Sao Paulo Grand Prix: Lando Norris takes first in the sprint race with Oscar Piastri in third at Interlagos

Hamilton also faces an investigation for failing to slow down enough to raise yellow flags when Leclerc lost control.

Norris led all three sessions in qualifying for the sprint and had a comfortable advantage over Piastri throughout.

“It was a little more difficult than I would have liked,” he said. “But we did the job we needed to do, which was to be quicker today.”

“Qualifying is always one of the best things here. It’s tough, it’s bumpy, it’s challenging, it’s always fun, it always puts a smile on your face.

“But it’s a long weekend, another qualifying and two more races to go, but it’s a good start.”

Rain is expected on Saturday morning in São Paulo, where the sprint race is scheduled to start at 14:00 GMT. Qualifying for the grand prize is at 18:00.

“The soft tires (the tires required in the final session) were a little different than I expected, a few big moments on the first lap, which was not ideal,” said Piastri, who comes to Brazil after two difficult races in the United States and Mexico.

He added, “It was unfortunate, but in the end I felt happier compared to the past two weeks. We can definitely fight with what we have and there are a lot of points on Sunday.”

Verstappen complained over the radio to the team that his car was “undriveable”.

He added: “There is a lot of vibration in the car, a lot of ride problems. This is not what we want. But besides that we have no control over the car, we cannot make the car turn but at the same time and we cannot really rely on the rear.”

“For us, very poor, I would say. It’s quite clear that we’re lacking something. I don’t expect it to be much better in the wet. But we’ll see tomorrow.”