We expected the newly resurfaced track at the Brazillian Grand Prix to cause issues for teams with tyre thermal degradation. Still, nobody foresaw the issue with the bumpiness of the track itself! Most teams have commented on it – though it didn’t stop McLaren from claiming a 1-2 sprint pole position after Friday’s sprint qualifying session. But with Mercedes and Aston Martin struggling, and Max Verstappen taking a 5-place grid penalty, what can we expect over the Brazil GP weekend? Jon Noble and Filip Cleeren chat within the paddock to find out more.

The incident, in which Leclerc ran off track and narrowly avoided the barriers while fighting to control his car, cost him second place in the race to the Briton.

The judgement said Leclerc had “used language in response to a somewhat leading question asking him, ‘what did you say to yourself’, in relation to the significant moment towards the end of the race when Leclerc was fighting to control the car at the exit of the last corner.

“In response, Leclerc used coarse language being the accurate recollection of what he thought to himself at the time. Leclerc immediately realised his error and apologised.”

The stewards’ decision to summon Leclerc for the offence came after Verstappen had pointed out the apparent contradiction between him being punished in Singapore and Leclerc not being called to account in Mexico.

In Singapore, Verstappen staged two protests at official news conferences following his punishment, deliberately restricting his answers as much as possible, only to then speak to journalists more extensively outside the FIA press conference room.

The action in Singapore came after FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said in an interview with Autosport that he wanted swearing not to be broadcast on television.

The drivers responded angrily to Ben Sulayem’s intervention, feeling it was misguided, because the radio messages broadcast on television show them being their authentic selves, and any swear words are bleeped out.

Commercial rights holder F1, which is responsible for the TV broadcasts, has no plans to change its approach.

Mercedes driver George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said two weeks ago that the drivers planned to publish an open letter over the controversy.

This letter, which is expected to reflect the views the drivers have already made clear in public but may make further interventions that have not yet been made public, has so far not been released.

Oscar Piastri pipped his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to top sprint qualifying at Formula 1’s 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The McLaren drivers dominated qualifying and took very different approaches to SQ3 compared to their rivals.

Elsewhere, there was a shock SQ2 exit for Lewis Hamilton, while Sergio Perez could only take the changed chassis on his Red Bull RB20 to 13th and Oliver Bearman again shone for Haas.

In SQ3, the McLarens came out very early once on the softs they had all run for the opening two sessions, with rain clouds steadily building up and track temperatures plummeting.

But with softer softs for the 2024 event here, the McLarens had no trouble firing them up, nor keeping them alive on the resurfaced track.

Norris blasted to a 1m08.928s with his first run, with Piastri trailing him before they quickly returned to the pits – in the former’s case for a front wing setting adjustment, while the latter went straight through – before having another attempt on the same set of softs.

Piastri used his second attempt to head Norris by 0.029s with a 1m08.899s, with Norris abandoning his second go after producing a poor middle sector compared to his first attempt.

The best of the single-effort runners in SQ3 was Leclerc, with Verstappen slotting in behind in fourth and Mexico winner Carlos Sainz fifth in the other Ferrari.

Then came George Russell as the sole Mercedes runner in SQ3, as Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Bearman rounded out the top 10.

Bearman might have done better had he not had a big moment in the Senna S and gone so wide in Turn 2 that he had his time deleted for track limits, before staying on a lap that would not count despite having time to back off and go again, plus with the soft tyres apparently capable of doing multiple laps here.

At the end of SQ2 topped by Norris looking in dominant form at this stage, Bearman and Lawson got through with just a single flying lap in the middle segment compared to most of the rest, while Nico Hulkenberg only had one shot too and he failed to progress.

Hulkenberg was knocked out around the big fallers in Hamilton and Perez, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas also eliminated for Williams and Sauber respectively.

Perez’s exit came after he failed to complete his final out-lap in time and so was ordered to park his car in the pits by Red Bull.

In SQ1, which Norris also topped, Colapinto’s last-gasp improvement knocked out Alonso, who had previously jumped from the drop zone with his second and final run on the mediums.

He was joined in exiting at the first hurdle by Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, who all set personal bests on their final fliers before being shuffled back, plus Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

RUBEN AMORIM has revealed he did not want to join Manchester United until the end of the season and admitted “I changed my mind several times”.

The Red Devils announced Amorim, 39, as Erik ten Hag’s replacement on Friday morning and he will begin work at Old Trafford on November 11.

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He will remain in charge of Sporting for their games against Manchester City and Braga – and on Friday evening led the Portuguese champions to a 5-1 win over Estrela Amadora.

The result moves Sporting six points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga.

And Amorim confirmed after the game that he wanted to remain at Sporting until the end of the campaign but was told by Man Utd chiefs it was “now or never”.

He said: “I asked United if it could be at the end of the season. It was what I wanted. United said no. It was now or never. So I had to make a decision.

“This is exactly the context I wanted [United struggling] because I can do things my way.”

Before he added: “I changed my mind several times.

“My concern is not to harm the Sporting team, we’ll see later. I’ll have that concern when I’m at United.”

Amorim also quashed talk he was joining Man Utd for the money.

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He said: “Some people say it’s for money. It’s not.

“Other clubs were prepared to pay 3 times more and I refused. This is the club [United] I wanted.”

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The feeling around Amorim’s impending departure has divided the Sporting faithful.

Outside the stadium, there was a banner which read: “Amorim, this is not your home anymore, thank you.”

Other fans, though, took flags into the ground declaring their love for the coach who led the club to two titles.

When Amorim’s name was first read out 30 minutes before kick-off, there were whistles and jeers followed by applause.

But when the 39-year-old came out of the tunnel for the game, he received a standing ovation and applauded the fans.

After the game, Amorim said: “Obviously, since this whole situation came about I’ve felt different.

“I understand the anger of some fans and the disappointment. But that’s life. I was moved by the ovation and that’s how it is. 

“Even the other statement, when it came out, was on a match day.

Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd

WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.

Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.

But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.

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Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.

He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers. 

The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.

And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.

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Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.

Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.

United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”

And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.

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For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.

“But clubs are now listed companies and they have to present all these things. There were two statements. But that’s how things are, there are things that we can’t control. 

“I’m very grateful to the fans and to everything here. People think I wanted to leave straight away. In the next home game, whether we win or lose by 15-0, I’ll be there to see what the fans want to give me.

“I understand their anger, but we move on and time heals everything. It was the best period of my life.”

Amorim has won two league titles as Sporting manager – the first of which in 2021 ended a 19-year wait.

His Man Utd contract runs until 2027, with the option of an extra year.

The Red Devils paid £8.3million to trigger a release clause which allowed him to leave Sporting.

His first game in charge of Man Utd comes away at Ipswich on November 24.

United are understood to have paid an extra £900,000 to get him early rather than waiting a further three weeks.

Amorim has been highly sought this year following his success with Sporting.

Premier League rivals Liverpool were close to appointing the Lisbon gaffer before making the decision to bring in Arne Slot instead.

While he also held talks with West Ham over the summer and had been rumoured to be on a list of candidates to take over from Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

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