Rain, two red flags and a reshuffled grid: São Paulo qualifying unpacked

Qualifying. 8 November 2026. São Paulo GP.

An 83-minute stoppage, a session that ended in the barriers, Norris's third straight Interlagos pole and penalties that put Lawson third. Everything that happened in São Paulo qualifying.

Interlagos qualifying took almost two and a half hours, two red flags and three kinds of track: drenched, drying and drenched again. When it was over, Lando Norris had his third pole in a row at the circuit, and grid penalties had turned the front of Sunday's grid upside down.

A red flag before anyone set a time

A storm after final practice had already soaked the track. It eased enough for qualifying to start on time, but just as the cars were released the rain returned in force. Race control showed the red flag 2 minutes 23 seconds into Q1, before anyone had completed a lap. The FIA's report says Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar came back with their race suits soaked from the short run.

The session stood still for 1 hour and 23 minutes. During the wait the stewards gave Oliver Bearman a reprimand for reversing in the pit lane.

Q1: deleted laps and a Brazilian in the barrier

Q1 restarted on full wet tyres with visibility still poor. Max Verstappen set an early benchmark of 1:37.932, and the times fell with every lap. Norris ended it fastest on 1:30.939.

Six drivers lost laps for track limits in Q1, among them Rafael Câmara, the Brazilian making his F1 debut for Haas. Lance Stroll lost one more for not slowing under double yellows. Home driver Gabriel Bortoleto slid into the barrier in the closing minutes, made it back to the pits but could not run again. He was last with 1:41.564. The Alpine pair, Stroll and both Cadillacs went out with him.

Q2: Lawson guesses right, Câmara ends it early

Verstappen did not go out in Q2 at all. He had a new power unit and a back-of-the-grid start waiting, so Red Bull saved his wet tyres for the race. Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls stopped at Turn 5 with a technical problem.

The track kept drying, and Liam Lawson was among the first to switch to intermediates. He went to the top by 1.6 seconds before George Russell set the fastest lap of the day, 1:26.745. With less than a minute left, Câmara lost the car and hit the barrier at Turn 12. Red flag, and Q2 was not resumed.

That froze the order. Lewis Hamilton was 11th and Oscar Piastri 12th after a mistake on his last lap, followed by Câmara, Lindblad, Carlos Sainz and Verstappen without a time.

Q3: one lap before the rain

Q3 began under darker skies, and every team knew more rain was coming. Fernando Alonso led the queue out on intermediates and set the first time, 1:30.311. Then Norris went 1:27.470, and that lap held.

Russell finished 0.204 seconds behind. On what turned out to be his last representative lap, Mercedes told him to back off when he caught Alex Albon, hoping for a cleaner run next time round. The rain came first. His reply on the radio said it all: "I don't want to be P2. I want to be P1!" (via Sky Sports).

Behind them: Antonelli third, Charles Leclerc fourth, Lawson fifth, Nico Hülkenberg sixth for Audi, then Hadjar, Bearman, Alonso and Albon. For Aston Martin it was the first Q3 of the season.

Penalties rewrite the grid

Five drivers had grid drops confirmed before qualifying (FIA):

  • Russell: five places for an engine change, so seventh;
  • Leclerc: ten places, so 14th;
  • Hamilton: back of the grid after a problem with his fresh Ferrari engine in final practice forced a full power-unit change;
  • Verstappen and Sergio Pérez: back of the grid for new power units.

So Norris starts alongside the new world champion Antonelli, with Lawson third, his joint best grid slot in F1. Hülkenberg, Hadjar and Bearman fill the next three places, and Câmara starts 11th on his debut. Hamilton is 20th and Verstappen 21st.

What it means for Sunday

Mercedes can finish off the constructors' title today if they outscore Ferrari by three points or more, and both Ferraris start outside the top ten. The forecast on our race preview points to more rain. If it comes, the qualifying order may not survive the first lap.

Norris's pole fits the pattern at this track: he was also on pole here in 2024 and 2025.

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