Magnussen took his first pole in Brazil’s chaos

Last comes first, they say. Magnussen can always use that phrase to remind himself of the craziness of qualifying that took place in Brazil today. And if not, judge for yourself: Kevin Magnussen, with a Haas, achieved the first pole of his F1 career this Friday! It happened at Interlagos, in a session marked by intermittent rain, which caused unexpected chaos. If the Grand Prix format is anything to go by, that emotion won’t show on the Brazilian track this Friday. But the GP format is sprint, that is, with qualifying on Friday, a short qualifying race on Saturday and the final test on Sunday. So, they went from a long run on Friday, to seeing the local public shivering in a battle against the clock and clouds on a slippery track where Kevin Magnussen and Haas got the surprise of their lives. The Dane will start first on Saturday in the sprint race against Verstappen (2nd), Russell (3rd), Norris (4th), Sainz (5th), Ocon (6th) and Alonso (7th)with Leclerc in 10th place after a serious mistake by his team.

The weather is warning before the classification. It rained before Q1, but the clouds gave everyone a break and as the session progressed the track dried out. In order not to be eliminated, most had to set a time on their last lap due to track improvement. This exciting story was repeated in Q2. But the rain saved the best for last.

Water will appear any moment in the middle of Q3. Everyone was warned and had to go for the best time on their first lap. So, a long little train gathered in the pit lane. They all knew that if they didn’t make a good first turn, the appearance of the water would ruin their aspirations. They play cards. The Virgin appeared in ‘Viking’ Kevin Magnussen. Or better yet, the God of rain from Norse mythology, Freyr. He comes to propose a task that allows him to reserve a place next to Odin in Valhalla. As a Haas driver, he took advantage of the fact that his team finished last in the 2022 championship, marking the position of the garages, to be the smartest in the class. Because of this, his garage is located at the end of the pit lane. Its engineers were quick and did not waste the opportunity to allow themselves the luxury of being in the first place in the queue that formed before the stoplight in the pit lane. And as soon as the lights went out, the Dane performed a miracle by driving without anyone in front, without a mistake, to set the time ahead of him. He changed his life. And furthermore, in case anyone still thinks they have a choice when the clouds rage, George Russell took pole position on a platter with an accident that stopped the session with 8 minutes to go.

Haas engineers couldn’t believe it. The rain got heavier and most drivers got out of their cars. Hamilton tried and went out on track, but it was too wet and he didn’t improve. Kevin went crazy waiting inside his car for the ‘qualy’ to finish as he smiled nervously and in disbelief. And with two minutes to go, it was taken for granted. Hamilton returned to the pits and everyone resigned to the missed opportunity. All but one, a Kevin who gets out of his car with his hands up like he’s won a title, with all his mechanics going crazy and screaming with joy. From seeing how Mick Schumacher sank to last position in Q1, to seeing how his ‘Viking’ driver achieved one of the most surreal moments in years. A team like Haas, which suffered a lot at the beginning of the course due to having to give up its main sponsor, was able to celebrate its first pole position in Brazil.

“I don’t know what to say. The team took me out at the exact moment. We were the first out of the pitlane and we did a pretty decent lap. It was unbelievable,” Magnussen said about it, excited.

Leclerc, the big loser

Verstappen never stopped regretting what happened because he knew pole position could have been his. But apart from that, the big loser was Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque can fight for the pole under normal conditions, but his team failed with a serious mistake in the final tire selection in Q3.

It all started on the soft rubber to go for a decisive time trial in the first minutes. Less Leclerc, who put on intermediate rubber. To make matters worse, after his first warm-up lap he did not enter the pits. His team called him when he was at the finish line. He did his turn fighting with his car, with a lot of whipping and suffering to stay on the track. He returned to the pits to place the intermediates, but it was too late. It started raining. His hope was dashed. He has to come back this Saturday from 10th place in the sprint race.

Sainz, 5th; Alonso, 7th

In its part, Carlos Sainz was 5th and he has to try to climb the positions in the ‘sprint race’ this Saturday to reduce his loss on the grid on Sunday, where they will be applied 5 penalty square for changing the combustion chamber of your power unit.

Alonso, who shone in the wet throughout the classification, was always in the leading position when he set his times, reaching the first position three times, had to settle for seventh place after Ocon. The man from Oviedo wanted to score points in the sprint race, finishing in the top 8 and will be looking to improve his starting position for Sunday’s grid.