A marathon qualifying session in the Sao Paulo rain has given us a very mixed grid for Sunday's Grand Prix in Brazil, with McLaren's Lando Norris on pole and his championship rival Max Verstappen's Red Bull in a paltry 16th.

George Russell's Mercedes is in the front row next to Norris, Yuki Tsunoda is happy about third place for RB. Esteban Ocon has his best grid position ever here with P4 for Alpine, while Liam Lawson supports his RB teammate with an impressive fifth place.

REPORT: Norris beats Russell and Tsunoda to pole position in Sao Paulo despite five red flags in a dramatic, rain-marred qualifying session

Charles Leclerc is the Ferrari leader in sixth place, but his teammate Carlos Sainz will start from the pitlane after he had an accident in the second quarter and then had to use a new power unit. Alex Albon was supposed to start from P7, but his Williams was too badly damaged to make the start after his big slip towards the end of qualifying.

This means that in seventh place (behind Albon's empty grid spot) we have the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, followed by the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, both of which made it into the top 10 despite both crashing in qualifying .

READ MORE: Tsunoda and Lawson thrilled with 'epic' qualifying result in Sao Paulo as RB looks to catch Haas in constructors' battle

Stroll's accident – see here – brought out the red flags, meaning championship leader Verstappen was unable to improve his Q2 time, which is why the Dutchman lines up on the eighth row after a five-place grid penalty for using a new power unit .

His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez starts five places ahead in 11th, while the other driver slightly out of position is Lewis Hamilton, 13th in a Mercedes he was less than happy with.