Feature
What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Sao Paulo
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McLaren
McLaren knew this track might suit their car and so it proved. It looked like Norris was the pick of their drivers as he topped SQ1 and SQ2 – both by a huge margin. He was ahead on the first runs in SQ3 as well, but as the only team to go for two runs on the softs, the door was open for Piastri to pull a special lap out of the bag. That’s exactly what the Australian did, nailing his final run while Norris made a couple of errors and wound up pitting. But whether they stay in that order come tomorrow remains to be seen, with 'papaya rules' potentially about to come into play.
READ MORE: Piastri beats Norris to stunning Sprint Qualifying pole in Sao Paulo by 0.029s
Lando Norris, 2nd, 1:08.928
“A good session for us as a team to start the weekend in Brazil. We were struggling to get a feel of the car in practice, so the improvements made in today’s Sprint Qualifying are pleasing. The pace is easily there and to lock out the front row is a great result. We’ll work hard to maintain maximum points tomorrow.”
Oscar Piastri, 1st, 1:08.899
“I’m really happy to be starting on Pole tomorrow, and a great result for the team to be starting 1-2. It was a tricker session as in SQ3 my first lap didn’t feel amazing, but I knew there were a couple of places I could improve, and I was able to put it all together for the final run.
“I suspect it’s going to be a very different kind of Sprint to last year because of the resurfacing. We’ll have to see what the weather does, but I’m starting from the best seat in the house, so let’s see what we can so.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“A strong performance for both Lando and Oscar in the Sprint Qualifying session. The car seems to be performing well and Lando and Oscar put together clean laps. At the same time, we need to remain calm, because the conditions in Sprint Qualifying were very different from those in practice. The track was cold and the sky was overcast - we know that our car enjoys these conditions. For the remainder of the weekend, there’s some weather around, so we just have to remain focused, maximise the potential of the car and adapt to the challenges that we will face. As a starting point, this is encouraging, and we hope that we can earn some good points tomorrow.”
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Ferrari
Ferrari had a good day, but they were just outshone by a very quick McLaren car. They still managed to get both cars into the top five, and Leclerc with the tow from the grippy side of the track might be dangerous off the line. With the title rivals starting nearby there could well be opportunities for Ferrari, with Leclerc having already capitalised on a Norris/Verstappen battle of late.
Charles Leclerc, 3rd, 1:09.153
"I’m relatively happy with our Sprint Qualifying, I think we maximised our result for the session today and I don’t think there was anything more to gain. The McLarens were particularly fast, and we’ll give it everything to challenge them in the Sprint Race. It will be important to bring home every point we can."
Carlos Sainz, 5th, 1:09.257
"Today was really challenging, especially because of the track conditions. During Sprint Qualifying, it was windy and the track was much colder, which didn’t help us at all. In Q2, I managed to do a very good first lap on the Medium tyre and didn’t need to push a second time, so we saved that tyre a bit for the Sprint race. The final run with the Soft was good, but we still need to find more grip if we want to qualify further forward."
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"We wanted to be in the mix in this Sprint Qualifying and we managed to do it, so we can be quite satisfied with our starting positions for tomorrow. We knew it would have been difficult to do better than this today, as the McLarens were clearly faster. The key was for the drivers to adapt to the car and the conditions with the track being very hot in practice and much cooler for Sprint Qualifying.
"Now we’ll focus on tomorrow’s race, and then we will try to do a better job in the real qualifying since the most important moment in terms of points, is on Sunday."
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Red Bull
Red Bull looked in the mix with Ferrari in the only practice session, but they did not look a match for McLaren. That is pretty much how Sprint Qualifying went, with Verstappen managing to drive around any issues his car was having to grab fourth on the grid – although that result is tempered by the fact championship rival Norris is ahead. With a grid drop coming for the Grand Prix, the Dutchman needs to maximise his Sprint result on a weekend of potential damage limitation. As for Perez, Red Bull mistimed his final run in SQ2, and he didn’t make it across the line in time for a second flying lap.
