Norris ‘a little bit surprised to be on pole’ after coming out on top in hectic Sao Paulo qualifying session

In what could be labelled the most eventful qualifying of the season, Lando Norris continued his strong run of form to claim a “relieving” pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix amid challenging track conditions.

The session, which was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday as usual, was postponed to 0730 local time on Sunday due to heavy rainfall, leaving drivers to face a wet circuit with a constant threat of further rain.

READ MORE: Norris beats Russell and Tsunoda to pole position in Sao Paulo amid five red flags in dramatic rain-affected qualifying

Plenty were caught out by the slippery surface, with red flags disrupting each segment of qualifying, but it was Norris who kept his cool and set the fastest time of Q3 with a lap of 1m 23.405s.

It was not a straightforward mission for the championship contender, but starting from the front row ahead of George Russell and the RB of Yuki Tsunoda offers the Briton his best opportunity to close the 44-point deficit to Max Verstappen – who failed to make it out of Q2 along with team mate Sergio Perez, after getting caught out by the red flags flown for Lance Stroll’s crash.

Summarising the session, Norris said: “There was a lot going on today, but super, super happy because I was struggling a lot at the beginning of qualifying. I had a lot of work to do so I was not comfortable at all, so to end up on pole… I worked at it a lot through qualifying.

“I had a lot of errors I needed to improve on but I did exactly that, so a little surprised again. I’ve been surprised a bit lately, but some nice laps. I felt good in the end and a good result for us.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from a chaotic qualifying at Interlagos as Norris leads Russell and Tsunoda after multiple red flags

There was a brief moment in the dying seconds of Q1 when it looked like the McLaren driver would fall at the first hurdle, but he managed to squeeze through to Q2 and subsequently knock Lewis Hamilton out of the session.

Norris bounced back from his near-miss, setting the quickest time on multiple occasions to outqualify his rival Verstappen, who was unable to clock a fast lap due to late red flags brought out by Lance Stroll’s crash in Q2.

“You’re always trying to find that next little bit but you saw how many people were going off and crashing and locking up, so it was easy to end up badly and end up in the wall, or do something where you might not even make the race later today,” Norris explained.

“That risk/reward was not easy today, especially from where I was in Q1 I found it very tough to know how much more can I push. So that’s why I’m happy, because it’s a reliving qualifying after something like this.

READ MORE: Red Bull drivers left frustrated after dramatic Q2 exit in Sao Paulo as they assess chances of gaining ground in Grand Prix

“Eyes forward, I mean I’ve got some quick guys behind. George put in a nice lap, Yuki’s been flying in the wet all day today. It’s never easy in these conditions, it’s never as much as just settling down and getting on with it.”

Meanwhile, his papaya team mate Oscar Piastri failed to challenge Norris for pole after a trip off the track ruined his final lap, leaving him to start the Grand Prix in P8.

Dissecting the error, the Aussie said he locked up into Turn 1, leading to a “disappointing” and “frustrating” result.