FACTS AND STATS: Haas claim the record for the longest pole wait for a constructor in F1 history

Qualifying in Sao Paulo was run in extremely tricky conditions, with a wet track and more rain an ever-present threat. But no one predicted that the man to master the conditions would be Kevin Magnussen for Haas, the Dane grabbing a first ever pole position for the American outfit who finished last in the standings in 2021. From zero to hero, Haas will be celebrating ahead of tomorrow’s Sprint. Here are the best facts and stats from an astonishing day in Sao Paulo…

• Kevin Magnussen takes his and his team’s career first pole position, but neither of them are guaranteed to officially have a front row start in F1.

• Haas have taken pole at their 143rd Grand Prix weekend, the longest ever stretch beating BAR’s 87 Grands Prix.

• The Dane’s pole was snatched at his 140th Grand Prix, the third longest wait for a pole in F1 history after Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, who also took their maiden poles this season.

• Magnussen had qualified fourth in Q3 in Imola earlier this season, but it didn’t count as Haas’s highest ever start as it was for the Sprint, not the Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Magnussen masters timing at Interlagos to claim sensational maiden pole position in wet-dry Friday qualifying

• Denmark is the 24th nation to have a driver on pole – the 23rd was Mexico, thanks to Perez’s pole in Jeddah.

• Haas are the first US-owned constructor to take pole since Shadow at the 1975 British Grand Prix.

• Magnussen will start the Sprint from P1 on Gene Haas’s 70th birthday on Saturday.

• Max Verstappen has failed to take pole on a Sprint weekend for the first time this year.

• George Russell made it into the top three for the second straight race.

• Lando Norris was P4 for an all-British second row, and McLaren’s best Q3 since Norris was fourth in Hungary.

• Carlos Sainz was fifth, having started from that position at the last race in Mexico.

READ MORE: Sainz hit with 5-place grid drop in Sao Paulo after taking 6th internal combustion engine

• Esteban Ocon out-qualified his team mate in conventional qualifying for only the second time in the last six races.

• It was the first time the Frenchman made it to Q3 at Interlagos.

• Lewis Hamilton was eighth, starting the Sprint 12 places higher than last year.

• The Mercedes man was less than 0.1s away from being knocked out in Q2.

• With Hamilton P8, Perez ninth and Leclerc in 10th, three of the top five drivers in the championship were slowest in Q3.

• Leclerc in P10 is starting from the position that Hamilton started when he won the race here last year.

• Alex Albon missed Q3 by 0.044s in Brazil, after missing it by 0.027s in Austin.

• It was the ninth time in the last 13 races that a Williams has made at least Q2.

• Pierre Gasly fails to reach Q3 in Brazil for the first time since 2017.

• Zhou Guanyu suffered his first Q1 elimination since France in mid-July.

• Valtteri Bottas had his fourth Q1 exit in the last eight races.

• Mick Schumacher was the slowest qualifier for the third time this season.