Brazilian GP starting grid: Norris dominates Piastri as Verstappen and Hamilton humbled

Both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen failed to reach Q3 for only the second time in F1 history on Saturday in a dramatic qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Lando Norris went on to score a dominant pole position, while Oscar Piastri could only manage fourth on the grid.

Verstappen struggled to match McLaren and Mercedes during Saturday's sprint race, and things went from bad to worse later in the day at the start of qualifying. Both the reigning world champion and his team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, were eliminated during the first part of the session.

There was more drama in Q2, too, as Lewis Hamilton failed to reach the final-10 shootout for the second day running. The Ferrari driver will start 13th on Sunday after he was classified below the cut-line, behind Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon in the bottom five.

In Q3, Norris suffered a huge lock-up on his first lap, putting him at the bottom of the top 10 heading into the final runs. Piastri, meanwhile, went fastest of all the first time around. However, the tables turned as the clock ticked down. The Australian failed to improve, while his McLaren team-mate stormed to pole position ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.

Brazilian Grand Prix starting grid in full

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)

2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

5. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

8. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

12. Alex Albon (Williams)

13. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

14. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

15. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

16. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

17. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

18. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

19. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

20. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

"I learned that they're pretty quick and that Kimi pushes all the way until the very end," Norris said when asked what he learned from Saturday's sprint that could be useful for the Grand Prix.

"In some ways, looking forward to it, in some ways I'm not. I think it's going to be a big challenge tomorrow. We have to see what the weather is going to do again. So far this weekend has been clean, so I'm hoping they (Antonelli and Leclerc) don't ruin it."