#F1 #BrazilGP FP1: @LandoNorris pips @GeorgeRussell63 by 0.181s. #SaoPauloGP

Norris Brazil GP FP1 – McLaren’s Lando Norris pipped Mercedes’ George Russell to top the time-sheets in FP1 at the Brazil GP in Interlagos as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Oliver Bearman who is filling in for the unwell Kevin Magnussen completed the top three.

Norris posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:10.610 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was 0.181 seconds quicker than Russell whilst Bearman was a further 0.195 seconds adrift in third.

Championship leader Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton were well off the pace for different reasons, whilst the other Red Bull RB20 entry of Sergio Perez had another underwhelming result with his older chassis.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas lead the field out at the start of the only one-hour practice session of the weekend – with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly running behind on the newly-surfaced track at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace – as several drivers had short opening stints.

These took place on the C4 yellow-marked medium tyres all except for the RB drivers running on the softs, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ended the opening five minutes of proceedings registering a 1:13.200.

Verstappen and Russell then lowered the benchmark, before Perez jumped in-front setting a 1:12.099.

This stood at the top for a while, before Russell and then Verstappen moved back ahead posting a 1:11.806 and 1:11.712 respectively.

After a break in on-track action for set-up changes, the drivers emerged on the same rubber as before – with Hamilton jumping the timing board to slot in second with his initial effort back on track.

Approaching the session’s final-third, Russell made the early swap to the C5’s and reclaimed top spot on a 1:10.791, but it took a heap more of the session before any of the front-running drivers did likewise.

When they did in the last ten minutes, following another period with a few cars in the pits, Williams’ Franco Colapinto moved up the time-sheets to take second – but 0.828 seconds slower than Russell.

Into that gap slotted Bearman, the other Williams of Alexander Albon, RB’s Liam Lawson and Piastri a short moment later – the first name went a narrow 0.14 seconds off in second.

This looked to be beaten as Verstappen went faster than Russell in sector one on his initial hot-lap on the softs in the closing stages, before the Dutchman lost time in the middle segment to be behind the benchmark and then abandoned his flyer.

This left Verstappen 15^th with his best effort coming from the medium compound, whilst his Red Bull team-mate did complete a soft tyre run, which was only good enough for a low-19^th.

Russell’s effort was finally beaten by Norris’s final flying lap in the closing moments as the Briton posted a 1:10.610, which did not feature Norris’s best sector three in the session.

The final classification behind the top three runners were Piastri (fourth), Williams’ Alexander Albon (fifth) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who gained an improvement on his second hot-lap on the same set of rubber as Norris done so.

Mexico City Grand Prix winner last time out Carlos Sainz took seventh for Ferrari, ahead of Haas VF-24 entry of Nico Hulkenberg who was eighth as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.

RB’s Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda finished the sole-practice session outside the top ten in 11^th and 12th respectively and ahead of Williams’ Franco Colapinto who came 13^th in the classification and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who moved up to 14^th on his hot-lap.

The aforementioned Red Bull of Verstappen who takes a five-grid-placed-penalty for a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) ended FP1 in a low-15^th after aborting his flyer and in-front of Mercedes’ Hamilton who took 16^th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who placed 17^th in the order.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon took 18^th as Red Bull’s Perez and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu finished at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1249/brazil/practice/1

2024 F1 World Championship Standings

#F1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024 Preview. #SaoPauloGP #BrazilGP