Norris Maintains Qualifying Edge as Antonelli Outpaces Russell
The front row for the São Paulo Grand Prix will mirror Saturday’s sprint race lineup, with McLaren’s Lando Norris once again proving faster than Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli narrowly missed pole position, finishing 174 thousandths of a second behind Norris in qualifying. Despite this, the young italian secured a positive result by outqualifying teammate George Russell for the third time this season.
“I’m a bit annoyed that I’m behind him again. We were very close in the sprint this morning as well,” antonelli stated in a post-qualifying interview.He acknowledged the challenging conditions, adding, “It was a very treacherous qualifying session becuase of the wind, it was difficult to put the lap together. I still had a decent attempt and I’m happy with it.”
Antonelli anticipates a competitive race, noting, “They start second tomorrow. The McLarens are obviously very fast so it will be vital to have a good start and try to set a good pace.”
Russell Settles for Sixth
George Russell expressed that sixth place was the best he could achieve given the circumstances. He had started the sprint race from fourth and benefitted from Oscar Piastri’s retirement to finish third.
“Sixth is not where we wanted to be today. I had a lot of trouble getting the soft set of tires into the right window and I couldn’t find the grip I needed to put together a good lap,” Russell explained, according to the Mercedes team website.
He cited limited practice time and fluctuating conditions as contributing factors, stating, “With only one hour of practice yesterday and changing conditions, it proved challenging to get the soft and medium tires to work.”
Despite the less-than-ideal starting position, Russell remains optimistic. “Starting from the third row is far from ideal, but we are ahead of one Ferrari and both Red Bulls. This is very critically important in our fight for second place in the Constructors’ Cup. As a team we managed to score good points in the morning sprint and we will try to do the same in tomorrow’s grand prix.”
