Verstappen expecting close fight in Sao Paulo GP

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Max Verstappen might have claimed pole position for this weekend's Sao Paulo GP at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos, but the Red Bull seemed to be lacking its usual domination over its rivals.

Verstappen had opted not to use any soft tyres in the sole practice session held earlier on Friday, and consequently looked off the pace in the first two rounds of qualifying.

He was second in both Q1 and Q2. In the initial round he was pipped by Mercedes' George Russell by just under a tenth, while in the second round he was 0.141s behind McLaren's Lando Norris.

But when it came to the crucial final top ten pole shoot-out, Red Bull made sure that Verstappen was first out on track with heavy rain looking imminent. It proved a masterstroke as Verstappen laid down a time of 1:10.727s.

That was seven tenths slower than the top time in Q2. But the final drivers seeking to set a time were hit by an abrupt change in conditions, not just with rain but also high winds, thunder and lightning sweeping across the circuit.

Read also: Verstappen on pole as lightning red flags Q3 in Brazil

It meant that Verstappen's time was good enough for pole by three tenths from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Unfortunately his own team mate Sergio Perez was caught out by the shift in conditions and was only P9.

“It seems that it's all very close, you can see that already in qualifying,” Verstappen told the media in parc ferme afterward. “I expect the same also in the race around here.

"There's always quite a lot of deg from the tyres," he explained. “So it's all about that management and last year we didn't get that right. But I think we will be better this year.”

The top three drivers had to take shelter from the deluge in rain for their interviews, and Verstappen said he was hoping that the conditions would be much improved over the rest of the weekend.

“This is insane weather. Charles and I were just discussing our laps, they felt terrible," he said. “We didn't know if it would hit, but then it did hit.

“I think the wind started to change and started to be very strong and we lost a lot of lap time because of it," he acknowledged. "But it was quite hectic in the last lap.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.