McLaren's championship leader Lando Norris has sealed his first sprint race pole of the season, having also gone quickest in FP1. As a result, he is the fifth different polesitter in the five different sprint races held so far this year. Interlagos has been a regular fixture on the sprint race calendar since the concept was inaugurated in 2021.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli will line up second on tomorrow's sprint race grid, crucially separating Norris from his team mate and key title rival Oscar Piastri. Red Bull's Max Verstappen, also in contention for the championship, will start only sixth, having lost time in the middle sector of his final run.

As per the regulations, all the drivers used a set of medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2 before switching to the soft for SQ3: the first time that all the drivers (apart from the Red Bull duo) had run them all weekend. The sprint qualifying was run in ambient temperatures that peaked at 38 degrees centigrade.

However, things are expected to change considerably tomorrow as rain is forecast for the morning, which is likely to mean a wet track for the sprint race at 11:00 local time, which will be followed by qualifying for the grand prix at 15:00.

The teams will have to start from scratch in the wet conditions, with one of the unknown factors being the wet grip available on the new asphalt in the long acceleration zone past the pits stretching from Juncao (Turn 12) to the first corner. A new surface has also been laid from the exit of the Senna 'S' (turn three) along the back straight to Descida do Lago.

McLaren's Lando Norris narrowly beat his team mate Oscar Piastri by 0.023s to go fastest in FP1 right at the end of the session, with both McLarens using the medium tyre: the default choice for most competitors.

Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg was a surprising third, while his team mate and local hero Gabriel Bortoleto concluded the session a strong fifth.

Red Bull and Ferrari took a different strategic approach: Red Bull was the only team to also try the soft tyres (although Max Verstappen aborted his flying lap on this compound) while both Ferraris ran on just one set of hard tyres throughout the hour-long session, where track temperatures peaked at 41 degrees centigrade.

Simone Berra: "Following the lap times we saw in the short qualifying session today, there seem to be two different types of possible strategy in terms of compound choice for tomorrow's sprint race. The times show that the performance gap between the medium and the soft is very little, which make both compounds a valid option for tomorrow's race.

"The compact nature of the track here is one reason why that gap is so small, as well as the fact that the teams have only had a very limited chance so far to run the soft tyre and work out how to maximise its potential. The drivers starting the sprint on the C4 should have an initial grip advantage but will have to manage degradation at the end of the race.

"As for the hard tyre. the results we saw with it in FP1 were quite varied and seemed to largely depend on the different setups used by the teams during the only session so far that it was run. Some drivers managed to get good performance out of it while others struggled to find a satisfactory level of grip.

"Even though the trio of compounds selected for this year are harder than those nominated in 2024, the lap times in FP1 were up to seven-tenths of a second faster. Asphalt temperature was definitely one factor influencing this, which was lower than last year.

"The support races are helping to provide significant track evolution as expected, which could nonetheless be neutralised tomorrow morning if the predicted rain arrives. Strong gusts of wind are expected as well that could also drop temperatures further - which might push the teams towards using the softer compounds for the rest of the weekend."

Check out our Friday gallery from Interlagos here.