The Dane, who was recalled to the team for this season following the ousting of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, remarkably clinched top spot when a red flag in a murky Q3 allowed conditions to deteriorate.
It meant no one could improve in the final eight minutes of qualifying to leave Team USA watching the clock until they were assured of their first pole and the celebrations broke out.
The Q3 drama began when Ferrari took a major gamble by sending Leclerc on a set of intermediate tires to anticipate the return of the rain – qualifying having started wet before drying up.
The other nine contenders, meanwhile, emerged on Pirelli slicks.
The Scuderia seemed to be hoping the showers would arrive in time to catch up with the dry runners while their rider would be on the right ground at the optimal time before conditions worsened.
However, Leclerc soon realized he was being weird and was expressing his anger, even waving at the pit wall as he passed to start his flying lap.
He ran the slowest of them all in the first sector, struggling for grip and holding off pursuer Sergio Perez before breaking off the race and diving into the pit lane for a slick shot.
With the intermediates now clearly the wrong option, slick rider Magnussen was able to lap a 1m11.674s to take first place from Red Bull’s Verstappen by around two tenths, the Dutch rider having locked in at turn 8 for him end up being expensive. pole.
Then George Russell – who had just raced in third place – dropped his Mercedes W13 into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4 to bring out the red flags.
The Briton appeared to lock the right forward into the left and the back cut the slippery white line to throw it. As he tried to turn to recover, he ditched the rear axle in the gravel.
While Russell initially left the rear wheels spinning and signaled the marshals to perform a live recovery of his car, he eventually pulled out of the session.
But the threat of rain having already made itself felt, the delay was long enough to allow the return of wet weather and no one could find the time despite the remaining 8m10s.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Knowing they wouldn’t improve, the drivers started to get out of their cars to signal the Haas celebrations.
Russell would therefore retain third place despite his shunt, while Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren ahead of Carlos Sainz – although the Ferrari driver is set to start 10th due to a five-place grid penalty for a change of position. internal combustion engine.
Esteban Ocon finished sixth ahead of his Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso, while Perez – having been delayed by Leclerc – took only ninth place.
Ocon had climbed into the top 10 by a slim 0.045s at the expense of Alex Albon, while Pierre Gasly ran in 12th place ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll.
The last second of Q2 was something of a wet squib as the risky Mercedes improved.
They looked threatened when some riders reported that more rain was coming late, with the Silver Arrows only riding used softs to climb out of the top 10.
But while Aston Martins notably struggled to find time, Russell eventually climbed to third place with five minutes to go. Hamilton finished just behind in fourth but was relegated to ninth.
Sainz also comfortably moved into second place in Q2 at the end, the British GP winner sitting 10th and just 0.008s from the drop zone, but he ran clear at 1m10.890 against Leclerc of 0.06 s and having only run 0.009 s. shy of leader Verstappen.
Ferrari had already been forced to survive a considerable scare in the first quarter when the initially wet conditions improved enough to allow a switch to the softs after slick-tyred guinea pig Gasly began to establish the fastest sectors.
Gasly struggled to hold on at first, slipping wide on the final corner, but the next time around the Alps-bound racer ran fastest by 0.6 seconds and then improved by one. another second.
To respond, the Scuderia crew lifted Leclerc’s car but only had a scrubbed set to hand, so a delay ensued while new boots were finally collected as Sainz was held up in a double stack.
Then Leclerc was forced to abort his first lap thrown on the red-sided rubber when he was held up by Yuki Tsunoda in the final sector, in turn delaying his chasing teammate.
While Sainz still managed to improve, Leclerc had it all to do on his last run but did enough to go 12th and survive the late flurry as Nicholas Latifi narrowly missed the cut-off for Q2.
The starting Williams driver had dominated the session moments earlier after putting on the dry tyres, but was quickly pushed back to miss Ricciardo by 0.16 seconds.
In a session to forget for the Alfa Romeo teammates, Zhou Guanyu finished just 17th ahead of Valtteri Bottas as AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher lapped the slowest of them all.
