Max Verstappen's Formula 1 drivers' championship defence has taken another blow, with the Dutchman set to start the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th. 

Verstappen qualified 12th fastest after being denied the ability to finish a flying lap to get into Q3 after a red flag was called following a crash by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll.

Despite being 12th fastest, Verstappen will start 17th after taking a five-place grid penalty for using a new engine.

McLaren's Lando Norris claimed pole ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell. 

Both RB cars, the sister team of Verstappen's Red Bull Racing, locked out the second row with Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson qualifying third and fourth.

There were five red flag stoppages throughout the near two-hour session as rain caused havoc.

Qualifying was postponed after torrential rain forced organisers to move it from Saturday afternoon, the traditional slot, to the following day.

The session began at 7:30am (9:30pm AEDT) with the grand prix also pushed forward due to more heavy rain being predicted in the region on Sunday afternoon.

The race will begin at 2:30am AEDT, 90 minutes earlier than scheduled, with torrential rain expected late in the afternoon in Sao Paulo.

Yellow flags were being waved around the Stroll incident as race control seemingly tried to allow as many drivers as possible to finish their flying laps in Q2.

There were 40 seconds between the crash and the red flag being waved.

However, the red flag came out as Verstappen was still roughly 30 seconds away from the finish line.

The Dutchman was visibly ropeable in his cockpit at the red flag, while his championship rival made it through Q2.

"The car hits the wall, it needs to be straight red. I don't understand why it needs to take 30, 40 seconds for a red flag to come out," Verstappen said after qualifying.

"It's so stupid anyway to talk about, it's ridiculous."

Norris only survived Q1 by just two-tenths of a second at the expense of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who wrestled his Mercedes to just 16th fastest.

Argentine Franco Colapinto was the first crash into the barriers, halting the session as track marshals worked to remove the Williams car from the side of the circuit.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was another victim of the rain, crashing out in Q2 just seven days after claiming victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon also had crashes, with Albon's quite violent and appeared to shake-up the Thai-registered driver.

Norris won Saturday's sprint after his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri, who started on pole and led for 21 laps of the 24-lap race, handed him first place under team orders.

The Brit entered the weekend 47 points adrift of three-time defending world champion Max Verstappen, with three race weekends left after this.

Norris's win and Verstappen's fourth-place finish allowed the Brit to reduce the deficit to 44 points with four grands prix and one sprint race left in the season. 

Verstappen crossed the line third in the sprint race, but was handed a five-second penalty post-race for violating the speed limit under the virtual safety car.

With green-flag conditions imminent and Verstappen wanting to make a move on Piastri, the Dutchman wrongly anticipated the restart and was forced to slow down or risk overtaking the Australian.

He slowed down, but when green-flag conditions resumed Verstappen was then under the minimum speed drivers are required to maintain.

The session started with all drivers on full-wet tyres as they tip-toed around the Interlagos circuit.