The Ferrari achieved a “one-two” in the only free practice session of the São Paulo Formula 1 Grand Prix, held this Friday at the José Carlos Pace Circuit in Interlagos. Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Being the only free session, the drivers quickly took to the track at the beginning, spending the available hour working on qualifying and also doing longer stints in preparation for the race.
The first driver to set a timed lap was Max Verstappen (Red Bull), followed by his teammate Sergio Pérez who finished second. Shortly after, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) placed himself in third. At the 20-minute mark, a new leader emerged, with Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) becoming the fastest on track with medium tires.
However, the Japanese driver was soon surpassed by Verstappen and George Russell (Mercedes) – who entered the 1m11s mark to take the lead. But in the final third of the session, the British driver couldn’t resist the improvements of the Ferraris on soft tires. Sainz set the pace by lapping in 1m11.732s, while Leclerc was 0.108s behind. Without improving, Russell was 0.133s slower than the leader.
The big surprises were Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) in fourth and Alexander Albon (Williams) in fifth, as well as the unusual 16th place for Verstappen. However, the already crowned champion only ran on hard tires, unlike most of his rivals. His teammate, Pérez, was 18th, only ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
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