Brazil F1 GP qualifying result
The Dane, who was recalled to the team for this season following the ousting of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, remarkably clinched top spot when a red flag in a murky Q3 allowed conditions to deteriorate.
It meant no one could improve in the final eight minutes of qualifying to leave Team USA watching the clock until they were assured of their first pole and the celebrations broke out.
The Q3 drama began when Ferrari took a major gamble by sending Leclerc on a set of intermediate tires to anticipate the return of the rain – qualifying having started wet before drying up.
The other nine contenders, meanwhile, emerged on Pirelli slicks.
The Scuderia seemed to be hoping the showers would arrive in time to catch up with the dry runners while their rider would be on the right ground at the optimal time before conditions worsened.
However, Leclerc soon realized he was being weird and was expressing his anger, even waving at the pit wall as he passed to start his flying lap.
He ran the slowest of them all in the first sector, struggling for grip and holding off pursuer Sergio Perez before breaking off the race and diving into the pit lane for a slick shot.
With the intermediates now clearly the wrong option, slick rider Magnussen was able to lap a 1m11.674s to take first place from Red Bull’s Verstappen by around two tenths, the Dutch rider having locked in at turn 8 for him end up being expensive. pole.
Then George Russell – who had just raced in third place – dropped his Mercedes W13 into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4 to bring out the red flags.
The Briton appeared to lock the right forward into the left and the back cut the slippery white line to throw it. As he tried to turn to recover, he ditched the rear axle in the gravel.
While Russell initially left the rear wheels spinning and signaled the marshals to perform a live recovery of his car, he eventually pulled out of the session.
But the threat of rain having already made itself felt, the delay was long enough to allow the return of wet weather and no one could find the time despite the remaining 8m10s.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Knowing they wouldn’t improve, the drivers started to get out of their cars to signal the Haas celebrations.
Russell would therefore retain third place despite his shunt, while Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren ahead of Carlos Sainz – although the Ferrari driver is set to start 10th due to a five-place grid penalty for a change of position. internal combustion engine.
Esteban Ocon finished sixth ahead of his Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso, while Perez – having been delayed by Leclerc – took only ninth place.
Ocon had climbed into the top 10 by a slim 0.045s at the expense of Alex Albon, while Pierre Gasly ran in 12th place ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll.
The last second of Q2 was something of a wet squib as the risky Mercedes improved.
They looked threatened when some riders reported that more rain was coming late, with the Silver Arrows only riding used softs to climb out of the top 10.
But while Aston Martins notably struggled to find time, Russell eventually climbed to third place with five minutes to go. Hamilton finished just behind in fourth but was relegated to ninth.
Sainz also comfortably moved into second place in Q2 at the end, the British GP winner sitting 10th and just 0.008s from the drop zone, but he ran clear at 1m10.890 against Leclerc of 0.06 s and having only run 0.009 s. shy of leader Verstappen.
Ferrari had already been forced to survive a considerable scare in the first quarter when the initially wet conditions improved enough to allow a switch to the softs after slick-tyred guinea pig Gasly began to establish the fastest sectors.
Gasly struggled to hold on at first, slipping wide on the final corner, but the next time around the Alps-bound racer ran fastest by 0.6 seconds and then improved by one. another second.
To respond, the Scuderia crew lifted Leclerc’s car but only had a scrubbed set to hand, so a delay ensued while new boots were finally collected as Sainz was held up in a double stack.
Then Leclerc was forced to abort his first lap thrown on the red-sided rubber when he was held up by Yuki Tsunoda in the final sector, in turn delaying his chasing teammate.
While Sainz still managed to improve, Leclerc had it all to do on his last run but did enough to go 12th and survive the late flurry as Nicholas Latifi narrowly missed the cut-off for Q2.
The starting Williams driver had dominated the session moments earlier after putting on the dry tyres, but was quickly pushed back to miss Ricciardo by 0.16 seconds.
In a session to forget for the Alfa Romeo teammates, Zhou Guanyu finished just 17th ahead of Valtteri Bottas as AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher lapped the slowest of them all.
Brazil F1 GP qualifying result