SAO PAULO : McLaren locked down the front row in the Sao Paulo sprint on Friday, with Oscar Piastri grabbing pole position, fourth fastest, from teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Formula 1 leader Max Verstappen.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start the race in third place, which will give the winner eight points.

Australian Piastri lapped the Interlagos circuit with a best time of one minute (08.899 seconds) after Norris set the pace throughout the session but abandoned his final effort and finished 0.029 slower.

The Briton sits 47 points behind Verstappen with 120 points still to be gained.

Piastri, who is out of title contention, is expected to follow team orders and help Norris secure maximum points, but the first corner for Interlagos is a tough one in the counter-clockwise position.

“We’ll see what the pace will be for both of us tomorrow,” the Australian driver told Sky Sports television. “I think first and second are our first goals, and then we’ll sort that out.

“I know I can’t compete in the drivers’ standings, it doesn’t matter to the team which side we are on.

“It would be nice to win, but there’s a one point gap and it’s not the main race. We’ll see. In the drivers’ standings, Lando needs a lot more points than me, but of course I still want to win.”

McLaren leads the constructors’ championship but is only 29 points ahead of Ferrari; Leclerc poses a clear threat, with teammate Carlos Sainz sitting fifth in the standings and Mercedes’ George Russell sixth.

Norris said he was surprised by the speed of the car but made some mistakes at the end.

The Briton was angered by the question about Verstappen’s position and the title fight.

“I hate these questions so much,” he said. “I don’t care where he qualifies. What matters to me is just to focus on my own work and that’s it… If he comes first or last, I’ll do my best.”

Verstappen, last year’s Brazilian winner and winner of all the sprints so far this year, said the uneven surface made the car difficult.

“They did the resurfacing but I think they made the ride even worse. Everywhere is extremely bumpy, so that’s not good for our car. In all the bumpy areas the car bounces a lot and it wastes me a lot of time.” ” he said.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly will start seventh, RB’s Liam Lawson eighth and Williams’ Alex Albon ninth.

England 19-year-old Oliver Bearman, who replaced ill Kevin Magnussen, entered the top 10 in Saturday’s 100km race.

Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will only qualify 11th, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will start 13th.

Neither Aston Martin made it past the first stage.

Regular qualifying follows the sprint race into Sunday’s main grand prix.

(Written by Alan Baldwin in London, edited by Pritha Sarkar)