Max Verstappen, 4th, 1:09.219
“As soon as we went into Sprint qualifying it looked like we were off. It was a bit difficult with the bumps and I feel like the resurfacing has made it more difficult to drive. It was extremely bumpy which isn’t great for our car as it was jumping around a lot and unfortunately costing us quite a bit of lap time. For tomorrow, I don’t think we are the strongest in the race, so will have to see how that goes in the Sprint. Of course the weather might have an impact, but we will have to wait and see. We have a bit more work to do.”
Sergio Perez, 13th, 1:10.024
“Sprint weekends are always a bit of an unknown, especially here at Interlagos. We had a good SQ1, but in to SQ2 we were struggling with the balance and had a bit of understeer with the track coming down. We tried to do something with the brake balance and then ended up too rear limited. It was a bit confusing with the run programme, we thought we might have a chance for a second lap at the end, but we didn’t and that ended our day a bit early. We got caught out with the conditions on track today, but we’re looking forward to improving for tomorrow’s qualifying and Sprint race.”
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Mercedes
Hamilton was struggling with the bumpy track in FP1, complaining about being in pain. He was also the only driver not to run the soft compound tyre in practice, but as it happened, that didn’t matter as he didn’t make it to SQ3. Exiting on the mediums in SQ2, he just looked short of pace. Russell did make the top 10 shootout, but wound up sixth – ahead of the midfield, but adrift of the top three teams.
Lewis Hamilton, 11th, 1:09.941
"It has been a difficult day for me – notwithstanding the incredible support from the amazing fans here in Brazil. I think the ride on the bumpy surface has been pretty bad for everyone, and it made FP1 very challenging inside the cockpit. We lifted the car during the break and improved the situation, but the pace simply wasn’t there when it came to the timed laps – the balance is on a knife edge, and the car just so tricky to drive and I couldn’t attack any of the corners as I wanted to. I hope we can move forward from P11 during the Sprint and keep working to figure out how to find the sweet spot of the balance in qualifying tomorrow afternoon."
George Russell, 6th, 1:09.443
"That was a challenging session as the track cooled through Sprint Qualifying. Finishing P6 is reflective of where we are right now, at the back of the front pack of teams, and with a pace delta to the next group behind us. I enjoy the challenge of Sprint weekends, getting straight into the action, and of course today has also brought the slightly unexpected challenge of a very bumpy track – which obviously is the same for everyone. For tomorrow, I will be looking to move forward and using the Sprint to work out where we can improve the car for qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"It has been a challenging day for us in Interlagos. Running in very warm conditions in FP1, it quickly became clear that the resurfaced track was as bumpy as ever, and that this would provide us with a set-up challenge for the weekend. Both drivers completed decent long runs, and we made relatively small changes going into Sprint Qualifying. Once we began running, it became clear that neither George nor Lewis were completely happy with the balance, suffering with snaps at the rear. This cost Lewis confidence and lap time, and saw him knocked out of SQ2 by less than 0.1s. George was able to reach SQ3, eventually taking P6 but with a substantial gap to Piastri on pole. The Sprint tomorrow is going to be useful to learn about the long run balance ahead of qualifying in the afternoon. It’s normally a good circuit for overtaking so if we have pace, there’s every opportunity for both drivers to move forward."
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Alpine
Gasly continued his solid form by making it to the top 10 shootout for Alpine, as he continues to try and help his team overhaul Williams in the constructors’. Seventh was the effective ‘best of the rest’ slot and Gasly did well to beat some very impressive midfield runners. But Ocon’s struggles continued, as he exited in SQ1. He hasn’t made the top 10 in either qualifying format since Belgium now, and looks likely to be too far back to challenge much tomorrow.
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Esteban Ocon, 17th, 1:11.052
“We cannot be pleased with our end result in Sprint Qualifying even if I felt good with my actual lap in SQ1. It was a clean lap, no mistakes, but it looks like we are lacking somewhere and we need to look into the reasons why and find some improvements for the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow is another chance to continue our learning and we have to target some improvements. The Sprint is an opportunity, we will see how it goes, and I will give it all I can.”
