Prior to the 21st race of the 2022 Formula One World Championship, Kevin Magnussen won his first-ever Formula One pole position for the sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix for Haas.
Follow Us
After the one-hour qualifying session, which is divided into three parts with five cars each being eliminated in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3, Magnussen will start Saturday’s sprint race, which determines the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull and George Russell of Mercedes. Magnussen’s position at the front of the grid was confirmed by a rain shower and a red flag in Q3, which occurred after Russell spun off.
Drivers started the session on intermediate tyres because more rain was predicted after a rain shower dampened the track after practice. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari set the early pace at 1m18.723s, followed by Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso of Alpine, and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who finished first with 1m18.495s and 1m18.412s respectively. Alonso only managed 1m16.177s while everyone else switched to slick tyres, which caused the times to fall. Pierre Gasly was the first to equip his AlphaTauri with soft slick tyres, and he quickly went to P1.
Alex Albon (Williams), Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton all held P1 before Lando Norris (McLaren) recorded the fastest time of 1m13.106s. Nicholas Latifi (Williams, who had been P1 with 1 minute and 45 seconds left! ), the Alfa Romeos of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), and Mick Schumacher all failed at the first hurdle (Haas).
Norris set the benchmark at 1m11.571s, a tenth faster than Verstappen, helped by his strong Q1 performance. Then, as rain started to fall once more, Verstappen and Alonso alternated turns at the top. Verstappen set a final-lap record of 1m10.881s on fresh tyres, finishing 0.009s faster than Carlos Sainz of Ferrari despite the additional precipitation.
Verstappen, Russell, Norris, and Sainz were all two tenths behind Magnussen at the start of the session in largely dry conditions. Russell crashed into his Mercedes at Turn 4’s Descida do Lago, raising the red flags. The grid order established in the first few seconds stood because heavier rain had started to fall by the time the practise resumed and DRS was turned off. Prior to Hamilton and Sergio Perez of Red Bull, the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Alonso will start the sprint race in positions sixth and seventh, respectively. Leclerc started out taking a chance on intermediate tyres but pitted for slicks without setting a laptime, leaving him stuck in 10th.
