The Qualifying session for the Brazilian GP was nothing short of exciting and unpredictable. The session was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but it was postponed to Sunday morning due to bad weather conditions on track. Although it was still raining on Sunday morning, the cars were able to go out on track for the qualifying session. And this was one entertaining session.
Lando Norris took pole position for the Brazil GP with Russell in 2nd and YUKI TSUNODA in 3rd. But this was not the takeaway from the session. A qualifying session usually lasts for about an hour. But in Brazil, it went on for 2.5 hours. Even a normal race doesn’t take more than 90 minutes. But why did it take so long?
Aston Martin and Williams in trouble after causing red flags
Throughout the qualifying session, we saw cars losing control and going off track. The first driver to put their vehicle in the wall was Franco Colapinto in the Williams. Thankfully, he was fine and the car also looked fine although Franco was not able to drive it back into the pits.
Later in Q3, Alex Albon suffered an alleged brake failure and ran off the road while heading to turn 1. His Williams took a brutal hit on the wall and caused significant damage. The damage was too much for Williams to repair in time, so the team has announced that Albon will not be starting the Brazil GP.
Viaplay: “The mechanics have a hell of a job, how damaged is the car?”
Albon: “i’m out, for sure, there’s no way.”
Viaplay: “You’re not going to race?”
Albon: “There’s no way.”
[via @SCUDERIAFEMBOY]#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/R0ei5QhYm8
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) November 3, 2024
The Aston Martin mechanics will also be facing an uphill challenge until the race. Lance Stroll put his car in the wall at the end of Q2. Later in Q3, Alonso lost control and spun his car into the wall as well. Both cars took a big hit and the mechanics will have to work double time to get the cars ready for the race.
Apart from these 2 teams, Carlos Sainz also put his Ferrari in the wall during Q2. After analyzing the repairs that are needed for the car, Ferrari has confirmed that he will be starting from the pit lane. But considering that the team has to repair only one car here, they should be able to get it done in time.
Shock Q1 and Q2 exits for the Brazilian GP
In the first qualifying session, all the drivers had to be on full-wet tyres. This caused problems for a lot of drivers including Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Luckily, Norris just scraped through to Q2 by going 15th fastest. But Hamilton was not able to get into the top 15 in time.
In Q2, the track conditions improved and the drivers were able to put on intermediate tyres. However, this did not stop drivers from losing control of their cars. After the red flag that was caused by Carlos Sainz, the drivers had just enough time in Q2 to get a couple of laps in. Given that the Red Bull garage is the first in the pit lane, both their drivers had a disadvantage as they were last on track.
❌ ELIMINATED IN Q2 ❌
Bottas
Verstappen
Perez
Sainz
Gasly#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/WcFOTptDzP— Formula 1 (@F1) November 3, 2024
Just as most of the drivers completed their first runs, Lance Stroll put his car in the wall in sector one and red-flagged the session. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were unable to improve their time due to this red flag. They both got knocked out of qualifying in Q2.
What to expect from the Brazilian GP?
Absolute chaos. This is what we can expect from the Brazilian GP. With the rain still falling, it will most likely be wet or intermediate conditions on track for the race. In addition to this, the entire grid is completely mixed up.
We have both Red Bulls, a Ferrari and a Mercedes fighting from the back, Tsunoda in the top 3, Piastri fighting back from 7th and Lando on pole. This now has the potential to be one of the most unpredictable and exciting races of the decade.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
The final result from an unbelievable session 👀#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/wvDeMMffIa
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 3, 2024
One major storyline to follow in this race is the Championship battle. At the moment, Verstappen is leading from Norris by 44 points. But if Lando goes on to win today with Verstappen scoring no points, the lead could go all the way down to 19 points with 3 races to go. This could lead to an epic Championship showdown in Abu Dhabi.
What are your predictions for the Brazil GP today? Put them down in the comments section below.
