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Formula 1
Brazilian GP
F1 Brazilian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 and Qualifying
Friday's action from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit
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The Red Bulls are keen to respond though - can Verstappen take back top spot as he returns to the track on another set of softs?
And now Hamilton goes fastest! It's a 1m09.348s despite a bit of a wobble exiting Turn 4.
Ocon has had a go on medium tyres for the first time in the session and immediately bounces up to fifth. That's a very encouraging lap for Alpine - the Frenchman clocks a 1m10.171s.
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"Front pressures low?" asks Hamilton. "Negative," replies engineer Bonnington.
Sure enough, he does improve - but only gains one place by moving above Hamilton to third. It's a 1m09.567s for the Finn.
Bottas is winding up for another push on softs, and has just set the fastest first sector. This could be one to watch.
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Russell's improvement isn't as stark - he's up to P12 on the soft, with most of the midfield runners still yet to try the tyre.
Hamilton moves up to third with his first lap on the softs, a 1m09.768s, but it's still 0.351s down on Verstappen.
Still, the softs aren't exactly a silver bullet for Haas as Schumacher shows with a lairy moment getting on the power exiting Turn 9. Sean Boswell would have been proud of that four-wheel drift.
Now Hamilton is taking on the softs, and so too is Russell, who is back in P19.
Likewise, we've yet to see Hamilton try the soft - which partly explains why he's all the way back in P12, when the Red Bulls and Bottas are annexing their usual positions at the sharp end.
Gasly is still running on medium tyres and pops up with a 1m10.745s to go P7, just behind the Ferraris and Alonso. Ocon has tumbled back to P15, but has yet to run on the mediums.
Sure enough, he goes third on a 1m09.867s, but it's still 0.45s slower than Verstappen.
Bottas has now been shuffled back to 14th, but is on the soft tyre and set to bounce back up the leaderboard again.
Remember me? Fernando Alonso pops up P4 in the Alpine on the medium, splitting the two Ferraris.
Drivers are starting to look a bit ragged out there. Leclerc goes wide at Turn 4, while Vettel has a big moment of oversteer getting on the power at Turn 12 and clumps the kerb.
Perez was also quickest in the final sector, but falls 0.075s short of Verstappen as they both post times in the 1m09s bracket - it's a 1m09.417s for the Dutchman, a .492s for his team-mate.
The Haas cars have also bolted on the softs, as Perez sets a new purple first sector.
Now then. Here come the Red Bulls, the first cars to try the soft tyres.
The track has now been declared wet by the FIA, but Ferrari are clearly paying no heed to that.
That's just 0.005s off Verstappen for Leclerc - who you'd imagine will be rather pleased with that. Intriguingly, he currently has the fastest first sector of anybody, with Verstappen quickest in the middle sector and Hamilton topping the times through the final sector.
Sainz duly delivers an improvement to move up to third, a 1m10.624s for the Spaniard - Leclerc though goes quicker and splits the two Red Bulls in second on a 1m10.194s.
Sainz is only P11 for the moment, while Leclerc is back in 13th. After a big step forward in recent races, culminating in retaking third from McLaren in the constructors' standings, we'd maybe be expecting a little bit more from the Scuderia, but it's early days still with just over half the session gone.
Ocon, Hamilton and Sainz are currently the only drivers out on track - the Ferrari man is, like Hamilton, on mediums.
Ocon has gone out again on another set of hard tyres. Rain spots are starting to appear on the camera lens down at Turn 12 as he powers up the (bendy) straight to start another lap.
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"The front is bouncing across the track," says Hamilton - who isn't happy with his suspension set-up.
Just the eight laps in the books so far for Verstappen - that's the fewest of anybody so far.
It slipped our attention, but Perez had improved his best time on the mediums to close his deficit to Verstappen. A 1m10.209s is the best time for the Mexican, just 0.020s shy of the world championship leader.
The skies are certainly starting to look ominous out there. And we all know how quickly the weather can turn in Brazil...
"It's just drizzling a bit," reports Stroll over the radio.
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ICYMI:
Gasly has now been shuffled back to P8 though, as Lance Stroll's Aston Martin pumps in the sixth fastest time, slotting in just ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel (a winner here in 2013 and '17). Both Astons are on hard tyres.
After his excellent fourth place in Mexico, Gasly has had another strong start on his return to the track where he finished second in 2019 - the AlphaTauri man is currently P7, but will be shaking out any fillings he got as a teenager thanks to a huge flat spot he picked up by locking up at Turn 1.
Russell has now been out of the pits and done eight laps, setting the 13th fastest time of the session so far.
Temperatures are dropping out there. Track temps are now 33.6, having been 37.3s when the session was just about to start. Air temps only down 0.2 degrees by comparison though.
It will be interesting to know how much fuel Ocon had for his flyer on hards - the Hungarian GP winner remains fourth in the Alpine, ahead of Bottas for the time being.
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"Please come up with another solution for the front suspension," Hamilton radioes engineer Pete Bonnington.
Perez has now joined Verstappen in the 1m10s bracket, on a 1m10.803s.
Plenty of drivers are having lock-ups out on track - Ricciardo smokes his right-front under load for the tight Turn 10 right-hander, while Perez snatches his left-front banging down the gears on the fast approach into Turn 1.
By: Autosport Staff
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