lap that was quite a way quicker than the other competitors that would be favourite for pole position. With the threat of rain, there would not be any risks taken from a large section of drivers including McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari with George Russell being the lead car of a train that waited for the green light. The green light would eventually come at the end of the pit signally the start of the 10-minute SQ2 session, which would also see the mandatory tyre use of mediums. There would be some teams taking their time heading out and they were Red Bull and Haas, as well as the Visa RB of Liam Lawson. Haas and Lawson would only get one flying lap in at the end of the session so it would have to be good for Lawson, Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg. Lando Norris would be the driver to beat heading into the final runs of SQ2 and it would be another stunning lap, which would end up not being caught throughout the session and would end up finishing fastest. Towards the end of the session many drivers would be at risk including Sergio Perez who would find himself in the drop zone but would not get to the timing line in time to start a final lap in an attempt to improve. He would therefore pit and would be eliminated from qualifying. Another big elimination shock would be Lewis Hamilton who would also be eliminated from SQ2, continuing his qualifying woes in 2024. Perez and Hamilton would be joined by Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas in being eliminated from SQ2 whereas the other 10 drivers would have a chance at competing for sprint pole in SQ3.
The top 10 drivers from SQ2 would have the chance to fight for pole position for Saturday's sprint race in the eight-minute qualifying session, which would have the C5 soft tyres as the mandatory tyre compound. SQ3 would be underway as the green light would come on at the end of the pit lane, eight minutes of qualifying to determine the grid for Saturday's sprint race to kick off the rest of the weekend's action. It would be a slow start to the session with only McLaren and the Williams of Alex Albon heading out on their own for one flying lap, so they would end up having the time to complete two. Lando Norris would set a blistering lap time that would put himself onto provisional pole. Norris' lap was into the 1m08s and was three tenths quicker than Oscar Piastri who was second. Alex Albon would slot into third place and would set a midfield benchmark of 1:10.078. The three drivers would return to the pit lane to prepare for their final laps of the session which would see the remaining seven drivers hopefully set their lap times and put themselves in the best possible position for Saturday's sprint race. Eventually the drivers headed back out onto the circuit with one flying lap attempt left for all of the drivers who were looking to try and improve or set their only lap times of the session. The likes of Ferrari, Max Verstappen and George Russell had yet to set their lap times. Also yet to set a lap time would be Oliver Bearman of Haas. However, it would not go to plan for the young Brit as he would exceed track limits and would have his only lap time deleted. A disappointing end to a really strong Friday for Haas' rookie in 2025. . Elsewhere on the final runs, the two Ferrari drivers would make their way into the top four, Charles Leclerc would go up to second place and split the two McLarens. His teammate Carlos Sainz would cross the line seconds before Leclerc and would initially go third but would drop to fourth following Leclerc's lap. Before long, the chequered flag would be waving which meant only final flying laps could be completed and improving would be Piastri, with a magnificent middle sector! Lando Norris could not improve and would bail out of his lap, Oscar Piastri meanwhile would take pole position away from him! A stunning lap from pole position saw shoot up to the top of the time sheets with a 1:08.899. A narrow margin in Piastri's favour would be enough for him to take his second career pole position in any format, and his second in sprint qualifying - following on from his first in the sprint weekend at Qatar in 2023. Piastri would take the pole ahead of McLaren teammate Norris, by 29 thousandths of a second to be precise (0.029), as Charles Leclerc completed the top three for Ferrari, with a great lap from the Monegasque. Max Verstappe's only SQ3 lap would be good enough for fourth on the gird but there would be definitely work to do in the 24-lap sprint raace to come on Saturday, although it would be a second row start for the reigning champion. Carlos Sainz would complete the top five for Ferrari. George Russell in the sole Mercedes in SQ3 was sixth ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly that put on another strong performance in seventh. Gasly was ahead of Liam Lawson in eighth as the Visa RB New Zealander managed to qualify a full 10 places ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda - the same for Gasly with teammate Esteban Ocon. Williams' Alex Albon and Haas' Oliver Bearman would complete the top 10 at the end of SQ3. After an exciting qualifying session for the sprint part of the weekend complete, attention turns to the sprint race for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. That will be the next track action of the weekend to take place on Saturday. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 21 - Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Provisional Classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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