A frustrated Max Verstappen said his pace during sprint qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix was "quite poor".

The four-time world champion could only finish P6 come the end of Friday's proceedings at Interlagos, while Lando Norris impressed with his first sprint qualifying pole position of his career.

Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and even Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin found more pace than Verstappen, who shook his head in the cockpit of his RB21 as he crossed the line, showing visible disappointment.

Norris' impressive pace has carried over after a dominant Mexico City Grand Prix win, and Verstappen's attempt to seal a fifth consecutive world title and pull off one of the greatest comebacks in F1 history now looks steep as he tries to whittle down the 36-point deficit between the two of them.

Max Verstappen struggled throughout sprint qualifying, calling the car "undriveable" after SQ2 - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

“A lot of vibration in the car, a lot of just ride problems, so not what we want," the Dutchman explained to F1TV after sprint qualifying.

"But I think besides that, we just don’t have the grip. The middle sector is terrible, just can’t get the car to turn.

"But at the same time, I can’t really rely on the rear. So for us it’s quite poor, I would say. It is what it is."

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Cyclone expected to hit Sao Paulo

There may not be much action at Interlagos on Saturday, with a cyclone bringing 30 to 60 millimetres of rain in an hour, along with huge gusts of wind, expected to descend upon Sao Paulo in the afternoon.

But will the potential adverse weather bring Verstappen back into contention if the sprint race goes ahead?

"I don’t know, we will find out. It’s quite clear we are lacking something, and I’m not expecting that suddenly to be miles better in the wet, but we’ll see tomorrow," was the response from the Red Bull driver.

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