F1 Grand Prix, GP Brazil, Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos

Following his sprint race win in the morning, McLaren’s Lando Norris took his second pole position of the Brazilian weekend after heading all three qualifying sessions this afternoon. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers what drivers had to say after Day 2 at Sao Paulo.

McLaren

“It’s been good fun today despite the tricky conditions. The track is slippery and inconsistent – but it’s still a pleasure to drive at Interlagos and a great start to the weekend by winning the Sprint. We’ve been on very good form today, and the team are giving me a great car, so thank you to everyone at McLaren.

"I put myself under a bit of pressure in Q3 by locking-up at the first corner, which made things a little bit more stressful than I would have liked, but I stayed calm and put it together when it mattered.

“As for tomorrow, we don’t know what the weather is going to do, but we do know the competition is very quick. Big challenge ahead, but one we'll prepare for overnight and just focus on delivering the best possible performance."

"Not quite the day I was looking for. There were very tricky conditions in both the Sprint and Quali and we didn't know how the grip was going to be. Unfortunately, I’ve paid the price for that. The car's been quick all weekend, so hopefully we can take advantage of it tomorrow and finish at the top."

Mercedes

"First of all, a huge congratulations to Kimi. He did a massive job out there and I’m really proud of him and the team. On my side, P6 is not where I wanted to be today. I struggled a lot to put the Soft tyres in the right window and couldn’t find the necessary grip to put a good lap together.

"With only one hour of practice yesterday and the changing weather conditions overnight, making both Soft and Medium tyres perform proved challenging.

"Whilst starting from the third row is far from ideal, we are ahead of one Ferrari and both Red Bulls. That is very important in our fight for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. We were able to add good points collectively as a team in this morning’s Sprint and will be looking to do the same in tomorrow’s Grand Prix."

"I am really happy to be starting on the front row for tomorrow’s race. Qualifying was not easy with a lot of unexpected wind gusts, but we managed to put everything together from Q1 to Q3. We were able to put the tyres in the right window, and we did a solid job as a team, putting a good lap together at the end when it mattered.

"Throughout the weekend, I’ve been more and more comfortable with the car, and I’ve been enjoying racing on this track. The crowd is amazing here and it gives a lot of energy to perform at your best. The Sprint was exciting; I was pushing hard at the end using the Medium tyre to put Lando (Norris) under pressure.

"I got close but didn’t have enough speed to attempt an overtake. Nevertheless, that is a good sign for tomorrow’s race. I’m excited to be starting at the front, can hopefully fight the cars around us, and look to add some good points in our battle for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship."

Ferrari

"The Sprint this morning was quite good, but we were lacking some straight line speed which cost us a bit of lap time and had me stuck behind Fernando (Alonso) for quite a while. As for qualifying, I’m happy to have put it all together. We changed the car a bit after the Sprint this morning which gave us some more performance.

"It was very tight today, and I put in good laps in Q2 and Q3, so I’m satisfied to be starting the race from third place tomorrow because none of us expected this given what a challenging weekend we’ve had so far and the team did a really good job today. If we manage to stay ahead after the start we have a chance to bring home a good result for the team.

"Big congratulations to our team in WEC who secured the Constructors’ title for the first time in 53 years today, and to Antonio (Giovinazzi) and his team mates in car #51, for winning the Drivers’ title. They all did an amazing job and the whole team in Bahrain deserves to celebrate this achievement."

"Congratulations to our WEC colleagues for securing both championships in the final endurance race — a well-deserved result for everyone involved. Today also started on a positive note here in Brazil. In the Sprint I was able to make up a good number of places, which got me back into the points.

"We made some changes to the car afterwards that helped on the straights and in the high-speed corners, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the rear tyres into the right window in Q2 and that cost us. Still, a lot can happen on this track, as we’ve already seen today, so we’ll give it everything and try to put up a strong fight tomorrow."