Pierre Gasly, 7th, 1:09.622
“I’m delighted with today’s Sprint Qualifying result. It’s our third Q3 appearance in a row even if today is just for the Sprint. It was a strong Qualifying for us from the beginning. I have felt good in the car all day, which led into SQ1 where we managed to get through. From then, we put together some good laps, one after the other, building the pace up bit by bit. In the end, we are top of the midfield, which is a sign of improvement for us, so we can all be very happy with that. The aim now is to be in the battle for points in the Sprint tomorrow. It will not be straightforward but I am pleased with this start and we will continue to work hard to gain points over the rest of the weekend.”
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RB
It was a mixed bag for RB in Brazil on Friday, with Tsunoda exiting at the first time of asking in Sprint Qualifying. He didn’t even make a mistake, just complaining of a lack of grip out there. But Lawson continued his impressive run since he returned to the fold, making it all the way to the top 10. He starts eighth in what is the last points paying position, and given RB have lost ground to Haas recently, scoring tomorrow could be crucial for the team in terms of their championship hopes.
Liam Lawson, 8th, 1:09.941
"I’m very happy. It’s my first time back in SQ3, I know it’s a Sprint, but it’s positive that we made a good step up from this morning. The track was really challenging for everyone earlier, but what we did worked, and I’m pleased with the work that everyone’s done. Obviously, it’s going to be tough tomorrow, but we’ll be pushing for points. We struggled on the long runs, but we were also on softs so let’s see, anything is possible, I’m sure it’s going to be a rough race, but we’ll do our best."
Yuki Tsunoda, 18th, 1:11.121
“It was a tough Sprint Qualifying. I felt my lap was pretty good, and normally it should have been enough to get through SQ2, but unfortunately, I just didn’t have pace. I’m surprised that we’re so far away in terms of lap times. Tomorrow it won’t be an easy Sprint starting from the back but I’ll give my best.”
Alan Permane, Racing Director
“It was a mixed day across our cars. A very good day for Liam and congratulations to him for reaching SQ3. We’ll be reviewing everything with Yuki’s car because we exited FP1 with both drivers pretty happy and confident about doing a good job in the afternoon session. For one reason or another, Yuki didn’t have the car he wanted in SQ1 and finished P18. There’s limited work we can do with cars in Parc Fermé, but we’ll be looking through the data just to make sure the setup changes that we made between FP1 and SQ1 are all correct. For the Sprint tomorrow we have every chance to score points with Liam, and that’s what we’ll be doing, just going flat out to try and score some points.”
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Williams
Colapinto has plenty of Argentinian support here, at the closest thing he has to a home race. But despite his fans cheering him on, he made a mistake on his first run in SQ2 and lost his lap time. Up against the clock, his next effort was safer – but too slow to progress. That left Albon as the Williams representative in SQ3, but he came out midway through and only went for one run on the softs, despite having time to do a second.
Alex Albon, 9th, 1:10.078
"I’m a little disappointed with P9, as I felt we could’ve been a bit higher up today. The tyres are so delicate so it’s crucial to get the exact window around here. Tyre degradation will be significant tomorrow, and we still need to understand the Soft tyre slightly better, but our race pace seems pretty strong and it should make for an interesting Sprint Race. We’re sitting just outside the points, so we’ll see what we can do from there."
