Lando Norris insisted he would not get ahead of himself despite labelling his pole position for the sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as a “great result”.

The Formula One drivers’ championship leader finished 0.097 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, while McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri finished third in sprint qualifying, ahead of George Russell.

Max Verstappen was sandwiched between the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso in fourth and Lance Stroll in sixth, while Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg made up the rest of the top 10.

Although Norris is in a great position to extend his championship lead over Piastri ahead of the main race on Sunday, the British driver is not looking past the sprint.

“It was a little bit tougher than I would have liked. Close between a lot of cars,” said Norris.

“Mercedes [are] quick on the soft. But it’s always tricky when you’ve got the medium and the soft, knowing how much to push.

“But we did the job we needed to do, which was to be fastest today. It was trickier than Mexico. I’ve not been feeling quite as comfortable, but therefore it’s a great result.

“It’s only Friday, so another qualy, another couple of races to go, but it’s a good start."

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Norris is currently one point ahead of Piastri in the title race, but the sprint may not be as easy as it seems.

The forecast for Saturday’s event shows plenty of rain, with strong winds also set to play a role in proceedings.

Despite the unpredictable impact the weather could have, Norris stayed focused on the job at hand.

“We’ll wait and see what tomorrow’s going to do,” Norris added.

“It’s meant to rain a lot in the morning, it’s meant to be incredibly windy, so make sure everyone brings their rain jackets.

“But no point worrying about anything for now. I’m happy with today. It was difficult. It was a good job. I put things together. Now, the focus will switch to tomorrow."