‘I couldn’t have done any more’ – Norris details how he excelled in wet Sao Paulo Qualifying

Lando Norris has explained how he made the difference during a rain-soaked Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, in which he beat Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to pole position.

Poor visibility, low grip and less-than-ideal weather made for an exhilarating session that saw nine different teams make it through to Q3, but it was Norris who put it all together when it mattered to take top spot.

He posted a 1m 27.470s before the rain intensified and forced others to abandon their laps, marking Norris’ third consecutive pole at Interlagos and McLaren’s fourth of the 2026 season.

“I had good confidence in the car – that’s always a good start,” the Briton explained after the session. “You want a car you feel you can push on. Especially with how wet it was, every bit of confidence you can get is a good thing and rewards you heavily.

“Obviously through Qualifying you start to see the pack even out and the pecking order go back a little bit to who has a good package, who has the most confidence. But into Q3, it was a lot more about who could push the most and just make the least mistakes.

“You had two laps, two opportunities to put things together, get a good lap, get the tyres in a good window – but also to then not make a mistake, to brake later, to accelerate harder but not lock the tyre and not have wheelspin.

“In these conditions it’s so easy to make these little errors which can be costly. My lap was just very clean and, in the end, that’s what you want.

“I couldn’t have done any more today. It was just a very nice, clean lap in, no mistakes – that’s what I managed to do.”

With the potential of more rain for Sunday’s 71-lap Grand Prix, Norris also seemed optimistic that he can continue to avoid errors and hold off new World Champion Antonelli, who will start P2 after Russell’s five-place grid penalty is imposed.

He said: “If I want to win tomorrow, we need rain. I think in the dry conditions, we don’t quite have the speed of our competitors, so it’s nice that in the rain I feel like I can make a bit more of a difference.

“I make up for a little bit of the lack of speed we have compared to them. I need it to stay raining all night.

“Obviously I want a good race, so I don’t mind a little bit of rain through the whole session. With Kimi behind, who’s probably the quickest this weekend, it’s going to be a tough challenge.”

McLaren endured contrasting fortunes at Interlagos as Oscar Piastri was eliminated in Q2 for the second consecutive weekend, trailing in P12 after he was hindered by a late red flag for Rafael Camara’s crash.

With only a short amount of time left on the clock, it was confirmed that the segment wouldn’t be resumed, although the Australian may be slightly comforted by the fact that grid penalties for others will promote him to P10.

“Definitely at the beginning of the session, it was tough,” Piastri said. “I think towards the end it was definitely getting easier, but you needed a couple of laps to get temperature into the inters.

“It was very, very challenging. We’ll try and make our way forward tomorrow. I think [the order] could be pretty jumbled. There are obviously a few grid penalties around so we’ll have to wait and see what it’s like.”