2025 F1 Sao Paulo GP: Qualifying - As it happened

Looking back at Piastri's spin on Norris' kicked up water, George Russell has gone ahead and summed it up best by saying:

"Felt a little bit like Mario Kart where you throw the banana out at the guy behind..."

Spot on!

Just under 15mins to go before the pit-lane opens and Q1 begins

Gabriel Bortoleto walked away from THIS smash unharmed... another vindication for the impeccable safety standards that define Formula 1

Alpine will have continuity on the driver front though after Franco Colapinto secured a deal extension for 2026.

The Argentine hasn't scored a point since he was hired to replace Jack Doohan after six rounds and had drawn some ire from Alpine management for failing to do so.

However, he's done enough to convince them that he deserves an extended stay.

It means the only available seats on the grid are one at Red Bull and Racing Bulls. 

Word on the street suggests Hadjar will replace Tsunoda, but it's unclear if Tsunoda will move back to Racing Bulls. If he does, it could spell bad news for Lawson as Red Bull is seemingly keen to promote Briton Arvid Lindblad to an F1 seat

An increasingly rare reason to smile for Alpine, meanwhile.

Pierre Gasly nabbed the eighth and final point to get a first digit on the board for the French team since the Belgian Grand Prix back in July.

It's a small but welcome highlight for Alpine amid a torrid run of form that has rooted it firmly to the bottom of the constructors' standings in 2025 and comes after a particularly chastening Mexican GP that saw both drivers way off the pace.

Attention is evidently being shifted away from now in favour of 2026 when a shake up of the regulations and the retiring of under-developed Renault engines in favour of a customer Mercedes unit are giving the team hope that it can turn its fortunes around.

And now for the weather forecast...

The sun is out! Which means those lingering damp patches that proved so crucial in the Sprint Race have evaporated and we should be heading for a level playing field for qualifying.

It also means anything that could have been learned from the Sprint is probably out of the window, so it's largely as you were from 24 hours ago.

Back then it was Norris who'd get pole from Antonelli and Piastri - but the short length of the track means margins are very tight all the way through the field and any mistakes will be acutely punished

After that red flag delay, it's an even shorter turnaround between the Sprint and qualifying for the drivers and teams, which might be a good thing for Piastri to get his head out of that disastrous Sprint.

It'll be a familiar feeling after also crashing out of the COTA Sprint, but that plus his off in Baku and then lacklustre GP results in USA and Mexico are surely going to take their toll on Piastri mentally as his bid for a maiden world title loosens from his grip.

It's still close up top, but more than ever he needs to pull a strong result out of the bag, starting with getting the edge on Norris over a single lap - something he has done just one in the last seven qualifying sessions, including Sprints.

Sprint recap (part deux)

With the red flag shown on lap eight to clear broken bits of McLaren, Sauber and Alpine off the course, Norris resumed the lead from a rolling restart

From here he managed the lead on soft tyres, even if he'd come under pressure late on from an incentivised Kimi Antonelli.

In the end the Italian would run out of time to mount a challenge, though the race was effectively neutralised with half-a-lap to go when Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a massive crash into Turn 1 on the final lap.

The Brazilian attempted a late lunge on Alex Albon ahead but lost control on a lingering damp patch, sending him hard into the inside wall before barrelling into the barrier on the outside of turn 1. Despite heavy damage that stripped away his wheels and even knocked his steering wheel off, Bortoleto walked away and is cleared to take part in qualifying.

His car, on the other hand, might not be

A quick recap of the Sprint Race:

Split fortunes down at McLaren as Lando Norris converted pole into victory, landing himself eight very handy points, more so because team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out.

The Australian was an unwitting victim of the iffy conditions after Norris inadvertently dragged standing water from the kerbs onto the track, catching Piastri out as he steered into Turn 3.

A hefty thump into the barriers, though with Hulkenberg and Colapinto following suit, it's clear it wasn't just a messy error on Piastri's part. 

Either way, a blow to Piastri's confidence and title hopes because - just like that - the gap to Norris is now nine points, while Verstappen looms closer, 30 points off the youngster.

Not a lot of time to digest that potentially pivotal São Paulo GP Sprint Race before get our heads back into the game with qualifying for Sunday's main event

Now it is time to turn attention to qualifying for the full-length São Paulo Grand Prix, which takes place on Sunday.

The drivers will be back on track in just a couple of hours time - 18.00 UK - so we'll head for a quick break and return with all the build-up before the crucial one-lap showdown kicks off

"It was a good race, Kimi did a great job and put Lando under pressure. P2 and P3 is a great result, but we need to do the same again this afternoon - qualifying is so tight and overtaking is so difficult at the moment."

"It was a fun race, a big expectation but we tried to keep the pressure on Lando. We came up just short but the wind was picking up, so it was a struggle, but it was a fun race."

[On qualifying] "I'm confident but the field is tight. I think everyone did a few mistakes but hopefully we can achieve the same result or better. 

Meanwhile, while all that was happening...

Norris took the win, scoring a maximum eight points in a race that was stopped to clear the wreckage of Piastri's McLaren (and Colapinto's Alpine) after a crash at Turn 2/3.

That increases his lead to nine points with five races (four grands prix, one sprint) remaining

Very very lucky for Albon, who happened to have run wide into Turn 1, which ultimately prevented him from being in the firing line of Bortoleto's out of control car

The Brazilian looked to be attempting a late lunge into Turn 1, but with damp patches still around, the moment he moved to the inside, it got away from him.

Massive double impact for Bortoleto, whose Sauber nearly rolls in the second hit - car is destroyed but the home hope, who was running 11th, has reported he is OK

Bortoleto's Sauber breaks away from him at the rear under braking for Turn 1, striking the inside wall before spearing right across Albon's bow before smashing into the barriers on the outside of Turn 1

Big crash for Gabriel Bortoleto into Turn 1 coming into the final lap

Norris is holding Antonelli at bay - he holds the lead through Turns 1 and 3, the two best opportunities for the Mercedes driver to make a punt for a first win

Further back, Gasly has gotten the better of Stroll for eighth place

That would be Alpine's first point in eight rounds

Norris is using all of his experience versus Antonelli to squeeze the gap back out slightly to eight tenths but the margin is swinging between them between DRS zones