Kevin Magnussen of Haas F1 took the pole position for the Sprint at the 2022 FIA Sao Paulo Grand Prix, beating World Champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes George Russell.
A combination of red flags and rain kept the Danish driver at the top of the timesheet until the chequered flag at the end of Q3, which gave him the win. Magnussen’s victory was a surprise, but it was wildly popular with the fans.
Magnussen was the first man out on track to begin the top-10 shootout, which worked to his advantage because it was raining when the third and final qualifying round began. And after taking provisional pole ahead of Verstappen with his first flying lap, the session was stopped when Russell, commencing his second run after winning P3 with his first, skidded off track in Turn 4.
This caused the session to come to an abrupt end. The caution flags were waved, and drivers began to make their way back to the pit lane. After then, it started to rain, and as the weather got worse, any possibility of finding improvements when the session restarted dwindled away. This allowed Magnussen to triumphantly claim his first pole position for Haas, which was also the team’s first ever.
After the event, he was quoted as saying, “I’m at a loss for words.” “The crew placed me out in the perfect position, and I performed a really great lap; as a result, we are on pole position!” It’s wonderful; I appreciate your help. Maximum assault [tomorrow], let’s go for something amusing instead.”
Earlier, when the track at Interlagos was still wet from rain showers that occurred between FP1 and the beginning of Q1, a line of drivers waiting at the end of the pit lane ahead of the green lights was established. All of these drivers were on intermediate tyres.
Charles Leclerc, a driver for Ferrari, was the one to set the early pace for the practice by setting a time of 1:18.723, which was faster than everyone else. However, with his first flying lap, Verstappen surged to the top of the order with a lap time of 1:18.495, and he continued to hold that position throughout the rest of the race.
Then, with nine minutes left on the clock, Pierre Gasly became the first driver to switch to slick soft compound tyres, and the AlphaTauri driver quickly surged to the top of the scoreboard with a lap that was 1:17.626.
His lap prompted the majority of drivers to switch to slick tires, which allowed Lando Norris of McLaren to take the lead position ahead of Max Verstappen. The times were falling, though, and the competition came down to who could finish the session by being the last person to cross the finish line before the flag was raised and putting in a final flyer.
And after everything was said and done, Norris grabbed first place with a lap of 1:13.106 to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Fernando Alonso of Alpine. Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin finished in fourth place, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and teammate Max Verstappen. Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri, Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo, Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo, Nicholas Latifi of Williams, who finished in 16th place and was eliminated, and Mick Schumacher of Haas, who finished in 20th place. All of these drivers were in the drop zone.
After a dry start to the second qualifying round, Verstappen took the lead with a lap of 1:11.670, but Norris promptly passed him up by going 0.009 seconds faster than he did. After then, Alonso moved up to the first position, but Verstappen was having another strong lap, and by the time he reached the finish line, he had climbed to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:11.318.
A light drizzle started to fall as Verstappen began the last laps, which went faster than ever before, and he extended his position in first place with a first flyer time of 1:10.881. After him in second place came Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Charles Leclerc of Charles Racing, with only seven hundredths of a second separating the top three drivers. At the end of the middle period, however, Gasly, Vettel, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were eliminated from contention. Williams’ Alex Albon, who had been in P11, was the next driver to be eliminated.
Ferrari took a risk by putting Leclerc on intermediate tyres in anticipation of rain falling during the last stage of the race. At the beginning of the session, Magnussen was the first man on the track, and when he crossed the finish line, he took provisional pole position ahead of Max. However, by this time, it was obvious that Leclerc was having trouble keeping up with the pack, and Pérez’s problems quickly became Leclerc’s problems as well. During the Mexican driver’s flying lap, he came upon the slower Leclerc, which caused his final sector to become compromised. Leclerc finished in a lackluster tenth place, while Pérez finished only a hair ahead of him in ninth place.
While Pérez proceeded for another try, Leclerc pulled into the pit lane at the conclusion of the following lap he completed. Despite their best efforts, though, they were unsuccessful when Russell crashed off the track in Turn 4. When the Mercedes driver’s car became stuck in the gravel, the attendants brought out the red flags. After that, drops of rain started falling from the sky.
The practice session was restarted after an eight-minute delay, but the rain that had begun to fall meant that there was no hope of any improvement. As a result, Magnussen secured an improbable pole position victory over Max for the first time in his career.
In spite of his excursion off the track ahead of Norris, Russell was able to secure third place, and Sainz finished in fifth. As a result of having to swap power units, the Ferrari driver will be given a five-place grid penalty for the race on Sunday. Esteban Ocon of Alpine finished the session in sixth place, one spot ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton qualified in eighth place, and Charles Checo had to settle for ninth place in the Sprint race ahead of Charles Leclerc.
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