Red Bull

"The Sprint today was a mixed bag, I had a good start and made up one position but that was about as good as it got. We then had the red flag and my race was pretty much over, I just couldn't keep up with the cars in front of me and the wet patches on the track didn't help.

"The Sprint felt similar to how the car felt during Sprint Quali yesterday so considering that, we definitely maximised as much as was possible with the P4 result. Between the Sprint and Quali today we made quite a few changes to the car to try and improve performance, but the grip and traction were not there and I was sliding around a lot which resulted in me really having to under drive.

"I am struggling to understand why the performance has been quite so bad today, we have a lot to analyse but firstly we need to understand the issues that we have been facing all weekend. The whole weekend has been pretty tough which is definitely unexpected but let's see what tomorrow has in store."

"Today was a frustrating one. We had tried a different approach going into the Sprint to gain some important data for the Team before Qualifying. Starting from the pitlane made it difficult to make up many positions, but the data we took into Qualifying was valuable.

"Between the Sprint and Quali, we'd made changes to get ourselves in a better position. From my side of the garage it made a difference, I felt we made a step forward together. For Quali I felt better in the car, it solved some of the limitations that I was feeling in the Sprint but we then encountered another issue as a result of the changes.

"The lack of grip was a problem, especially in these conditions, where in sector one we just couldn't get the tyres going. It's frustrating to not have maximised on the positives changes we'd made. I'll start from the back, so I'll try my best tomorrow to overtake and move up the pack."

Racing Bulls

"After a tricky Sprint race this morning, I’m glad that we put it all together during a hectic Qualifying session. There were very difficult conditions out there and despite having a fast a car, for most of the time I was just fighting with it. It wasn’t easy at all to keeping the car on track today, so this P5 comes with a bit of a surprise and it’s a great result for us as a team.

"Tomorrow we’ll start in a very interesting position and it’s definitely a big opportunity to score important points for the Constructors’ Championship, so we’ll give our all to achieve the best possible result.”

"To have both cars in Q3 is a great result for the team. The pace was very strong in Qualifying, which is great given the tough Sprint race. We'll be analysing the small details after losing lap time during Q3, which cost us a few positions, but it's certainly a decent place to be starting from tomorrow. As always, the target is to score points, so we'll be giving it our all on track.”

Haas

“We’re working as hard as we can as a team to find answers. The car was very difficult to drive, lacking balance, so it was a disappointing session. It’s not from a lack of trying though, so I’m sure we’ll find out the answer to this and get to where we should be. The Sprint was a race of survival. It was one of those where if you stay on track and finish the race, you usually gain some positions, but it was hard out there.”

“I had a great feeling from Lap 1, but I was surprised by our competitiveness. We were P3 in Q1 and P2 in Q2, so we were very strong. In Q3, I thought my first lap was good but I didn’t improve compared to what I had achieved in Q2, so it’s a bit strange that it panned out like that, and the track wasn’t evolving, but otherwise it was a really good qualifying for us. I’m excited for tomorrow – we showed great race pace in the Sprint, and starting in a good position for tomorrow is nice, I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Alpine

“It's been a really good day with our first point since Spa in the Sprint Race this morning and then our first Q3 appearance since Silverstone in Qualifying in the afternoon. It's really pleasing to see we had the potential to be in the mix today which we will aim to take forwards to tomorrow for the main race.

"In the Sprint, I felt like I had a car which I could race with. I knew the point was close and I had to fight hard throughout and then go for it on Lance [Stroll] into Turn 1. It is just a point but it is a morale boost for everyone at the team. It's been difficult for us recently and we have some ideas on why we are competitive here but we really need to keep digging for some more answers.

"In Qualifying, we were only a few hundredths of a second to finishing in the top five. My last run definitely was not my strongest but, even so, we are starting inside the top ten and will aim to consolidate that tomorrow with the aim of another points scoring finish.”

“First of all, a massive thank you to the team for repairing the car and getting me out in time for Qualifying. It was a great effort and I'm super grateful to them. We were running quite well in the Sprint in tricky conditions, but one of the cars ahead kicked up some water, which caught out a few cars and created a snowball effect.