Franco Colapinto, 14th, 1:10.275
"It was good to get in the car today; my first time driving on the Interlagos circuit here in São Paulo. It was quite a tough afternoon in Sprint Qualifying. In Q1 it was taking the tyres a long time to hit the window and my Q2 wasn’t a clean lap, and the times are so incredibly close. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow as there’s still a lot to play for this weekend. It has been amazing the past couple of days to see all the support I have here and the fans that have travelled to the race creating such a nice atmosphere."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director
"As we expected, it’s very tight in the midfield here in Brazil. In SQ1, there were only three tenths difference from P7 to P15. Both cars had a very good last lap in SQ1 and moved swiftly into SQ2. Unfortunately, Franco’s only push lap wasn’t clean enough to move into SQ3 as he didn’t find the right car and tyre balance. Alex’s single push lap just did the trick as he finished 10th just ahead of Hamilton. In SQ3, we didn’t get the tyres completely in the right window, finishing P9 for Alex. Our long runs this morning showed good pace but tyre management will be very important tomorrow, however we’re confident we can fight for points."
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Haas
Haas looked very quick in practice, especially in the hands of super-sub Bearman. He picked up where he left off in Baku as he deputised for the unwell Kevin Magnussen. Come qualifying, once again Bearman impressed as he made it to the top 10 shootout. Hulkenberg couldn’t follow suit, complaining about the bumps in the track as he had to make do with P12. But in SQ3, Bearman made a mistake on his only flying lap, running wide and having his time deleted. It was a curious moment, as he had time to back off and try again but instead completed the lap – even though it looked clear cut that track limits would be a factor.
Nico Hulkenberg, 12th, 1:09.964
“The resurfaced track is not amazing to be honest, so that was a big topic after practice. This session was a bit difficult, a bit of a continuation from last week with the struggle of not finding harmony in the car. I was very happy with my lap, but I didn’t have anything else to find – so it’s strange. We need to investigate as I didn’t feel the love from the tire and didn’t feel like I had the grip. The Sprint is a bit of a reset with parc ferme being open so we can work on set-up, so we’ll take it step-by-step.”
Oliver Bearman, 10th, No time set in SQ3
“The car was feeling really good all day, from the first lap in practice. I’m happy to be in SQ3 and have made it through to the third stage of a qualifying session. I made a mistake in sector one, which cost me a lot of time as the rest of the lap was really good, so I’m disappointed with that. Ayao woke me up this morning with his call about driving today, and I give my best to Kevin as I know he doesn’t feel great and has had a lot of success on this track. I’m happy to jump back into a Formula 1 car though, it’s always a pleasure.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“Ollie is impressive, considering he’s had minimal preparation, and it was a last-minute call-up. His first timed lap in FP1 was already impressive and then he built from there. His driving in SQ1 and SQ2 was amazing, and in SQ3 we had an issue on our side relating to the tire temperature control box, so the tires weren’t up to temperature, so the fact he went off in turn 2, was not his fault. His others sectors were very competitive, so I’m disappointed we couldn’t get his maximum potential out, but from his side it was impressive and he was happy with the car. On Nico’s side, he wasn’t as happy with the car. In FP1, the bumpiness of the track he struggled with, and then in Sprint Quali, he couldn’t find consistency. It’s a similar issue as in Mexico, so we need to look at how we can make the car better after the Sprint. Still, starting in P10 with Ollie, we can go for points tomorrow, so that’s what we’re focused on.”
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Aston Martin
Alonso came back into the fold at Aston Martin, having missed Thursday’s media duties after treatment for an intestinal infection. But he discovered a car that looked short of pace, with both drivers exiting in SQ1 in Sprint Qualifying. That is far from ideal – but perhaps he can take solace in the fact he qualified P15 for last year’s Sprint, but managed fourth on the grid for the Grand Prix itself.
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Fernando Alonso, 16th, 1:10.978
"We didn’t have the pace in Sprint Qualifying today. We had to make some changes to the car after Free Practice 1 due to the bumpy track conditions, which we knew would be detrimental to our pace. It’s going to be difficult to score points tomorrow in the Sprint, so we have to keep ourselves focused on Sunday."
Lance Stroll, 19th, 1:11.280
"I think everybody is suffering with the track conditions. It’s very bumpy compared to previous years and that’s having a big impact on things. It has not been easy to set the car up and we have tried a lot of things. Apart from that, we just didn’t have the pace to fight for more today. Let’s wait and see what we can do tomorrow and if we can find some more performance."
