Lando Norris took pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with a 1:27.470 lap in rain-disrupted qualifying. George Russell was second fastest and Kimi Antonelli third, but Russell’s five-place penalty means the qualifying order is not the expected starting order.
Antonelli now has second on the official starting grid, alongside Norris. Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg fill the second row, while Russell starts seventh. That is why the qualifying table alone does not tell readers who lines up where.
Updated November 8, 2026, 05:18 IST: F1 has published the starting grid with the penalties applied.
Norris fastest, Russell second on the stopwatch
The official F1 qualifying results put Norris 0.204 seconds ahead of Russell, who recorded 1:27.674. Antonelli’s best Q3 lap was 1:28.095.
Charles Leclerc, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg completed the next three positions in qualifying. Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman, Fernando Alonso and Alexander Albon rounded out the top ten. Those are session positions, not a confirmed grid.
Heavy rain brought an interruption of more than 80 minutes before qualifying resumed, according to the BBC’s live report. Norris ultimately finished the delayed session on top.
Why the grid will look different
F1 confirmed Russell’s five-place drop for a new internal combustion engine before qualifying. His second-fastest lap therefore does not give him a front-row start.
Leclerc also has a ten-place penalty, while Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez face back-of-grid starts after power-unit changes, as detailed in F1’s penalty report. That makes an unadjusted top-ten list especially misleading this weekend.
The published grid puts Isack Hadjar fifth and Oliver Bearman sixth, ahead of Russell. Leclerc starts 14th; Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez occupy the final three places in that order. Norris won qualifying, but Antonelli, Lawson and Hulkenberg are among the drivers whose starting positions differ from their session positions.