„As soon as I touched the paint, I lost the car, which was a pity as we were having some nice battles and looked reasonably competitive. The car felt quite different to the one we had earlier in the weekend and generally I didn't feel as comfortable, and the performance wasn't there like we've seen at different stages of the weekend.

„Also well done to Pierre, who has been super strong this weekend. Getting a point in the Sprint and making Q3, it's a nice reward to the team for their hard work. Clearly there's pace in the car here, we just need to understand why we couldn't get the same feeling.”

Kick Sauber

“It’s great to have made it to Q3 - for the first time this year - so that’s definitely something to be pleased about. That said, it wasn’t the easiest session. The wind made the car quite unpredictable and difficult to handle, and the balance was tricky throughout, which made it hard to really string the laps together.

„Still, we dug deep and got ourselves into the top ten, which is a solid result given the conditions. Earlier in the day, the Sprint had a disappointing outcome, but big credit to the team - they did a great job getting the car fixed and ready again in such a short amount of time.

"We’ve been working hard to improve the package, and it’s encouraging to see progress. Tomorrow looks like it’ll be a dry race, which could be a challenge, but we’ll give it everything.

„There are some fast cars behind, so we’ll need to be smart, stay clean, and try to capitalise on any opportunities. The target is always points, and we’ll fight hard to bring some home.”

"I was lucky and blessed to get away unharmed from my incident today; it was a huge crash, but I’m here standing on my own feet, and that shows not only how well these cars are built nowadays, but also the progress we have made through the years in terms of safety.

„I would like to thank our mechanics, who did everything they could to get me back on track for Qualifying. They worked super hard to rebuild my car from zero, and we almost made it in time.

„Obviously, I can't avoid being a bit disappointed not to have made it to quali at my first home Grand Prix – that’s a shame, because I really feel like our car was competitive enough to build something this weekend, as shown by Nico making it into Q3. But there’s still a race to do tomorrow. I just want to sit in the car, drive, give my best, and enjoy my time out there."

Aston Martin

"It was a bit of a mixed day for us. The Sprint went well this morning and we scored some good points. We were a little unlucky with the red flag when everyone changed to Mediums. Without that, I think we could have done even better.

„In Qualifying, it was more difficult because the Soft tyres didn't give me the confidence to really push. We are P11 though so we are in the fight for points tomorrow if we execute a clean race. Let's see what we can do."

"We qualified in P14 today: Q1 was feeling okay, I managed to get a clean lap in at the end and the car balance was feeling good. In Q2 I struggled with grip and just wasn't feeling the level of grip that I had in Q1.

„We will have to look into it and understand why so we can fight back tomorrow. It's another day and hopefully some opportunities come up ahead of us so we can make up some positions."

Williams

Alex Albon, Sprint: 17th, Qualifying: 12th, 1:10.053
"Overall, the Sprint wasn’t great for us. We were not quite able to get points, so I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. Unfortunately, with the incident at the end, I picked up some damage from debris, and we had to work quickly to turn the car around before qualifying.

„We had to switch from our new floor back to an older one, which I think cost us some performance. I’m really glad Gabi [Bortoleto] is okay though; that was a big crash. Qualifying was then quite tricky. We made some good changes and I think we did make a step forward with the car, but you can't really see it.

„We still don’t have the balance we’re looking for, and that’s causing us to hurt the tyres. We saw the same thing in the Sprint, so we need to look at that and understand our race pace better because it’s so tight in the midfield right now."

Carlos Sainz, Sprint: 14th, Qualifying: 15th, 1:10.472
"It’s been tough to find performance in the car this weekend. We struggle in these types of longer corners and, even though we’ve been playing around a lot with setup, I haven’t managed to find something I’m happy with and I’ve not been comfortable in the car.

„Tomorrow the pecking order is quite out of sync, so we’ll see what we can do with strategy to try to get into the points. I’m always more optimistic for Sunday, so we’ll keep fighting until the end."