He missed out on pole in the last two Grands Prix of this triple trip between North, Central and South America, but in Brazil he, Max Verstappen, took it. It was a halved Q3, in the sense that it was not possible to have the ten surviving drivers compete in the second push as a real storm hit the San Paolo track. Not bad, the rain was expected and Verstappen was good at immediately seizing the moment to set the first time, leaving a Ferrari that was once again fastest on the flying lap by three tenths, but the question of performance in the race still remains.
The second performance was achieved by Charles Leclerc, on pole in Austin and Mexico City. The Monegasque regained his best form after a brief period of fogging, while Carlos Sainz made a fundamental mistake at turn 1-2 and did not do better than eighth place. Surprise in the second row where the two Aston Martin-Mercedes collided. And even, in third position we find Lance Stroll who hadn’t been in Q3 since the Belgian GP at the end of July. A true, unexpected resurrection, that of the Canadian who allowed himself to precede his teammate Fernando Alonso.
What happened compared to Austin and Mexico City to allow Verdone to find the very first ranks again? When there is only one free session, due to the format of the weekend with the Sprint race, some twist always happens and in the short time they had available, Aston Martin found the right set-up. On the contrary, the Alpha Tauri-Hondda sank which had stunned in Mexico with Daniel Ricciardo, fourth in qualifying, but which today did not even pass Q1 and was also beaten by teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who was also out of Q2.
Third row for the two Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton beating his teammate George Russell by a few hundredths. Then, seventh, a disappointed Lando Norris who, despite having a (according to him) very fast McLaren-Mercedes, couldn’t find the perfect lap. Oscar Piastri did worse, ending up in a spin. Yet another disappointment for Sergio Perez, just ninth with the second Red Bull-Honda, certainly not the best way to recover after the mistake made on Sunday at his home.
Alexander Albon could have made Q3 in the Williams-Mercedes, but his time was canceled due to track limits. Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas-Ferrari narrowly failed to get into Q3, 11th ahead of the two disappointing Alpine-Renaults. Little glory also for Sauber-Ferrari, at the back of the grid in the company of the usual Logan Sargeant in the second Williams.
Friday 3 November 2023, qualification
1 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) – 1’10″727 – Q3
2 – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1’11″021 – Q3
3 – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) – 1’11″344 – Q3
4 – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin-Mercedes) – 1’11″387 – Q3
5 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1’11″469 – Q3
6 – George Russell (Mercedes) – 1’11″590 – Q3
7 – Lando Norris (McLaren-Mercedes) – 1’11″987 – Q3
8 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1’11″989 – Q3
9 – Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) – 1’12″321 – Q3
10 – Oscar Piastri (McLaren-Mercedes) – no time – Q3
11 – Nico Hulkenberg (Haas-Ferrari) – 1’10″547 – Q2
12 – Esteban Ocon (Alpine-Renault) – 1’10″562 – Q2
13 – Pierre Gasly (Alpine-Renault) – 1’10″567 – Q2
14 – Kevin Magnussen (Haas-Ferrari) – 1’10″723 – Q2
15 – Alexander Albon (Williams-Mercedes) – 1’10″840 – Q2
16 – Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri-Honda) – 1’10″837 – Q1
17 – Daniel Ricciardo (Alpha Tauri-Honda) – 1’10″843 – Q1
18 – Valtteri Bottas (Sauber-Ferrari) – 1’10″955 – Q1
19 – Logan Sargeant (Williams-Mercedes) – 1’11″035 – Q1
20 – Guan Yu Zhou (Sauber-Ferrari) – 1’11″275 – Q1
1970-01-01 00:00:00
#Verstappen #regains #pole #beats #excellent #Leclerc #Sainz #eighth #error
