John N
Sergio Perez set the fastest lap time during Friday’s first practice session for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen rounding out the top three as the third and final F1 Sprint weekend of the season got underway.
Given the Sprint format, FP1 took on greater importance than usual at this technical Interlagos circuit—which has seen minimal action over the last few months—with only 60 minutes available for teams to understand and fine-tune their cars ahead of qualifying at the technical Interlagos circuit.
After drivers spent the early stages gathering data on the hard and medium tyre compounds—with Verstappen leading with a hard-shod time of 1m 13.575s—the first sets of softs appeared close to halfway, leading to a flurry of improvements.
Perez triggered the move to red-marked rubber by working his way down to a 1m 11.853s, with Verstappen initially slotting into P2, 0.008s back, as he reported over the radio that his RB18 “doesn’t turn”.
In the session’s closing minutes, Leclerc would outpace Verstappen by 0.004s to split the Red Bulls after Ferrari made a late switch to the soft tyres—Carlos Sainz taking fourth, just under two-tenths back.
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were also within a whisker of Sainz in P5 and P6, respectively, despite Hamilton stating that it “feels like the rear is just floating around” and locking up at the start of his soft tyre run.
Sebastian Vettel put his Aston Martin seventh as his F1 retirement draws ever closer, as Haas driver Mick Schumacher, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine pair Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10 positions.
Alfa Romeo’s Pierre Gasly put in a low-key start to the weekend in P11 as rival McLaren ran without soft tyres in Free Practice 1 – sandwiching Williams man Alex Albon in 12th but reporting technical issues that prevented Lance Stroll from setting any timed laps.
Having been unwell on Thursday, Lando Norris made it out on track to lead McLaren’s charge in P15, followed by the remaining Haas and Williams machines of Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi.
Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) completed the field, which was covered in 1.5 seconds around the 4.309km venue.
In an otherwise quiet session, a slow-moving Norris at the exit of the Senna Esses drew the ire of Sainz, with Stroll frustrating Leclerc in another traffic-related incident on the run down to Juncao.
