3 weeks ago
12
McLaren’s Lando Norris took rod presumption for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix successful a chaotic, crash-strewn qualifying league successful which Max Verstappen was 12th.
The Red Bull operator has a five-place grid punishment for the expansive prix aboriginal connected Sunday truthful volition commencement 17th, though helium whitethorn vault up if immoderate of the damaged cars cannot commencement the race.
Mercedes operator George Russell snatched 2nd spot alongside Norris, with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda third, up of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and RB’s Liam Lawson.
The league was punctuated by 5 reddish flags for dense crashes involving, successful order, Williams’ Franco Colapinto, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, some Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and Williams’ Alex Albon.
Verstappen was near fuming astir the hold successful throwing the reddish emblem for Stroll’s clang successful the 2nd session, which helium believed had allowed different drivers to sound him retired of the apical 10 due to the fact that the league was not resumed.
And Norris himself came adjacent to being knocked retired successful the archetypal league - helium was successful the driblet portion earlier jumping up to 15th, the last car to progress, with his last lap.
That time, though, knocked retired Mercedes operator Lewis Hamilton, who qualified 16th.
Norris said: “There was a batch going on. I was struggling a batch astatine the commencement of the session, I worked connected it a batch successful the session. A small amazed to beryllium connected rod but a bully effect for us.”
Verstappen complained that the hold had allowed different drivers to demote him retired of the apical 10.
“I find it unbelievable,” Verstappen said. “The car goes into the wall, broken. It’s intelligibly destroyed, but they hold 30-40 seconds and the others tin implicit their thigh times and of people the ones down cannot.
"The car hits the wall, it needs to beryllium a consecutive red, I don't recognize wherefore it needs to instrumentality 30, 40 seconds for the reddish emblem to travel out. It's truthful anserine to speech about. It's ridiculous."
In fact, a reappraisal of the league suggests it did not marque a quality to Verstappen.
He was lying 10th erstwhile Stroll crashed, aft a mediocre azygous thigh pursuing a restart aft the red-flag play for Sainz’s mishap earlier successful the session.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crossed the enactment to bump Verstappen down to 11th conscionable 2 seconds aboriginal - good wrong the mean borderline for a yellowish emblem to go a reddish aft a dense crash.
Leclerc ended up qualifying sixth, with Albon - who had been 2nd earlier his clang - dropping down to seventh, up of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Alonso and Stroll.
It remains to beryllium seen whether Aston Martin and Williams, who person 2 damaged cars, tin repair some successful clip for the race, and if they cannot which operator volition beryllium chosen.
English (US)