Qualifying Results - 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen won the red-flagged 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying session at Interlagos Circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo was not able to follow up on the amazing results achieved during the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix when he did not make it out of Q1 at Interlagos Circuit.

His AlphaTauri teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, was faster by six thousands of a second with a time of 1:10.837. However, that was only good for P16 - still not enough for Q2.

Fortunately for AlphaTauri, their main competitor in the Championship - Alfa Romeo, also got both of their drivers kicked out of the qualifying in Q1.

Valtteri Bottas finished in P18, while his teammate Zhou Guanyu finished in P20. Williams driver Logan Sargeant separated the Alfa Romeo duo in P19.

Sargeant's teammate Alex Albon made it to Q2 but could not do better than P15. P14 was achieved by Kevin Magnussen, and his Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg just didn't make it to Q3 as he placed in P11.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly might have hoped for better results, but they joined the drivers that did not make it out of Q2.

The last part of the qualifying was a bit anti-climactic as a storm hit the track right after drivers finished their first lap and the session was ended.

Max Verstappen has been able to put down the best lap in his one try. His Red Bull teammate finished P9 as he got caught out by yellow flags in the last sector.

The reason for the yellow flags was the McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who lost his rear in turn 12 and slid into the grass off the track, fortunately not hitting barriers.

Lando Norris did not seem satisfied with his P7 as his performance from earlier parts of qualifying suggested he could challenge for the pole.

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz scored P2 and P8 and Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell scored P5 and P6.

Crucially for Hamilton, he will start four positions ahead of his rival for second place in the championship, Checo Perez. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the session was Aston Martin.

After a few unsuccessful weekends, Fernando Alonso scored a P4, and his teammate Lance Stroll outqualified him to score an amazing P3.