It was a wild opening to qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and a wild finish, with Kevin Magnussen claiming pole position for the first time in his career.
It looked like Max Verstappen would be the fastest on Saturday morning, maintaining the champion’s dominant run this season before George Russell spun out and chaos ensued.
The timesheet was thrown out the window and Magnussen’s 1:11.674 lap was enough to see the Haas driver end his wait for a first-career pole.
“I don’t know what to say,” Magnussen told Sky Sports post-qualifying.
“The team put me out on the track on the exact right moment. We were the first out in the pitlane and did a pretty decent lap and we are on pole.
“It is incredible. Thank you to Gene Haas and Guenther and the whole team for this opportunity.
“It has just been an amazing journey. It is incredible, thank you. Maximum attack, let’s go for something funny.”
It was a wild opening to the first qualifying session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the timesheet constantly changing as Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc dropped into the bottom five at one point.
Leclerc’s frustrations began to boil over when he was blocked off by the slower Yuki Tsunoda as the Ferrari gun desperately tried to get out of the danger zone.
“Yuki, come on,” he said over the radio.
“What a joke, what a f***ing joke.”
In the end though, it would be Nicholas Latifi, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher eliminated in Q1.
Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, was in 15th to remain in the running with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz just ahead in 14th.
Ricciardo’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris was faring much better, topping Q1 and setting the pace early in Q2 as well before falling slightly behind champion Max Verstappen.
While the weather had largely held up after it threatened to get wet in Brazil, Esteban Ocon, George Russell and Carlos Sainz suggested some rain was starting to fall during Q2.
“There is a bit of rain on my visor for Turn 4 and the last sector,” Ocon said.
“It’s raining a lot,” added Sainz, while Russell said it was “spitting” rain.
Russell’s teammate Lewis Hamilton was nearly eliminated in Q2, finishing ninth with Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Ricciardo and both Aston Martin drivers — Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll — dropping out.
The weather looked to have finally claimed its first victim in Q3 as George Russell spun off the track and got stuck in the gravel, bringing on a red flag.
It ended up being welcome news for Kevin Magnussen, who was in pole position at the time and ahead of Verstappen.
“You’re kidding? You’re kidding... I’ve never, ever felt like this in my life,” he replied when his team told him he was in P1.
Leclerc, meanwhile, initially came out onto the track on inters — the only driver to do so — quickly learning there was no rain as Ferrari’s bold experiement failed in a bad way.
He later pitted for slicks and appeared less than pleased on the team radio.
“Did everybody complete a lap on the slicks,” he asked.
“Yes they did,” his team answered back.
“Nice, beautiful. F****ing beautiful,” he replied.
“It’s just seems they’re out of sorts today,” Martin Brundle said in Sky Sports’ coverage of Ferrari.
“They’ve seen chaos through practice and qualifying.”
SPRINT RACE GRID
1. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
2. Max Verstappen, red Bull
3. George Russell, Mercedes
4. Lando Norris, McLaren
5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
6. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
7. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
9. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
10. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
11. Alex Albon, Williams
12. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
13. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
14. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
15. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
16. Nicholas Latifi, Williams
17. Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo
18. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
19. Yuki Tsunoda, Alpha Tauri
20. Mick Schumacher, Haas
PRACTICE WRAP: SAINZ FUMES AT MCLAREN STAR AS PEREZ TOPS TIMES
Earlier, Sergio Perez topped the times for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc in opening free practice.
The Mexican clocked a best lap of one minute and 11.853 seconds to outpace his Monegasque rival by 0.004 seconds in a at Interlagos, where the weekend includes a sprint race on Saturday.
Two-time world champion Max Verstappen was third in his Red Bull ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
The top six were separated by only two-tenths of a second.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, in his penultimate Grand Prix before retiring, was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of fellow-German and protégé Mick Schumacher, who is fighting to keep his seat with Haas next year.
Valtteri Bottas was ninth for Alfa Romeo and Pierre Gasly 10th for Alpha Tauri in a frantic one hour’s action as the teams worked intensively to find a set-up for their cars ahead of qualifying later Friday.
On a warm day with an air temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, and the track at 46 degrees, the session began with a flurry of cars on track seeking to take advantage of the only session before qualifying.
Esteban Ocon was the initial pace-setter ahead of the newly-moustachioed Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen was soon in action and ran off at Turn Four, the scene of his controversial defensive move against Hamilton last year, taking to the run-off area to recover.
Almost immediately, Perez went top before the world champion, on his next lap, took command, Bottas splitting the two Red Bulls with some aplomb. The Finn, a former pole sitter at Interlagos in 2017 and 2021, clearly relished the conditions and went top after 10 minutes.
Verstappen, stirred, if not shaken, responded to regain the initiative as Ferrari scrambled to keep pace, Sainz grumbling at Norris for hogging the middle of the track on a slow lap, a move the Spaniard described as ‘super dangerous’.
Sainz’s hopes for the race had already been hit by news that he faced a grid penalty after Ferrari fitted a sixth engine to his car, automatically taking a five-place demotion.
The Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell, on mediums, were fourth and seventh in the early stages, while most of their rivals ran hards - an encouraging start in their scrap with Ferrari for third place in the constructors’ championship.
Perez, sporting a sleek helmet to promote the Black Panther movie, regained top spot, on softs, after half an hour’s action ahead of the two Haas cars before Verstappen, complaining of understeer, went second, just 0.008 seconds adrift of the Mexican.
The unpredictable lapping continued with Bottas and Alonso both slotting into the top three before Leclerc improved to third with 14 minutes remaining. Russell and Sainz also found more pace in the closing minutes as Hamilton complained that his car ‘feels like the rear is just floating around’.
The seven-time champion and newly-adopted citizen of Brazil had been given a rapturous reception at the start as he began his bid for a fourth Interlagos victory, but found life difficult in this hour of intensity until a late lift to third and a hectic finale.
