Lando Norris set the pace in British 1-2-3 in FP1 in
Brazil, the McLaren driver clocking a 1:10.610 to beat George Russell with
Oliver Bearman third in the Haas.
As for Norris’ title rival, Max Verstappen was P15 having
aborted his soft tyre run.
Lando Norris heads a British 1-2-3 in Brazil practice
Set to the backdrop of Max Verstappen and
Lando Norris’ ever-more fraught title fight, the Interlagos circuit played host
to part three of F1’s penultimate triple-header.
Valtteri Bottas led the field out for installation laps on
the newly resurfaced track and with just one practice session on a Sprint
weekend, he immediately began laying down lap times – a 1:15.6 as his opening
salvo.
Five minutes into the hour-long session, Oscar Piastri was
quickest with a 1:13.4 and 15 drivers had set lap times including Oliver
Bearman. The Briton was a last-minute
call-up by Haas to replace Kevin Magnussen when was ill.
Despite the new track surface, the drivers were notably hit
bumps and creating sparks. Charles Leclerc complained: “Impossible to do
consistent with this tarmac.”
10 minutes in, Sergio Perez, racing a different chassis to
Mexico but one already used, was P1 ahead of George Russell and Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen, down in eighth place, wasn’t happy with his
RB20 as he radioed in: “It just doesn’t f***ing work. I don’t want to take the
flap out.” And then he went quickest with a 1:11.7.
Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz had a
close encounter as the Ferrari driver slowed down to make room only to catch
out a charging Hamilton.
Hamilton pulled into the pits where Mercedes tweaked his
setup before sending him back out. He reported his ride-height was “still bad”,
but went second behind fastest behind Verstappen. He was 0.04s down.
Traffic and tows dominated the final medium tyre runs before
the drivers, starting with George Russell, swapped over to the soft Pirellis
for a qualifying run. The Mercedes driver found over a second and went quickest
with a 1:10.9. Norris pitted for a new front wing with 12 minutes to go, Oscar
Piastri also bolting on a different spec.
As more soft tyres laps were completed, Bearman shot up to second place, 0.014s down on Russell, with Norris third ahead of Albon, Sainz and Alonso. And then came the Red Bulls…Perez was P19 after his soft tyre lap, and Verstappen backed out on his.
.webp)
