Verstappen, already champion before this race, set his best time in 1.10.727 minutes, beating Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by 0.294 seconds, while Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) came third with 0.617.
The final stage of qualifying, Q3, was interrupted with a red flag with 4.19 minutes to go due to rain falling on the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo.
Initially, the rain showers began to be felt during the first of two fast lap attempts, which quickly ended in a waterspout.
As dusk approached, the session did not resume and the teams were even ordered to close their garage doors to prevent flooding.
For example, Verstappen, who already has 16 victories to his name this year (a Formula 1 record) and was the 16th fastest in today’s free practice, took his 11th pole of the season, 31st of his career, and was thus the third car on the track when it started to rain.
Worse luck was had by his teammate, Sergio Pérez, who was the last to attempt a fast lap and did not get further than ninth place, just behind Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who even drove a short distance off the track.
Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) did not even set a time in this third phase of qualifying.
The surprise of the day was Aston Martin who, in addition to Lance Stroll’s third place (best result of the year), placed Spaniard Fernando Alonso in fourth place.
This puts Verstappen in eighth place on the list of drivers with the most poles of all time, but only one behind Britain’s Nigel Mansell (32), who is seventh, and two behind Jim Clark and Alain Prost (33), who are sixth. are. .
Next are Sebastian Vettel (57), Ayrton Senna (65), Michael Schumacher (68) and at the top of the list is Lewis Hamilton, with 104.
The qualifying rounds for the sprint race, the last of the season, taking place at 6.30 pm (Lisbon time) will take place on Saturday, while the main race is scheduled for Sunday.
Source: DN
