McLaren endured a hugely disappointing qualifying session as Lando Norris finished seventh having appeared to be in contention for pole; watch Sprint Saturday at the Sao Paulo GP live on Sky Sports F1, with the Sprint Shootout at 2pm and the Sprint itself at 6.30pm
Saturday 4 November 2023 13:23, UK
Lando Norris said he was "pretty gutted" to qualify seventh for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix having felt his McLaren was "easily quick enough" to claim pole position in Brazil.
Norris had established himself as one of the favourites for pole by finishing top of the timesheet in Q2, before conditions changed drastically at the start of Q3 as a storm hit the Interlagos circuit.
World champion Max Verstappen took pole for Red Bull, while Norris was only able to claim seventh as the drivers had time to get just one flying lap in before the deluge began.
"It was great, honestly, the car was amazing," Norris said.
"Easily probably quick enough to be quickest today and on pole. So pretty gutted for that to end the way we did.
"I don't know what to feel about it. The car was amazing, it came alive a lot in qualifying and (was) easily good enough to be quickest."
While the timing of the storm appeared to be hugely unfortunate for Norris, the Brit still appeared to be holding himself partially responsibly for once more failing to add to his one career pole position.
He added: "Obviously delivering the lap and putting it together in Q3 and everything is a different job, but easily quick enough.
"So another disappointing Saturday, but not a lot we could have done."
His team-mate Oscar Piastri fared even worse as he qualified last of the cars in Q3 after going off track as conditions worsened.
Piastri had also flashed strong pace earlier in the session but his hopes of a strong starting position were ended by the incident at Turn 12.
"Just lost a lot of grip," Piastri said.
"I don't know if it was already raining or what, but I was struggling a lot already on the lap, I think everyone was, based on how slow the laps were.
"Just went in how I thought I did the last lap and slid straight off.
"It's a shame, the pace of the car was looking good, but we'll try again tomorrow."
Norris and Piastri weren't the only drivers left disappointed by the sudden climax to qualifying, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz both also frustrated.
Hamilton, who is looking to end a near two-year winless streak, came into the weekend optimistic about his chances, but was deflated are qualifying fifth.
"I mean it's fifth," he said. "Fifth if never that great. I did the best I could. Hopefully we will have a better race.
"The car was showing signs of decent performance but we are generally a couple tenths off the top guys.
"But I think the circumstances at the end, the conditions, had us maybe a little bit further back. It's difficult to say."
Sainz, meanwhile, appeared frustrated at having been one of the last cars to be sent out on track at the start of Q3 with the bad weather clearly incoming.
"We got unlucky there with the weather," the Spaniard said. "We were one of the last cars to leave the pits.
"With cold tyres and the temperature dropping, the rain coming, the gust of winds - we were just unlucky today because the pace in Q2 wasn't too bad.
"A bit disappointed because we were very late to go out and we missed a chance to do a good lap.
"I was P8 on the queue and I qualified P8. P9 and P10 in the queue qualified behind me, so it was clear that the later you were going the slower the track was, and it was not ideal."
Saturday November 4
Sunday November 5
F1 is in Brazil for the final leg of the Americas triple header and the last Sprint weekend of the 2023 season. Watch every session from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1, with Sunday's race at 5pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
