Provisional starting grid GP Brazil | Leclerc and Perez far behind Magnussen

Qualifying for the Brazil GP has been completed, meaning the provisional starting grid for Saturday's sprint race in Sao Paulo is known. Kevin Magnussen secured the first pole position of his F1 career and the Haas F1 team's first and will start at the front.

Qualifying was all about the best starting position for the sprint race in Brazil on Friday. In the sprint race, the first eight drivers can score points. The winner takes eight points, the runner-up takes seven and so on. The final result of that race also determines the starting position for Sunday's race. Since this year, the winner of that race is no longer the official polesitter. In fact, that is the driver who drove the fastest time on Friday.

Magnussen performed the impossible for Haas by setting the fastest lap just before it started raining hard and the track got wetter, which nobody could undercut. The red flag that fell after George Russell flew out of the corner also helped him. The starting places from P20 to P11 do not look very surprising, but due to the crazy Q3 we do see an atypical top ten at the provisional starting grid. Indeed, Max Verstappen follows the Dane on P2, but Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are at the back of the top ten.

In the slides below, you can see how qualifying ended. Meanwhile, we already know that Carlos Sainz changed his ICE and will receive a five-place grid penalty for doing so. It remains to be seen whether that will be increased for the sprint race by replacing even more engine parts.