F1 – McLaren locked out the front row for the Sao Paulo sprint yesterday with Oscar Piastri snatching pole position from team mate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Formula One leader Max Verstappen fourth fastest.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start third in a race that brings eight points for the winner.
Australian Piastri lapped the Interlagos circuit with a best time of one minute 08.899 seconds after Norris had set the pace throughout the session but aborted his final effort and ended 0.029 slower.
The Briton is 47 points behind Verstappen with 120 points still to be won.
Piastri, out of contention for the championship, will be expected to follow team orders and help Norris secure a maximum score, but anti-clockwise Interlagos has a tricky first corner.
“We’ll see what the pace is like tomorrow for both of us,” the Australian told Sky Sports television. “I think first and second is the first objective and then we’ll what order it is.
“I know that I’m not in the running for the drivers’ standings, for the team it doesn’t matter which way around we are.
“It would be nice to win but it’s one point different and it’s not the main race. We’ll see. Lando needs the points in the drivers’ standings a lot more than I do but of course I still want to win.”
McLaren are leading the constructor’s championship but are only 29 points ahead of Ferrari, with Leclerc an obvious threat and team mate Carlos Sainz qualifying fifth and Mercedes’ George Russell sixth.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly will start seventh with RB’s Liam Lawson eighth and Alex Albon ninth for Williams.
Britain Oliver Bearman, the 19-year-old standing in for the unwell Kevin Magnussen, completed the top 10 on the grid for today’s 100km race.
Mercedes’ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton qualified only 11th while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will start behind in 13th.
Neither Aston Martin made it through the first phase.
Regular qualifying for tomorrow’s main grand prix follows the sprint race.
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