Norris takes stunning Sprint Shootout pole at Interlagos, Verstappen P2

Norris takes his first pole of 2023 by small margin 

After Friday's qualifying session ended early due to torrential rain and dark clouds interfering with the driver's vision, the sun shone down on the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo throughout the Sprint Shootout.

All the drivers did just one flying lap in the final session of the Sprint Shootout with the red-walled soft tyres, and it was Norris who was able to make the most of it.

Behind the Brit and Verstappen was Sergio Perez in P3, followed by the Mercedes pair of George Russell in P4 and Lewis Hamilton in P5.

It was also a very positive result for the AlphaTauris, with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo coming in P6 and P8 respectively, with the Ferraris struggling compared to their rivals.

Result - P1 Norris, P2 Verstappen, P3 Perez, P4 Russell, P5 Hamilton, P6 Tsunoda, P7 Leclerc, P8 Ricciardo, P9 Sainz, P10 Piastri

SQ1

For the first session of the Shootout, all the drivers had the yellow-walled medium tyres bolted on their cars.

The session ended early as former teammates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso crashed, bringing out the red flag after Ocon skidded into the barriers at the bottom of the Senna 'S' sequence. Alonso made it back to his garage after he was left with just a front left puncture.

That collision meant Esteban Ocon could not improve on his time, meaning he finished P16 and was knocked out in the first session, along with Lance Stroll, who could not emulate the P3 finish in yesterday's qualifying session, only qualifying in P17 for the Sprint Race later in the day.

Zhou Guanyu, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant were also unable to improve their times due to the red flag, which meant they did not make it into the second session.

Out - P16 Ocon, P17 Stroll, P18 Zhou, P19 Albon, P20 Sargeant

SQ2

The start of the second session of the Sprint Shootout was delayed due to the crash between Ocon and Alonso, as the barrier at the bottom of the Senna 'S' sequence needed some repairs.

The session got underway after a 30-minute delay, with all drivers once again on the medium tyres, and as the session drew to a close, the timings continued to improve as a result of a quicker track.

Both AlphaTauris were able to use this to superb effect, jumping up the timing sheet as the chequered flag dropped, with Ricciardo and Tsunoda finishing the session in P4 and P10.

For the Haas drivers of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, their great pace shown in SQ1 was not enough to get them both into the final session of the Sprint Shootout, as they missed out by less than a tenth of a second behind Tsunoda.

Joining Hulkenberg and Magnussen were Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso, with Alonso not setting a time because of the damage sustained from the crash with Ocon in SQ1.

Out - P11 Hulkenberg, P12 Magnussen, P13 Gasly, P14 Bottas, P15 Alonso