Live text
Formula 1
Brazilian GP
F1 Brazilian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & Qualifying
Friday's action from the 20th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Interlagos hosts the closing leg of the final triple header of the year, with just two races remaining of the 2023 season after the chequered flag falls.
While Max Verstappen and Red Bull may have respectively wrapped up the titles, the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez for second in the drivers' standings is fierce.
As is the fight at the bottom of the constructors' standings, with the margins separating Williams, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas closing at recent events.
The sole practice session of the Brazilian GP weekend will start at 2:30pm GMT, followed by qualifying at 6:00pm GMT.
Live Standings
presented by
Stopped
Summary
4 Days
15 hrs
03 min
23 sec
Live Text
Sort by
Piastri backs up Norris with third, slotting in front of Perez. Leclerc, Russell and Sainz find themselves outside the top 10 following the first runs.
Norris now splits the Red Bull pair to go second. Meanwhile, Stroll will be investigated after the session for failing to follow the race director's instructions regarding the maximum delta time.
Perez goes second, while Stroll leaps above Albon and Alonso into third.
A 1m10.162s is the first time on the board from Verstappen and puts him, well, top.
Green flag
We're go for Q2 in Brazil. Time to find the 10 fastest drivers who will progress to compete for pole.
Verstappen is informed that there are some very light spots of rain in the pitlane. Could the weather play a factor yet in this session? Teams will have learned from last year about the importance of getting a lap in early - even with all the track improvements as the cleaned surface rubbers in.
The Red Bulls have jumped to the head of the queue at the pit exit as we count down to Q2 beginning. All looking rather busy down there as Albon veers out of his garage to claim third in the queue.
Alonso, Magnussen, Hamilton and Albon rounded out the top 10 in Q1, and will be joined in the Q2 segment by Norris, Sainz, Perez and the Alpine duo.
Russell ended the session fastest ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc and Hulkenberg. Piastri and Stroll ensured it was six different cars in the top six positions in Q1.
The most relieved men in the paddock will be Alpine drivers Ocon and Gasly, who escape the drop by the skin of their teeth in 14th and 15th positions.
Tsunoda is joined in the drop zone by Ricciardo, who sounds resigned as he's informed that his time is not enough. Quite the contrast from one week ago and the euphoria of outqualifying Perez. Bottas, Sargeant and Zhou are also eliminated.
Checkered flag
As the checkered flag comes out, Tsunoda isn't happy about being informed he's P16. He's calling for a penalty against Hamilton, but we've not seen why he would be aggrieved as yet.
Tsunoda is unable to improve on his final timed lap, which proves costly as it left the door open for Ocon. The Alpine driver does find more time and knocks out the AlphaTauri.
Up to third has come Hulkenberg, with Magnussen in sixth. The Haas twins also appear safe.
Defending Brazil winner Russell now goes fastest and secures his Q2 berth. It's all happening.
Sainz vaults from 12th up to sixth and looks safe for now, while Sargeant moves from 20th to 15th to knock Ocon out as things stand.
Leclerc, Piastri, Stroll and Albon are your top four as it stands.
Stroll reports drops of rain with a little over two minutes to go in the session. Will it be significant enough to hinder further improvement?
Albon now emphatically underlines why the top runners need to go again as he moves up into fourth. Just the 16-place leap.
With one more run likely then, Russell in 13th, Ocon in 14th and Ricciardo in 15th are the men on the bubble ahead of Hulkenberg, Zhou, Magnussen, Sargeant and Albon.
Hamilton believes he's safe, but he's informed over the radio that he will need to take a new set as others have because Mercedes is not confident he will be able to progress to Q2 without going again.
If the rain holds off, the track will only continue to get faster until the end of this segment, so it could be a case of whoever is the last driver to start their final flyer has the best conditions.
But Tsunoda is the latest driver to haul himself free of the drop zone and spring into seventh. Will that be enough?
Tsunoda, Bottas, Sargeant, Albon and Zhou are the quintet currently facing an early bath in Q1.
Yes, Perez pulls his finger out and launches up to fifth. The track is improving all the time, unsurprisingly, as the cleaned surface is now yielding more grip with increasing amounts of rubber laid down. Stroll has gone into third.
Piastri was briefly in 16th and in line for the drop but responds by moving into second, between Leclerc and Norris. Can Perez extricate himself from a compromising grid position, as he is currently 19th?
"No rain expected for two to three minutes, we have one timed lap," Sainz is told. And he obliges by moving up to fourth, moments after Leclerc took over the top spot. Ferrari can breathe a sigh of relief.
Replays show that as Gasly prepared to join the track, from the long pit exit left-hander on the inside of Turn 3, he came across Russell in the middle of the road and had to go onto the grass.
Well, that's not something we expected to see. After the first runs, both Ferraris and Perez are currently in the drop zone along with Sargeant and Zhou.
Meanwhile an impeding incident involving Russell and Gasly will be investigated after the session.
Quote
"My car is jumping around like a kangaroo, the same problem as in Mexico," reports Verstappen. He's not a happy chappy.
The Ferraris can only muster eighth and ninth from their first timed runs, while Norris's time holds as Hamilton goes second ahead of Verstappen and surprise package Magnussen.
McLaren do quickly return to the top though courtesy of Norris on a 1m10.623.
Piastri's benchmark is a 1m11.494s, but it's quickly beaten by Stroll with a 1m11.420s.
As cars file around for their first flyers of the session, an update on the weather. Air temperature is currently 29.8 °C, while track temperature is 39.6 °C.
Green flag
And we're green for Q1 in Brazil.
At the head of that queue is McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
Cars are now queueing at the pitlane exit light as we prepare for the session to get under way at last.
Despite the ignominy of his clash with Norris, Hulkenberg ended practice a high-flying fourth. Brazil is a place that holds special memories for the German, who scored a shock pole here for Williams in 2010 and of course led much of the way before a tangle with Hamilton in 2012 left him down in fifth.
Last year George Russell was of course credited with pole position by virtue of winning the sprint race, with Kevin Magnussen's qualifying heroics overlooked by the history books. We're glad that particular statistical oddity is no longer being repeated at sprint events.
By: Autosport Staff
Published:
Page:
