Oscar Piastri’s tumultuous 2026 hit another snag in qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with more bad luck costing him dearly in the second round.

Amid a torrential Brazilian downpour that saw the session aborted after just five minutes before resuming nearly two hours later, the Australian missed out on the third round of qualifying after debutant Rafael Camara crashed out with a minute to go.

Facing what David Croft described as “the most difficult first qualifying session he could have dreamt of – or had nightmares about”, Camara, who replaced Esteban Ocon for Haas, went off the track and into the barrier at Turn 12.

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It meant Piastri, who was on a fast lap when the red flag arrived, had his hopes of making a late charge into the top ten dashed, eventually finishing 12th.

While he will start in the top ten for Monday morning’s (AEDT) race due to grid penalties for Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton, who finished 11th, and Charles Leclerc, it was yet another misfortune in what has been a rough 2026 from start to finish for last year’s runner-up.

McLaren teammate Lando Norris, meanwhile, claimed pole position for the third consecutive Sao Paulo Grand Prix after another heavy burst of rain saw Q3 come to a premature halt with five minutes left.

It is the reigning drivers’ champion’s first pole position since the Madrid Grand Prix in September.

“It’s been a long day,” Norris joked about the two and a half-hour qualifying session.

“It’s not easy conditions out there, especially when you know it was going to rain a lot more.

“It was about getting two laps in at the beginning, not making any mistakes, and that’s exactly what we did.”

A frustrated George Russell, meanwhile, reacted badly to finishing second behind Norris, though a grid penalty after Mercedes fitted his car with a new internal combustion engine will see him drop five places.

Just before the rain arrived again, Russell had found himself stuck behind Alex Albon’s Williams, with his crew telling him to back out the lap, denying him the chance to make up the gap to Norris.

“Mate, you f***ing told me to back off! What the hell!” Russell vented at senior engineer Marcus Dudley.

“P2, I don’t want to be P2, I want to be P1. That was a P1 lap.”

Russell later chalked it up to a “misjudgment” on his team’s part, saying they should have finished the lap.

Max Verstappen, who will start from the back of the grid after copping a 30-place penalty for major changes made to his Red Bull, chose not to complete in Q2.

Earlier, “impossible conditions”, in the words of Martin Brundle, caused the first attempt at Q1 to be red-flagged just minutes in.

It led to a near two-hour delay for conditions to improve and the track to dry sufficiently, with visibility having also been reduced to near zero amid the downpour.



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