Formula 1 qualifying for Brazil: Verstappen wins Leclerc second Stoll and Alonso are third and fourth

In the early morning of November 4, Beijing time, the 2023 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix ended the qualifying competition. Due to the sudden rainstorm in Q3 of qualifying, Verstappen took pole position after just one lap, with Leclerc second, Stoll third and team-mate Alonso fourth. China's Zhou Guanyu was only 20th.

Pre-match news:

1. This is the penultimate race of the season, Verstappen has already defended the drivers' title, and the current second-place Pérez and third-place Hamilton are only 20 points apart.

2. This week's F1 adopts the form of sprint race plus race, local time on Friday for the race qualifying, sprint qualifying and sprint race on Saturday, and Sunday for the race.

3. There was only one free practice session this week, and in the first free practice session, Sainz took the lead, followed by Leclerc and Russell. Red Bull only tested hard tyres.

Q1: Russell first Zhou Guanyu was the first from the bottom and missed the promotion

With the weather forecast anticipating the possibility of rain after Q1 began, the drivers were in the pit lane early in preparation for the start of the race. McLaren's Piastri set the lead with a time of 1:11.494, followed by team-mate Norris in 1:10.623. Hamilton clocked 1:10.884 on the first lap to be second. Verstappen is currently third, but he reported to the team that the car was jumping badly. Gasly is currently fourth, followed by Ricardo and Russell.

The two Ferraris found a suitable window and drove onto the track, with Leclerc clocking 1:10.472 to take first place and Sainz to 1:10.900 to move up to eighth. Alonso, Piastri and Stoll all improved their results, with Stoll currently third, Norris fourth, Pérez fifth and Alonso sixth.

Halfway through Q1, Zhou and teammate Bottas were still in the knockout zone, and two other Williams cars and Magnussen were in the knockout zone.

Albon moved up to fourth place on the final lap with a brilliant performance, and Zhou Guanyu couldn't get himself out of the knockout zone. By this time, it had already started to rain on the track, and the race was not optimistic. Hawkenberg moved up to third on the final lap and teammate Magnussen moved up to seventh.

In the end, Yuki Tsunoda, Ricardo, Bottas, Sargent and Zhou Guanyu were eliminated in Q1.

Q2: Norris is No. 1 Red Bull is only No. 2 or No. 3

With the potential for heavy rain on the track, the drivers once again entered the pit lane early in the morning to wait, hoping to be the first to do well on dry tyres. Verstappen took the lead in 1:10.162, with Pérez second in 1:10.370. McLaren's Norris and Piastri were in excellent form, finishing second and third after a lap, between the two Red Bull cars. Two Ferraris are still in the knockout zone.

Hamilton switched to new soft tyres when the track was open and started the lap again, with Hamilton clocking 1:10.352 to move up to seventh and team-mate Russell third. Sainz and Leclerc are provisionally second and sixth, respectively.

As the track evolved, Norris came to the top of the table with 1:10.021, with Verstappen and Sergio Pérez second and third, and Alonso fourth.

In the end, Norris took first place in Q2, with Verstappen and Pérez second and third. Hulkenberg, O'Con, Gasly, Magnussen and Albon were eliminated.

Q3: Verstappen won a round in the rain

Q3 is about to start, and there are already a lot of dark clouds on the track, and some corners are already raining. Drivers are taking to the track to make a valid start on the soft tyres. Verstappen set a time of 1:10.727 to place first provisionally, Leclerc was second with 1:11.021, and Pérez failed to do as well as he could due to the yellow flag caused by Piastri running off the track.

With six minutes left before the end of the race, it was raining heavily on the track and the cars could no longer refresh their scores. In the end, Verstappen took pole position, Leclerc second, and the two Aston Martins were third and fourth, with the second row starting on Sunday. The third row was driven by Hamilton and Russell, with Norris seventh, Sainz eighth, Pérez ninth and Piastri tenth.

Final results of the 2023 F1 São Paulo Grand Prix qualifying