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The Formula One action continues today at the Brazil Grand Prix as qualifying takes center stage at Interlagos.
Drivers' Championship leader Lando Norris extended his lead to nine points with victory in the sprint race after McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri crashed out on Lap 6.
After finishing P4 in the sprint, Max Verstappen has been eliminated in Q1.
Q2 is coming up next.
GO FURTHER
Lando Norris extends F1 title lead with Brazilian sprint win as Piastri crashes out
Q2 5:41 — No trouble for Mercedes and McLaren in this qualifying session, as you might have expected having seen them in qualifying for the sprint yesterday. But it still Bearman leading the way in Q2.
Below that, the two Ferraris are at risk of missing Q3 with Leclerc in 13th and Hamilton in 10th. The other drivers in the bottom five are Gasly, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Sainz.
Q2 7:25 — Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has been speaking to Sky Sports about the double Q1 exit, revealing it took some risks with the setup on Max Verstappen’s car that ended up backfiring.
💬 “Obviously nobody expected something like that. We have been happy with the car since pretty much we got here, and you heard our struggles through the practice session and sprint qualy and the sprint.
“But we were at the point where we could not fight for the win, but the group just after. It’s fair to say that we took some risks after qualifying to see if we could put the car in a better place, but it went in the opposite direction. It’s painful, but it’s a lesson where we can improve.”
Q2 8:07 — We are start to see some laps being put down now, but improvements from Q1 are few and far between. Not for Bearman, though, he is flying in this qualifying session and goes quicker than Piastri.
Of the drivers that have put down a time, Hulkenberg and Albon are the slowest and at risk of elimination.
Q2 11:21 — The Williams pair were the first two out in Q2 and after Albon put down a time, Sainz abandoned his lap just before the finish line and returned to the pit lane. The Spaniard looked in real danger of being eliminated in Q1, but did just enough to extend his Saturday afternoon.
With Verstappen out, there's a real chance for some of the lesser drivers to get on the first few rows for tomorrow's Grand Prix.
Q2 13:30 — So as far as I can see, I believe this is the first Q1 exit Max Verstappen has suffered not because of an engine penalty since Monaco 2018, when he failed to take part in the session after crashing his car in final practice. More than seven years ago!
He was eliminated in Q1 at Russia 2021 and Italy 2019, but at both of those races, he didn't set a time in the session because of power unit penalties that meant he would start last anyway.
The last time Verstappen did set a time in qualifying and was eliminated in Q1 was China 2017, when he was hamstrung by an engine issue and could only finish 19th.
Q2 15:00 — With one superstar missing from the lineup, qualifying is back underway. I don't think any of us were expecting Verstappen to drop out in Q1, so here we are!
I wonder if we'll lose another big name in this second qualifying session…
A nightmare for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. His first Q1 exit in over four years, and he looked powerless to do anything about it as he struggled with the car. The Dutchman complained on the radio he was struggling with no grip, which led to a huge loss of time in the middle sector.
Advantage Norris and Piastri in the title battle…
Q1 0:00 — Wow! Max Verstappen improved his time in his last lap but it was not enough to help him avoid being eliminated in Q1 — that is the first time he has gone out in the first qualifying session since Sochi in 2021.
The other drivers that won't feature in Q2 are Ocon, Colapinto, Tsunoda and Bortoleto — a disastrous Q1 for Red Bull.
At the other end of the leaderboard, Norris went fastest ahead of Gasly and Bearman.
Q1 0:49 — There goes Norris again as he sets the fastest lap in Q1, ahead of Bearman and teammate Piastri.
Sainz has now dropped into the elimination zone as Ocon just does enough to climb above him.
Verstappen, Colapinto, Tsunoda and Bortoleto are the others occupying the bottom five places.
Q1 2:59 — Max Verstappen is going to need a lap at the end. Clearly not comfortable, and lost a lot of time in the second sector on that last lap. "Oh my god mate, the car and the ride is a tiny bit better, but now sliding even more," he tells race engineer GP.
Q1 3:52 — Hmm. Not good for Verstappen as his next attempt to move out of the bottom five is no improvement and leaves him three thousandths behind Sainz in 15th. You'd expect him to get round quick enough, but he has been very unhappy with his car, so there are no guarantees.
Everything around the Dutchman remains the same as we move into the final few minutes of Q1.
Q1 5:12 — Gabriel Bortoleto is ready to go, putting his helmet and gloves on. The same can't be said of his car just yet, though, which remains up on jacks. It'll be very, very tight to get him out.
Q1 6:32 — And there is the nerve settler for Piastri as he goes P2 with a much-improved lap from his first forgettable effort. Only Bearman has gone faster than the McLaren so far in Q1.
The drivers in the elimination places at the moment are Verstappen, Colapinto, Ocon, Tsunoda and Bortoloeto who has not yet been able to get into his car.
When Verstappen inevitably moves out of the drop zone, Sainz is the man at risk of missing Q2.
Q1 9:43 — We are coming up to the halfway point in Q1 and it is Hamilton who leads the way thanks to his 1.10.233 lap.
Norris is close behind, while Hulkenberg, Lawson and Bearman follow.
Piastri is back on the track having returned to the garage after his first lap — a lap that has him in the elimination zone at the moment.
He is joined in there by Colapinto while it is looking almost impossible that Bortoleto will get a chance in this qualifying session.
Q1 14:30 — No messing about for Hulkenberg as he is straight into his work with a flying lap. The Sauber driver will have been worried about his readiness for this qualifying session after following Piastri into the barriers during the sprint race.
His teammate Bortoleto is still not in his car as the mechanics continue their work rebuilding it after a much worse crash.
Liam Lawson and Ollie Bearman — involved in a collision in the sprint — go fastest early in Q1 as Piastri puts down a very slow first flying lap indeed.
That won't help settle his nerves…
Q1 18:00 — The very short delay is over and Q1 on this Brazil Grand Prix weekend is underway!
Let's find out which five drivers we will be losing, shall we?
Only five drivers have finished on pole for a Grand Prix this season with 17 of the 20 poles split across three of them.
Max Verstappen leads the way ahead of the McLaren pair at the top of the Drivers' Championship.
Based on today's evidence in the sprint race, Kimi Antonelli has a good chance to add his name to that list this afternoon…
So that delay isn't a long one as the FIA confirm that qualifying will begin in just under five minutes' time.
A crucial few minutes for the mechanics in the Sauber garage as they continue to rebuild Gabriel Bortoleto's car…
After the concerns about the weather and cyclone warning, it's actually turned into a dry day at Interlagos. It is still quite overcast but plenty of patches of blue sky around.
Race control says there is a 20% chance of rain during qualifying.
