Intense Wet Qualifying in Brazil nets P2 and P3

• In a delayed qualifying session, George Russell qualified P2 with Kimi Antonelli in treacherous wet conditions.

• George looked supreme throughout and was unfortunate not to take pole position as more heavy rain closed in during the closing stages of Q3.

• His final effort was aborted as he got stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon, only for the rain to hit and denying him the chance of one more effort to overhaul the McLaren of Lando Norris.

• Owing to his five-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine, George will start tomorrow’s race from P7.

• Kimi meanwhile will line up P2 having qualified P3 as he didn’t quite have the pace throughout the session to challenge for pole.

• In a difficult session, he progressed through to Q3 in P10 but bounced back in the final segment to claim a position on the front-row.

• The team heads into tomorrow’s Grand Prix needing to outscore Ferrari by three points to claim the Constructors’ Championship here in Brazil.

George Russell

Obviously I’m disappointed with how qualifying ended today. We definitely had the pace to take pole position, and in a tricky situation we weren’t able to achieve that. Given the circumstances of last weekend, it would have meant a lot to take pole here. We missed pole by nine milliseconds last week when we didn’t really expect to be in that position, whereas today the car felt strong and I felt like I was putting together laps that were capable of being right at the front.

We collectively made a misjudgement at the end and that’s frustrating, but these things happen. As a driver, you feel that disappointment very strongly in the moment, but it’s important that we stick together and keep the morale high. There were still plenty of positives in our performance today and, in the bigger picture, it doesn’t change a huge amount. We’ll start P7 tomorrow and we’ve still got a great opportunity to move forward, score some strong points for the team, and hopefully clinch the Constructors’ Championship.

Kimi Antonelli

That was a tricky qualifying session but also good fun. It was my first wet qualifying in Formula One, so I was learning a lot and trying to understand the grip and the lines as the conditions changed. I was probably a little too cautious at times and then made two big mistakes on my final lap in Q3, which was a shame as there was definitely more performance there.

Starting P2 tomorrow still puts us in a really good position though. I’ve felt very good with the car all weekend, particularly in the dry, and I learned a lot today that will help if we have similar conditions in the race. Whether it is wet or dry, I think we have a good chance, and we’ll be going for the win. We want to clinch the Constructors’ Championship and hopefully we can do so with a strong team result.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

Those were very difficult conditions today and you must take your hat off to the drivers for their collective skill in such treacherous weather. Interlagos can change very quickly, and we saw that throughout the session.

George had the pace to be on pole today and it is disappointing that he didn’t get the opportunity to finish the job. The call to abort the second lap at the end of Q3 was a real 50-50 decision. He was very slightly up on Norris at that point but was catching Albon and we thought was about to lose time. Without a crystal ball, it was very difficult to know whether to back off and create the space or keep going. In hindsight, with the rain coming on the next lap, we should have kept going but it is very easy to say this after the event. What was most pleasing is that George was very strong throughout and deserved pole position, even if he didn’t get it today.

Kimi meanwhile did a solid job too in challenging conditions and will start P2 tomorrow. With George’s penalty, we know he has some work to do from further back in P7, but the pace in the car was clear today. We need to execute properly tomorrow and maximise the opportunities we have. With Ferrari starting further back in the field, we know we have an opportunity to clinch the Constructors’ Championship here, but we must focus on delivering well and making the correct decisions.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We made several small changes to the cars overnight and FP3 gave us a useful opportunity to assess those on the hottest track of the weekend so far. We finished P2 and P4 without either driver feeling they had put together a particularly good lap, so we were optimistic that, had qualifying remained dry, that we would have been fighting at the front.

The rain arrived at the end of FP3 and continued through to qualifying. Conditions were very poor initially and it was right to red flag the session when the heavier rain arrived. Credit to the FIA too for timing the restart well and allowing us to complete the session in sensible conditions before the light deteriorated further.

We had decent pace on both the extreme Wet and Intermediate tyres, although the balance wasn’t particularly easy for the drivers. The rear was quite weak and that made it difficult to build confidence. We had a close shave with Kimi in Q2 after leaving the switch to Intermediates a lap later than we should have, but ultimately P2 and P4 on the road is a reasonable team result in such tricky conditions.

George was understandably frustrated not to get the opportunity to challenge Norris for pole. It was a difficult call at the end of his lap, with Albon ahead, as to whether to back off and create space or continue and risk compromising both that lap and the next. Ultimately, the rain intensified and there was no opportunity to improve.

We’ve still put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow. We’re expecting more rain and that usually means an eventful race here. We’ve got two cars with good pace and, if we execute well, there should be plenty of opportunity to move forward and fight for the podium.

FP3 Result

Qualifying Result