Climbing into a flying McLaren, Lando Norris circulates packed in any circumstance; with the sun scorching the asphalt or under a downpour like the one that caused panic during the qualifying in Interlagos, held in an extraordinary way this Sunday early in the morning to try to avoid the rain that did not stop falling. The storm did not subside by any means and the pilots, dressed as gladiators, jumped into an arena full of traps that wreaked havoc in every way, an impression reflected in the five yellow flags that neutralized a training session that lasted more than two hours. practically double what he owed.
The street runner that the official rehearsal became was a coin toss that came out heads for some and tails for others. In the first group we find drivers like Yuki Tsunoda, who will start third, or Liam Lawson, who will start fourth. The most striking name of the second pile is that of Max Verstappen, who will start 17th after being damaged by the red flag that caused Lance Stroll’s accident in Q2, and which left ‘Mad Max’ without the option of making his last attempt. quick return. At the time of the Canadian’s crash, the Dutchman actually had the 12th best time, but he lost five positions from the penalty he was carrying for using the sixth power unit of his Red Bull, when the regulations stipulate a maximum of four for the entire race. season. Thus, the current champion will go on the attack to try to prevent the margin of points he still has over Norris at the head of the general table (44 at the beginning of the test) from decreasing as little as possible.
“Be sensitive; The race is in a few hours,” the British driver from McLaren heard on the radio, just before facing the final lap that earned him his seventh pole of the course, the fifth in the last seven stops on the calendar. The boy from Somerset has everything in his sights to give him a good shake in the classification, especially if we take into account the little competition that the runners around him should have for him. Fernando Alonso, another of those who ended up crashing his Aston Martin into the barriers, will start ninth and Carlos Sainz, who followed the same fate as the Asturian, will start 13th.
