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The Formula One action continues today at the Brazil Grand Prix as qualifying takes center stage at Interlagos.
Drivers' Championship leader Lando Norris extended his lead to nine points with victory in the sprint race after McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri crashed out on Lap 6.
After a short delay, qualifying is underway.
GO FURTHER
Lando Norris extends F1 title lead with Brazilian sprint win as Piastri crashes out
Q1 2:59 — Max Verstappen is going to need a lap at the end. Clearly not comfortable, and lost a lot of time in the second sector on that last lap. "Oh my god mate, the car and the ride is a tiny bit better, but now sliding even more," he tells race engineer GP.
Q1 3:52 — Hmm. Not good for Verstappen as his next attempt to move out of the bottom five is no improvement and leaves him three thousandths behind Sainz in 15th. You'd expect him to get round quick enough, but he has been very unhappy with his car, so there are no guarantees.
Everything around the Dutchman remains the same as we move into the final few minutes of Q1.
Q1 5:12 — Gabriel Bortoleto is ready to go, putting his helmet and gloves on. The same can't be said of his car just yet, though, which remains up on jacks. It'll be very, very tight to get him out.
Q1 6:32 — And there is the nerve settler for Piastri as he goes P2 with a much-improved lap from his first forgettable effort. Only Bearman has gone faster than the McLaren so far in Q1.
The drivers in the elimination places at the moment are Verstappen, Colapinto, Ocon, Tsunoda and Bortoloeto who has not yet been able to get into his car.
When Verstappen inevitably moves out of the drop zone, Sainz is the man at risk of missing Q2.
Q1 9:43 — We are coming up to the halfway point in Q1 and it is Hamilton who leads the way thanks to his 1.10.233 lap.
Norris is close behind, while Hulkenberg, Lawson and Bearman follow.
Piastri is back on the track having returned to the garage after his first lap — a lap that has him in the elimination zone at the moment.
He is joined in there by Colapinto while it is looking almost impossible that Bortoleto will get a chance in this qualifying session.
Q1 14:30 — No messing about for Hulkenberg as he is straight into his work with a flying lap. The Sauber driver will have been worried about his readiness for this qualifying session after following Piastri into the barriers during the sprint race.
His teammate Bortoleto is still not in his car as the mechanics continue their work rebuilding it after a much worse crash.
Liam Lawson and Ollie Bearman — involved in a collision in the sprint — go fastest early in Q1 as Piastri puts down a very slow first flying lap indeed.
That won't help settle his nerves…
Q1 18:00 — The very short delay is over and Q1 on this Brazil Grand Prix weekend is underway!
Let's find out which five drivers we will be losing, shall we?
Only five drivers have finished on pole for a Grand Prix this season with 17 of the 20 poles split across three of them.
Max Verstappen leads the way ahead of the McLaren pair at the top of the Drivers' Championship.
Based on today's evidence in the sprint race, Kimi Antonelli has a good chance to add his name to that list this afternoon…
So that delay isn't a long one as the FIA confirm that qualifying will begin in just under five minutes' time.
A crucial few minutes for the mechanics in the Sauber garage as they continue to rebuild Gabriel Bortoleto's car…
After the concerns about the weather and cyclone warning, it's actually turned into a dry day at Interlagos. It is still quite overcast but plenty of patches of blue sky around.
Race control says there is a 20% chance of rain during qualifying.
We heard the news from Luke that Colapinto is ready to go for qualifying — the same cannot be said of Gabriel Bortoleto just yet.
The Brazilian was involved in a massive crash during the sprint race with his car leaving the track before slamming into the barriers as he crossed the line to start his final lap.
It looked unlikely at that point that they would be able to get him a car ready for this session, but the mechanics are still working hard in the Sauber garage to rebuild his car.
It would be a real shame if he cannot race in qualifying in front of his compatriots in his first-ever home race.
We've got a delay to the start of qualifying. The FIA says this is due to barrier repairs being completed at Turns 10 and 11.
Franco Colapinto's car is good to go after his crash in the sprint race. Alpine has changed the chassis and gearbox on the car, as well as fitting some old power unit elements, meaning there will be no penalties to serve.
It was a big, big hit at Turn 3, so a lot of work had to be completed.
Below, The Athletic goes behind the scenes of F1's TV broadcast nerve center to hear how messages are broadcast directly from the drivers during the heat of racing action — and why they don't like it.
Enjoy.
GO FURTHER
F1 decides what driver radio clips you hear. The process is always changing
It has already been a day full of drama at this Brazil Grand Prix and there is plenty more racing to come!
Qualifying for tomorrow's race begins in a little over 20 minutes — at 1pm ET/6pm GMT.
Lando Norris is the man with the momentum having extended his Championship lead with victory in the sprint, and his teammate Oscar Piastri has a lot of work to do after crashing out earlier on.
And keep an eye on these Mercedes drivers; they looked very quick indeed in the sprint and look likely to challenge for pole.
Stick with us as we bring you all the action as it happens over the next couple of hours.
McLaren is willing to risk losing the Formula One drivers’ championship to Max Verstappen by sticking to its racing principles instead of “playing favorites” between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
McLaren has maintained a principle of giving equal opportunities instead of favoring a single driver, reminding some of when Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen beat McLarens Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2007.
And, prior to this weekend's racing, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said: “In the event 2007 happens again, I’d rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favorites. We won’t do it. We’re racers, we’re going racing.
“We’re transparent. We’re fair. We communicate. We’re not perfect, but we’re racers, and they know that. So all this noise around, but we don’t let that noise come inside (McLaren).”
Less than an hour now to go until qualifying for tomorrow's Grand Prix from Interlagos.
There are a few mechanics hard at work in the pit lane after four pretty major crashes during the sprint earlier on — none more so than those in McLaren orange after Piastri's crash.
Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports' F1 team said on his post-sprint show that McLaren are confident of getting the car ready for the Australian to be back on track for qualifying.
We will, of course, bring you all the updates as they happen as we tick closer to the qualifying session.
That was the second time in a row that Oscar Piastri has been unable to finish a sprint race.
In the U.S. last month, he collided with Nico Hulkenberg and here in Brazil, he spun out and slammed into the barriers. While both costly, today's proved the most damaging as his teammate Lando Norris took full points to extend his lead.
With just three weekends left of the season after this one, it is becoming increasingly imperative that Piastri claws some points back from Norris in what remains of this weekend.
Fortunately for the Australian, there is only one more sprint left this year.
A really important morning for Lando Norris who, at his worst this season, was 36 points behind teammate Oscar Piastri. The Championship leader was obviously pleased with his victory but wasn't totally satisfied with the pace when he spoke to Sky Sports.
💬 “Our goal today was to try to win — of course very difficult conditions with the rain, the water, the wet track. Apart from that, the pace wasn't quite there. Obviously it was good enough to win but not good enough to do it comfortably.
“Mercedes were quick, they were quick yesterday and their pace transferred to today very well. We need to see what we can improve because they'll be a big threat tomorrow.”

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