Rain catches Lance out in Friday qualifying

Hitting the Interlagos track on Medium compound tyres and scrubbing a set in, Lance then pitted for the Hard compound and set his opening lap time of 1:16.187 before improving to a 1.15.300.

Opting to pit again, Lance returned to the track with just under 30 minutes on the clock, this time on the Medium compounds. After getting up to 11th with a time of 1:13.563, Lance returned to the garage once more.

He then hit the circuit on the Soft compound, besting his time to 1:12.841, which put him in 14th. At the chequered flag, Lance had improved marginally to 1:12.759 after eight laps on the Softs.

Qualifying got underway a few hours later and ended up being an unpredictable session due to intervals of light rain.

Starting the session on Intermediates, Lance completed eight laps and climbed to 14th before following the majority of the field and switching to Softs.

Putting in a solid time of 1:16.191, initially Lance crossed the line with two seconds on the clock and managed to get himself up to first at the end of Q1 and finished the stint in 10th with a time of 1:14.398, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

The rain caught out both Aston Martin drivers in Q2, who had both pitted for a second set of the Soft compound, just before the rain started coming down. Slick tyres on a damp track meant Lance was unable to beat his time despite improving in the first and second sectors and was pushed out of the session in 15th.

‍^‍Lance Stroll – Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team Driver^‍

“It was a difficult session all around today. I do not think we had the pace in qualifying, so we need to look into why that was. We will see what we can do tomorrow in the Sprint and again in the Grand Prix on Sunday. The weather is expected to be a bit up and down all weekend, so there should be plenty of opportunities to make some overtakes and pick up some points.”