Formula 1 2022 results – Sao Paulo Grand Prix: Qualifying

Thomas Maher 11 Nov 2022 7:29 PM

Haas' Kevin Magnussen on track at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Sao Paulo, November 2022.

Here are the complete qualifying results from a dramatic Friday evening session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Kevin Magnussen has taken his and Haas’ first pole position in Formula 1, after the Danish driver set the quickest time of the slick tyre running at the start of Q3.

With rain threatening, the drivers peeled out on track on the soft tyres to set times before the rain came – Magnussen popping in a 1:11.674 to go quickest of all.

His effort proved unbeatable as the red flags came out as George Russell spun off and beached his Mercedes at Turn 3 – resulting in his team bursting into jubilation and celebration as the reality of the situation set in.

Magnussen will be joined by Max Verstappen on the front row, while Russell will start from third. Charles Leclerc will start the Sprint Qualifying race from 10th, after being sent out on intermediate tyres at the start while the other drivers had enough time to put in a flying lap on the slicks – Sergio Perez suffering as a result of getting stuck behind Leclerc on his flying lap.

Qualy: Kevin Magnussen secures his and Haas’ remarkable first F1 pole position

Verstappen proved quickest in the Q2 segment of qualifying, going through the entirety of the 15-minute session on the soft compound tyres after Q1 saw the drivers having to start off on intermediates before switching to the slicks.

While rain continued to threaten throughout Q2, the drivers managed the session without incident as Verstappen took top spot with a 1:10.881.

This was enough to keep him 0.009 clear of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, and a further 0.060 clear of Charles Leclerc.

Knocked out in Q2 were Williams’ Alex Albon, falling short by just 0.044 seconds, ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace in the first part of qualifying, in a session that saw the drivers contending with track conditions that progressively improved throughout the 18 minutes.

A pre-session rain shower meant the choice of tyre was very much in favour of the intermediate to kick off the session, but a canny move from Pierre Gasly saw the AlphaTauri driver spring to the top of the timesheets.

The rest of the field quickly followed suit, with the times relentlessly improving as the final minutes ticked away.

At the chequered flag, it was Norris who proved quickest with a 1:13.106, almost three-tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Knocked out in Q1 were Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, the two Alfa Romeos of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in 19th and Mick Schumacher down in 10th for Haas.