2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
Nov 9, 2025
3 min read

After another Championship-defining Sprint Race, all eyes turned back to one-lap pace as everyone tried their best to qualify as high as possible ahead of the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, MAX VERSTAPPEN, Esteban Ocon, Franco Colapinto, Yuki Tsunoda, and Gabriel Bortoleto were the five slowest drivers! I’ve written Max Verstappen’s name in all caps just to make sure that you guys know I didn’t make a mistake! Yes, Max legitimately got knocked out in Q1 on pure pace, and that’s probably Championship over for the 4-time World Champ! Both Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto were nowhere near their teammates’ pace as they both suffered Q1 exits, whilst Yuki Tsunoda was slowest in what was a pretty dark day for Red Bull Racing! Unfortunately for Gabriel Bortoleto, he will start last in his Home Race after failing to get a lap on the board after his big crash in the Sprint earlier in the day! Lando Norris comfortably topped Q1 for McLaren, a couple of tenths clear of Oliver Bearman’s Haas (yes, you read that right)!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, and Carlos Sainz all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Fernando Alonso will actually be quite disappointed to have missed out on Q3 by just 16 thousandths of a second, whilst Alex Albon could only manage P12! Lewis Hamilton will start from 13th after another difficult day, ahead of the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll (who also would’ve been aiming for more), whilst Carlos Sainz ended up well off the pace for Williams! Norris once again topped Q2, with Bearman behind him again (I’m not joking)!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a massive 1:09.511 was enough for Lando Norris to take a further step forward in his charge to become World Champion! The duo of Lando and McLaren have been pretty untouchable this weekend, and as long as he finishes the job today, he looks set to become Champion within the next month! Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s brilliant weekend continued with another second place, ahead of Charles Leclerc (who did a great job to get his Ferrari into the Top 3), whilst Oscar Piastri was a long way off his teammate in 4th! Isack Hadjar pulled out another special Qualifying performance to line up 5th for today’s Race, ahead of a disappointed George Russell, whilst Liam Lawson capped off what was a brilliant day for Racing Bulls (an interesting thing to keep an eye on given Red Bull’s performance)! Whilst 8th is still very good, Oliver Bearman will be disappointed not to be higher up, whilst Pierre Gasly did another great job for Alpine, pipping Nico Hulkenberg to a higher 5th-row start!