2025 Brazil GP Qualifying Preview

Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2025 Brazil GP Qualifying preview. Pierre Gasly gave us a lovely winner in the sprint race at odds of 3/1, can James pull another rabbit or two out of the hat in qualifying?

2025 Brazil GP Qualifying

There are going to be some very busy mechanics in the garages right now. Changing setups at Red Bull and rebuilding cars at Sauber, Alpine and to a lesser degree at McLaren. I wouldn’t expect Gabriel Bortoleto to be taking part in qualifying. He will be bashed up and his car was a write off. Even if he is OK, and he looked fine afterwards, the car will need to be rebuilt within a three-hour window. That would take some doing.

McLaren have the fastest car this weekend, followed by Mercedes and then Verstappen. Red Bull are very good at turning things around when they get off to a bad start. They couldn’t do anything for the Sprint race, but they are now free to make the setup changes they need to give Verstappen a better car. He will be faster than he was yesterday.

McLaren look to have a couple of tenths on the field. Verstappen may put a dent in that but Norris, first in every session so far, is in top form and he will be looking to stick the boot into Piastri.

Poor Piastri

The Aussie failed to finish for the second sprint race in a row and he has lost more ground to Norris and Verstappen in the World Championship race. He now has to get back on the horse and try again. He looked gutted and getting his head in the right place will be hard.

The track temperature in yesterday’s qualifying was around 38 degrees. The track for the sprint race was just 26 degrees and likely to be a little cooler and that suits Mercedes just fine. Enough to close the gap to McLaren? Possibly.

Antonelli was just 0.1s slower than Norris yesterday. I can’t see either team making any great setup changes and on a short lap like this, the drivers can make a difference. Time for Mr. Saturday to step up to the plate again?

Both he and Antonelli made little mistakes in Q3 yesterday, so there is the potential to pull off a bit of a surprise. There are some bookies going e/w 1/5 the odds 1-3 which opens things up a bit.

2025 Brazil GP Qualifying Tip: 1 point e/w George Russell to be the fastest qualifier @ 11.00 with BET365, Betvictor

Aston Martin qualified well yesterday. They hit the ground running and had a good setup while others didn’t. The team has had a pattern of being good on Fridays and then falling down the order. Will we see them lose a bit of ground now the others can change setups? Maybe, and I will leave them alone.

Pierre Gasly was a nice winner for us in the Sprint race. Starting 13th and finishing 8th. Yes, he was helped by the attrition, but the car was quick. If overtaking was easier, he would have been higher. He was right up Hamilton’s chuff in the end having been held up by the Aston Martin of Stroll for a long time. He can’t understand it but the pace is real.

Gasly is a 2.00 shot to make Q3 with Ladbrokes, but their oddsmaker is on the blink (you can get 2.00 Antonelli, 1.90 Norris and 1.30 Verstappen to make Q3, but those are clearly errors). If we get a win on Gasly they might try and call a palp. Instead, I will back him at better odds to out qualify Nico Hulkenberg.

Gasly didn’t make it into Q3 yesterday due to being caught out by yellow flags. Hulkenberg made it, but only just. I think Gasly has the faster car and he goes well here. He was chasing Hulkenberg in the Sprint race and, while he got past when Hulkenberg crashed, he was faster.

2025 Brazil GP Qualifying Tip: 1 point Pierre Gasly to out qualify Nico Hulkenberg @ 2.45 with Livescorebet

One final match bet is for Issak Hadjar to beat Carlos Sainz. The Spainard has not been feeling well and made a right hash of qualifying yesterday. He blamed the team, but they didn’t lock the brakes into the first corner. Williams do not go well here traditionally and Hadjar is a fairly regular Q3 participant (12 from 20).

2025 Brazil GP Qualifying Tip: 1 point Hadjar to out qualify Carlos Sainz @ 1.83 with Ladbrokes

-JamesPunt