Oscar Piastri pips Lando Norris to pole for Brazil sprint, Lewis Hamilton 11th

Oscar Piastri pipped McLaren F1 teammate Lando Norris to pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race.

Norris looked the heavy favourite for pole position throughout the three sessions in sprint qualifying.

After the first run in SQ3, Norris was nearly 0.3s clear of his teammate, with the McLarens going out first on the soft tyres.

Piastri returned to the track and put together a fine lap to topple Norris for pole for the sprint.

The good news for Norris is that F1 title rival Max Verstappen could only manage fourth.

Verstappen will start just behind Charles Leclerc, with just under a tenth between the pair.

Carlos Sainz secured fifth ahead of George Russell, while Pierre Gasy led the midfield in seventh for Alpine.

Liam Lawson’s impressive form continued with eighth ahead of Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman.

It was a disastrous qualifying once again for Lewis Hamilton, who was knocked out in Q2.

Hamilton will start 11th in the sprint race ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.

Similarly, it was another disappointing session for Sergio Perez, who despite a chassis change, could only manage 13th.

Red Bull messed up the timings with Perez, meaning he was unable to set a lap at the end of the session.

Valtteri Bottas performed well to progress into SQ2 after going over two seconds quicker than Sauber teammate Zhou Guanyu.

Both Aston Martins were knocked out in SQ1, with Fernando Alonso in 16th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Stroll and Zhou.