Qualifying for the postponed 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix started on Sunday morning local time, in wet conditions. The pilots formed a queue on the pit road and waited for the green light to go onto the track. All pilots preferred rain tires with blue logos.
Q1- Hamilton eliminated, Verstappen is the leader!
McLaren pilot Lando Norris was the first to start his fast lap. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson went into the escape area and caused yellow flags in sectors 2 and 3, but green flags returned soon after. While fast lap attempts were continuing, pilots frequently went off the track, causing yellow flags.
After the first trials, Esteban Ocon became the session leader with 1:30.096. Ocon later improved his time and maintained his lead, but Yuki Tsunoda soon took the lead with his lap of 1:29.172.
Approximately 9 minutes before the end of the first segment, Franco Colapinto spun at Turn 3 and crashed into the barriers, and a red flag was immediately raised. Meanwhile, Albon, Zhou, Russell, Bottas and Hamilton were the names in the elimination zone, respectively.
After Colapinto’s car was withdrawn, the pilots lined up on the pit road again, waited for the session to restart, and started to take their laps on the track one after the other.
Hamilton, who was in the elimination zone, could only rise to 14th place after his lap. Russell, who was also in the elimination zone, achieved the 2nd best time and pushed his teammate into the elimination zone. Hamilton could not improve with the lap he took to save himself. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s rating was also deleted and the Dutch pilot fell to 12th place.
The last part of the first episode was quite exciting. Hamilton had an extremely difficult lap and could only rank 14th. Meanwhile, Norris was also in the elimination zone. While Norris saved himself from the elimination zone with his lap, Lawson in the elimination zone also saved himself and pushed Hamilton down. Thus, Hamilton was eliminated in Q1.
Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Zhou were the other names eliminated, respectively.
Q1 Result:
Q2- Verstappen and Perez eliminated, Norris is the leader!
In the second episode, some pilots were informed over the radio that the rain had eased. While many pilots preferred rain tires, Oscar Piastri was seen choosing transition tires with green logos.
The first fast lap of the second part came from Carlos Sainz with 1:29.406. With successive rounds, the ranking continued to improve and the leadership constantly changed hands. After the first attempts, Verstappen settled into the lead. Piastri took the lead from Verstappen with his second lap on transition tyres.
Meanwhile, Russell spun at turn 10, causing yellow flags for a short time, but continued on his way without hitting the barriers.
After Piastri’s lap with transition tyres, other pilots also switched to transition tyres, and started to take their laps.
Approximately 6 minutes before the end of the second segment, Sainz spun at Turn 2 and crashed into the barriers, and red flags were immediately raised. Meanwhile, Norris, Gasly, Albon, Tsunoda and Ocon were the names in the elimination zone, respectively.
After the red flag ended, all pilots started to hit the track one after the other by putting on their transition tires.
Norris managed to save himself from the elimination zone with his lap and rose to 3rd place.
While fast laps followed one after another in the last part of the second segment, Verstappen and Perez fell into the elimination zone. Shortly afterwards, Stroll crashed at Turn 3, causing yellow flags to appear, while the pilots continued to lap. However, after a while, red flags were raised and race control announced that Q2, with less than 1 minute remaining, would not continue. Thus, Verstappen and Perez’s laps were cut short and the Red Bull pilots were eliminated in Q2.
Bottas, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and Gasly were eliminated in Q2, respectively.
Q2 Result:
Q3- Alonso and Albon crashed, Norris on pole!
For the last part, the pilots lined up on the pit road and started to take to the track one after the other as soon as the green light came on. All pilots preferred transition tires with green logos.
After the first attempts, Norris settled into the lead. The pilots continued their successive laps without a break, and as the track accelerated, the lead changed hands repeatedly. However, Norris regained the lead with his last lap.
7 minutes before the end of the third segment, Alonso spun at turn 11 and crashed into the barriers, and a red flag was immediately raised.
When the green light turned on, the pilots lined up on the pit road went onto the track one after the other.
Russell, who started his fast lap first, had to cancel his lap because he went off the track.
Meanwhile, Alex Albon spun at Turn 1 and crashed into the barriers very hard, and the red flag was raised again with 3 minutes and 30 seconds left in Q3.
Alex Albon, Williams FW462, exits the car after crashing in qualifying
Photo: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
After the runway was cleared and the green light was given, the pilots started to take to the runway for their final attempt. Russell was the last pilot to take to the track after waiting in the garage.
Already a leader, Norris strengthened his position by further improving his ranking. Piastri and Leclerc could not improve their rankings. Meanwhile, VCARBs made their laps and rose to 2nd and 3rd place. Norris improved again and took pole position, while Russell rose to 2nd place.
Yuki Tsunoda achieved a surprising result and took 3rd place. Ocon, Lawson, Leclerc, Albon, Piastri, Alonso and Stroll completed the top 10, respectively.
Q3 Result:
The Brazilian Grand Prix will start at 18:30 GMT.
Race Grid:
