Lando Norris nails pole position for Saturday's sprint race in Brazil

The British driver, 23, beat Verstappen to top spot by 0.061 seconds in Interlagos with Sergio Perez third.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will line up from fourth and fifth respectively for Mercedes.

Norris believed he could have taken pole for tomorrow's 71-lap main event, but for a McLaren strategy blunder in Friday's rain-hit qualifying session.

However, the young Briton made amends by delivering the quickest time for today's 24-lap dash to the chequered flag.

Norris, who is seeking his first win in Formula One, said: "It felt like one of the worst laps I have done so I am a little bit surprised to be on pole.

"But I feel like we have made up for yesterday. I have no idea how the sprint will go, but the pace has been good this weekend and the car has been quick."

Perez was a tenth back from Norris, while Russell finished 0.235 sec behind, with Hamilton 0.318 sec adrift.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified sixth ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo.

Q1 ended early after Esteban Ocon crashed out following a collision with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

Ocon was on a hot lap, but briefly lost control of his Alpine though the left-hander at Turn 3, and thumped into Alonso.

The Spaniard was off the racing line, affording space for Ocon, but the Frenchman clipped Alonso's Aston Martin which sent him into the tyre barrier at Curva do Sol.

"F****** idiot, Fernando," said Ocon after he sustained significant damage to the rear of his machine.

Alonso limped back to the pits with front suspension damage leaving his mechanics scrambling to get his machine ready for Q2.

A 28-minute delay followed as the barrier was repaired but Alonso was unable to continue. He will start 15th.

The double world champion's team-mate Lance Stroll qualified an impressive third for Sunday's grand prix. But the Canadian will line up three places from the back for today's sprint which gets under way at 3:30pm local time (6:30 pm GMT).

Brazilian GP: Sprint Shootout classification

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:10.622
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.061
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.134
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.235
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.318
6 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +0.397
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.455
8 Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri +0.500
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.504
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.567
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:11.727
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +0.025
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.095
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +0.145
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin NO TIME
16 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:12.388
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.094
18 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo +0.109
19 Alexander Albon Williams +0.137
20 Logan Sargeant Williams +0.227

 

Read More: Alessandro Alunni Bravi confirms Audi's unwavering commitment to Formula 1 in 2026 (planetsport.com)