The China Mail - Piastri takes Brazil sprint pole ahead of Norris

In an exciting sprint qualifying session, with rain threatening, Piastri clocked a best lap in one minute and 8.899 seconds to beat championship-chasing Norris by 0.029 with Charles Leclerc taking third for Ferrari.

Three-time world champion and series leader Max Verstappen, who faces a five-place grid penalty in Sunday's Grand Prix for taking a new engine, was fourth for Red Bull ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, Mercedes' George Russell, Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson of RB.

Alex Albon was ninth for Williams ahead of the impressive Oliver Bearman, the British teenager driving for Haas in place of Kevin Magnussen, who was ill.

"The track was moving on really quickly and I caught up through the runs and then put it on pole," said Australian pole-sitter Piastri.

"It was nice. I'm not surprised at our pace. We felt confident here from this morning."

Norris said he, too, was pleased, but declined to talk about his bid to overhaul a 47-point deficit and take the title from Verstappen.

"I hate answering these questions," he said. "I'm just concentrating on my own job and that's it. I don't care where Max qualifies."

Verstappen said fourth was as much as he expected.

"It's very bumpy here and not suited to our car," he said.

The bumpy track, with a new asphalt surface, ramped up rapidly from the start of the first qualifying session as Lawson went top ahead of Norris and Russell before Piastri, revelling in McLaren's new rear wing, took command. Verstappen and Leclerc tried, but failed to match him.

At this stage, the entire field was running on medium tyres as is mandatory for the first two sessions as dark clouds threatened before Norris, fastest in the morning free practice session, took over on top.

- Temperature falls -

In a frantic conclusion, two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin failed to make the cut in 16th place along with Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda of RB, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Sauber's Zhou Guanyu.

For Alonso, who arrived at the track on Friday morning following an overnight flight from Europe where he was treated for an intestinal infection, it was his first early exit in qualifying this year.

In the second perios, Russell briskly set off to set a banker lap in 1:09.683 before Norris, clearly in the mood, beat that time by six-tenths to go top in 1:09.063, a lap that left Verstappen four-tenths adrift.

Ferrari, fuelled by the emotions generated by two consecutive victories, were unable to optimise their tyres to match Norris's pace, too, and received bad news when Leclerc was requested to see the stewards in relation to alleged swearing at the post-race news conference in Mexico.

This followed Verstappen's sarcastic references suggesting he had been victimised by the FIA for his own profanities this season.

The session ended with Norris on top ahead of Piastri and Leclerc with Verstappen fourth, but Mercedes' seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in 11th place together with Nico Hulkenberg in the second Haas, Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, Williams' Franco Colapinto and Sauber's Valtteri Bottas.

By the time the third qualifying run began, a cool wind had arrived and the track temperature had fallen 20 degrees, a warning that prompted McLaren to send both cars out ahead of the rest, Norris leading the way in 1:08.928, three-tenths clear of Piastri.

With three minutes remaining, the rest emerged for one flying lap, but it was Piastri who produced the speed with a stunning effort in 1:08.899 to take pole as Norris aborted his lap and settled for second.

F.Brown--ThChM