Kevin Magnussen secured the first pole position of his lengthy Formula 1 career after a George Russell spin played perfectly into the stunned Haas driver's hands.
"I've never before felt like this," said the delighted but disbelieving Dane as he found out he was top of the timesheets, as the session was red-flagged after Russell's spin. The rain which then swept across the track meant no-one could match his time, and so Haas had their first ever pole position in F1.
As it dawned upon him, Magnussen stood on his car and punched the air while his engineers went ballistic around him. Team principal Guenther Steiner began to run across the pitlane with his hands in the air and a beaming smile on his face. So new is the Dane to all this, Haas' media chief had to explain what happens next as he made his way to the interview area.
The session began with the track wet, after showers rolled in shortly after the end of the practice session earlier in the afternoon. So there was an element of caution from all the drivers as they came out on intermediate tyres, to cope with any standing water – even though it was not raining at the time.
Pierre Gasly was the first driver brave enough to switch to slicks. At first it seemed he went a little early as he failed to improve on his first lap. But as the track dried more it really became clear that the softs were the right option, as he promptly put in a faster time than anyone else.
So everyone switched over to the slicks, and so they had one or two laps on the softer tyres to put in a better time. It meant a lot of cars out of position, and both Leclerc and Hamilton were in the elimination zone before saving themselves with their final flying laps.
In the end, the bottom five was made up of more familiar names. Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi were victims of Q1, though it was more surprising to see Valtteri Bottas also eliminated after looking strong in practice earlier in the afternoon – a victim of Alfa Romeo making the wrong decision to not move onto slicks.
The rain stayed away for the start of Q2, though there were some reports from drivers of a few spots falling at the far end of the track, compared to the pit lane. And things got progressively wetter towards the end of that part of the session, meaning those in the bottom five at the time were set to be frustrated.
Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly and and Alex Albon were the ones to miss out. Kevin Magnussen had been in trouble, but produced an excellent final flying lap to get himself out of danger to secure a much-needed and welcomed Q3 appearance for Haas.
But even he could not have expected what came next. Magnussen went fastest overall straight away as the drivers came out for the final part of the session. And then Russell span off into the gravel, the session was red-flagged and the rain swept in – meaning no-one could topple the Dane and F1 had one of its most remarkable qualifying results ever.
It means he will be starting the Sprint from the very first spot on the grid on Saturday. It will be a tall order for Magnussen to keep hold of top spot for the main race on Sunday, but he had already secured arguably the feel-good F1 story of the season regardless.
Full 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying result
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
- George Russell – Mercedes
- Lando Norris – McLaren
- Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
- Esteban Ocon – Alpine
- Fernando Alonso – Alpine
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
- Sergio Perez – Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
- Alexander Albon – Williams
- Pierre Gasly – AlphaTauri
- Sebastian Vettel – Aston Martin
- Daniel Ricciardo – McLaren
- Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
- Nicholas Latifi – Williams
- Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
- Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
- Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
- Mick Schumacher – Haas
