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Formula 1 São Paulo GP

F1 Brazilian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 and Qualifying

Follow along for FP1 and qualifying for the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75

F1’s sprint race format returns at the penultimate round of the 2022 season, which is set to shake up the Brazilian GP at Interlagos.

Having wrapped up both F1 world titles already this season, Max Verstappen and Red Bull will look to take another clean sweep having won both sprint races earlier this season at Imola and the Red Bull Ring.

Friday’s action sees opening practice followed by the traditional qualifying, ahead of second practice and the sprint race on Saturday. Sunday’s schedule remains unchanged with the full grand prix race.

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Verstappen's first effort is slightly slower than Perez, just 0.008s behind after setting a purple first sector.
But Magnussen now responds with a time two tenths quicker than his team-mate, bumping back into second spot.
The double world champion heads out on his outlap having been shuffled back to fourth by the two Haas cars, Schumacher going ahead of Magnussen on the medium rubber.
Perez unsurprisingly uses the red-sidewalled boots to set the fastest time to date, a 1m11.853s. Now, what can Verstappen do?
Perez becomes the first driver to fit a set of softs as we approach the halfway point in the session. More will surely soon follow.
In fact, the only car out on track at the moment is Tsunoda, although Latifi has just headed out on an outlap.
After managing 15 laps on the medium so far, Bottas is currently in the pits. Nobody has yet bettered his middle sector, although that's probably not too surprising given the majority of the field other than the Mercedes, Zhou, and the Williams drivers have only used the hard so far.
Like Hamilton, Vettel is a three-time winner at Interlagos but the Aston Martin driver does 'a Verstappen' and understeers wide onto the run-off at Turn 4. No harm, no foul. Play on.
Aside from that lapse in car positioning, Norris has had an encouraging start to the session and currently sits 13th, just ahead of team-mate Ricciardo.
Hamilton is using medium tyres at the moment and uses them to good effect to slice up to fourth, behind the Verstappen-Bottas-Perez top three. That wouldn't have looked too out of place a year ago, would it?
Sainz isn't best-pleased with former team-mate Norris, who is a little too far in the middle of the road at Turn 3 for the Spaniard's liking on a slow down lap. The Ferrari man has to take to the kerbs and a bit of grass to avoid him and calls it "super dangerous".
Normal service is resumed though, as Verstappen fires back to the top spot on a 1m13.646s.
Admittedly though, it must be said, Bottas's 2021 'pole' came after he'd been beaten in qualifying by Hamilton and Verstappen, then his team-mate had a grid penalty, and he beat Verstappen off the line in the sprint.
Bottas now posts a 1m13.807s to go fastest with his Alfa Romeo, running the medium tyres. He's got good form here, the Finn, having taken pole twice before with Mercedes in 2017 and 2021.
But Verstappen makes amends on his next tour to usurp Perez by 0.373s, with Bottas going between the two Red Bulls on his medium-shod Alfa.
Just the faintest hit of a lock up on his left-front was all it took for Verstappen to understeer wide. Perez, following him around, completes a lap which is the fastest so far.
Or perhaps not! At Turn 4, the scene of his controversial defence against Hamilton in last year's race, Verstappen goes off onto the run-off and has to back out of it.
The first flying laps are on the board, and from the initial flurry of timed laps its Ocon on the top of the timesheets ahead of Bottas and Sainz. Expect that to change though, as Verstappen winds up his first hot lap.
Already the track is looking busy - and that's no surprise because teams have only one hour to perfect their set-ups before qualifying later on. Afterwards, the cars enter parc ferme before FP2 and the sprint race tomorrow.
Green flag
We're underway for FP1, with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen the first man out of the pits followed closely by Valtteri Bottas.
There are no Brazilians in the field this year, but the grandstands opposite the pits are packed and in good voice as ever waiting for FP1 to begin. No chants of 'Rubinho' though, sadly.
Sun
The timing screens report that there is no risk of rain for this session, held amid 24.2 °C air temperature with track temps of 46.1 °C. Still, this is Brazil, and there is plenty of form for rain here. Witness 1993, 2001, 2003 and 2016 as a few choice examples.
Even though both championships have already been sewn up, there is plenty still to be decided - including the battle for fourth between Alpine and McLaren. The latter received a boost today as Lando Norris, unable to participate in media activities yesterday with reports of food poisoning, is at the track ready to suit up for FP1.

 
In a recent interview with selected media members including Autosport, Hamilton explained that his passion for motorsport still burns brightly and lifted the lid on his struggles with the Mercedes W13 this year.

Plus subscribers can read this week's Autosport magazine cover feature by Matt Kew here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-hamilton-isnt-finished-with-f1-just-yet/10397266/
Hamilton of course has plenty of incentive to perform well at Interlagos, the scene of his remarkable victory last season and his first world title coronation in 2008. A three-time winner in Brazil, he would like nothing more than to ensure his run of winning at least one race in every F1 season he has contested continues in the country that this week awarded him honourary citizenship.
Breaking news
Such has been the extent of Ferrari's recent malaise that Mercedes has hope of overhauling it for second in the constructors' championship. There are just 40 points between the two teams with two races still to go.

Asked about the prospect of stealing second, Lewis Hamilton said it would be important not just in terms of prestige, but also the financial bonus that it would generate for team members: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-beating-ferrari-to-f1-runner-up-spot-would-be-an-amazing-feeling/10398050/ 
Ferrari will hope that the sprint format will bring about a revival in its recent fortunes, as it has remarkably not won a race since F1's last sprint weekend in Austria. Back then, Charles Leclerc was just 38 points behind Max Verstappen, but the gulf between them now stands at a whopping 141 points.
We're just under 20 minutes away from the start of Free Practice 1, which takes on extra importance this weekend as we return to the sprint format - with qualifying set to take place later today.
Good afternoon everybody, welcome to Autosport's Live coverage from Friday's action at Sao Paolo. Let's get this show on the road.

By: autosport.com

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