2024 São Paulo Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying Report “A strong performance for both Lando and Oscar"

Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Friday, 1 November

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after Sprint Qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix.

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FP1 1m10.950s (+0.340s) 30 laps  4th
SQ1 1m10.265s (Medium)   2nd
SQ2 1m09.239s (Medium)   2nd
SQ3 1m08.899s (Soft)   1st

“I’m really happy to be starting on Pole tomorrow, and a great result for the team to be starting 1-2. It was a tricker session as in SQ3 my first lap didn’t feel amazing, but I knew there were a couple of places I could improve, and I was able to put it all together for the final run.  

“I suspect it’s going to be a very different kind of Sprint to last year because of the resurfacing. We’ll have to see what the weather does, but I’m starting from the best seat in the house, so let’s see what we can so.” 

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FP1 1m10.610s 29 laps  1st
SQ1 1m09.477s (Medium)   1st
SQ2 1m09.063s (Medium)   1st
SQ1 1m08.928s (Soft)   2nd

“A good session for us as a team to start the weekend in Brazil. We were struggling to get a feel of the car in practice, so the improvements made in today’s Sprint Qualifying are pleasing. The pace is easily there and to lock out the front row is a great result. We’ll work hard to maintain maximum points tomorrow.” 

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Andrea Stella

“A strong performance for both Lando and Oscar in the Sprint Qualifying session. The car seems to be performing well and Lando and Oscar put together clean laps. At the same time, we need to remain calm, because the conditions in Sprint Qualifying were very different from those in practice. The track was cold and the sky was overcast - we know that our car enjoys these conditions. For the remainder of the weekend, there’s some weather around, so we just have to remain focused, maximise the potential of the car and adapt to the challenges that we will face. As a starting point, this is encouraging, and we hope that we can earn some good points tomorrow.”