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Kick Sauber
Bottas made it to SQ2 for Kick Sauber, his updated car continuing to look more competitive than it has for much of the season. The Finn is fighting for his F1 future, and is doing everything he can to prolong his stay in the sport. He out-qualified his team mate too which is the first thing on the agenda, and by a healthy margin as Zhou’s struggles over one lap continued.
Valtteri Bottas, 15th, 1:10.595
"It was good to make it into SQ2 today, especially after a challenging start to the weekend. We found the track really bumpy, so we had to adjust the setup quite a bit for qualifying. I’m glad we did, though, because it taught us a lot about the setup direction for the rest of the weekend. The car feels more drivable now, though the balance still needs to be improved. We’ve got some work ahead of us for both qualifying and the race, but first up is the sprint from P15. We’ll try to maximise everything we can while also focusing on learning more about the setup for the main days. Making it into SQ2 was a positive step, especially since reaching that stage hasn’t been so common for us lately."
Zhou Guanyu, 20th, 1:12.978
"Today was definitely not our day. FP1 showed that the track is very bumpy and that we’ll have to work hard to find the right setup. Sprint qualifying was quite a disappointing session for me as, unfortunately, the timing for our final run was mismanaged. By the time I was in a position to start the lap, the chequered flag was already out. While it’s frustrating since it ruined our starting position for tomorrow’s sprint, overtaking is possible, and we’ll see what we can do. As for now, we need to understand what went wrong today: tomorrow is a new day to make things better.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
"First and foremost, we must apologise to Zhou, as we made the wrong call in SQ1, and he was unable to start his second attempt. A new lap would have given him the chance to improve his time with the track evolution—as we saw on Valtteri's car with his improvement on the second push lap. Analysing what went wrong in the communication process is very important to avoid repeating such a mistake. For Valtteri, it was encouraging to see him clear the first part of qualifying for the second consecutive time, achieving P15 in SQ1 and holding that position in SQ2. That said, there’s still work to do on the car to find additional lap time, especially in the opening of the lap and in Sector Two, where we weren’t as competitive as we need to be for a stronger starting position. Tomorrow’s sprint gives us a chance to better understand tyre behaviour in race conditions and to see if we can better control tyre degradation on the race compounds. It’s also an opportunity to further improve the car setup and give back to Zhou what he lost out on today."
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Pirelli
Simone Berra, Chief Engineer
“When one comes to a resurfaced track there are always a lot of unknowns, even if simulations are getting ever more sophisticated. Even a historic track like Interlagos is no exception, as the track has been completely resurfaced. From what we could tell from measurements taken in recent days and from today’s activity on track, some significant points have emerged. The surface is very smooth and its level of abrasiveness is significantly lower than what we measured last year. But there are many bumps which make life complicated for the teams and drivers. The grip level was initially in line with what we have seen in the past, but it increased very markedly as the cars did more and more laps, which is entirely predictable. Furthermore, we saw that track temperature could oscillate a lot, especially dependent on cloud cover. Another unknown, but how important it will be we will only know if it happens, is the cars’ grip level in the wet. At the moment, the forecast is for a significant chance of rain for tomorrow afternoon and even more so on Sunday and so this will be a parameter to keep in mind.
"In terms of how the compounds behaved and how the teams chose to use them, we saw that all teams kept the two sets of Hards for the rest of the weekend. The Medium is the clear favourite for the Sprint, so that we can predict a two-stop race on Sunday, using the Medium and the Hard, along the lines of last year. One should remember that the compounds here are one step softer than last year, meaning that today’s hard is last year’s Medium and the 2024 Medium is the 2023 Soft. It is hard to imagine this year’s soft, the C5, being raced, even if it’s performing well. One matter we have to analyse carefully in the next few hours is why the Soft did not produce the upturn in performance we had predicted in SQ. That said, the quickest time of the day set by Norris in SQ3, is 1”723 quicker than last year’s best.”
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