By: The ‘Mind the Gap’ feature gains an intriguing new meteorological variable: rain. For the drivers, as for us, it is the first time this year that official running has been affected by a wet track, giving us a completely new scenario to analyse.
First of all, we should point out that we were unable to include the session’s outright fastest benchmarks in the graphic. Had we taken only the quickest times, we would have had to stop at Q2, with Russell undoubtedly fastest on that occasion after lapping on Intermediates in 1’26’’745.
Instead, in order to provide a picture that took the equality of track conditions into account as much as possible, we chose to consider the Q3 results for the top 10, Q2 for the drivers eliminated at the end of the second session, and Q1 for those knocked out after the opening 18 minutes of running.
Mind the Gap
Click the image to enlarge
Rain completely reshuffles the pecking order
There is a considerable gap between the drivers’ times due to the weather front that hit Interlagos. From Q1 until the end of Q2, performance improved markedly as, with no rain falling, the track was gradually drying. Unfortunately, it began raining again just as the cars left the pits for Q3. The drivers were able to complete only one attempt on Intermediates. They then remained in their garages waiting for the end of the session, as there would have been no point in returning to the track on Wets.
George Russell would potentially have been fastest in Q3 again, but a communication error with the pit wall cost him top spot. In any case, he would not have taken pole position because of his five-place grid penalty for a power unit change. Instead, Lando Norris claimed the first wet-weather pole position of the 2026 car era: 1’27’’470. The gaps are obviously much wider than usual, but George still managed to remain within two tenths of the pole-sitter. Antonelli, third, will start from P2 today after being six tenths slower.
Long live the outsiders: a very different Red Bull without Verstappen
What we can say is that the rain gave us a highly varied Q3. Nine teams out of 11 made it into the top 10. Lawson, Hulkenberg and Alonso were the drivers who stood out most across the various stages of qualifying.
An underwhelming qualifying session for Red Bull, who without Verstappen — starting from the back following a power unit change — were beaten by both Lawson’s VCARB and Hulkenberg’s Audi. It was also a disappointing day for Alpine, unable to make it beyond Q1. There was an incredible performance gap between Lawson and Lindblad, Hulkenberg and Bortoleto (who made an error in Q1), Bearman and Camara (who is making his absolute debut), Alonso and Stroll, and Albon and Sainz (three seconds in Q2: Carlos was probably hampered by an incorrect decision on when to leave the pits). Bottas beat Perez by almost eight tenths.
Cover photo by Finlay Williams / WHYOUT Images
Interior photo by Vinicius de Oliveira / WHYOUT Images
All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the Brazilian GP 2026
