F1 Brazil GP live commentary and updates – FP1

WELCOME TO SAO PAULO

Pendulous skies greet visitors to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace today. And rain forecast for tomorrow. Excitement guaranteed?

Welcome to our live coverage from the only practice session this weekend – it's a sprint event again, so after practice wraps we're on to qualifying for the sprint race.

There have already been developments this morning as Franco Colapinto has been confirmed at Alpine for next year.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Hector Vivas / Getty Images

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Plenty of chat in the paddock about the 2026 regulations and their likely impact as the hour of their introduction approaches. George Russell predicts there will be overtakes "in obscure locations" – hopefully not the paddock toilets!

Our favourite Interlagos fact is that much of sector two of the current layout actually follows the reverse of the orginal layout's flow.

Originally the cars went straight on at what is now Turn 1, looping around the outside of the bowl before the track turned back on itself.

DELAY REPAY

There will be a brief pause before proceedings start, owing to detritus left on track by the classic car parade which preceded FP1. Perhaps someone's ashtray fell out.

Anyway, the Safety Car is now on track to ascertain that all is well. The FIA announces a five-minute delay "for general track cleaning".

Gabriel Bortoleto getting plenty of love from the crowd on his out-lap.

Fernando Alonso briefly tops the timesheet with a 1m12.662s lap, but is quickly displaced by Oscar Piastri's 1m12.169s.

The sun has peeked out but the track temperature is a relatively moderate 39C, air temperature 20C.

So is it jacket weather, or not jacket weather? Don't ask Phil Collins...

WHY WHY WHY TSUNODA

Yuki Tsunoda is first to explore the run-off area. He runs over the exit kerb at Turn 4, beaches the underfloor on the top of the kerb, and is instantly a passenger, gyrating over the run-off and deranging his front wing against the barrier.

Helmut Marko's blood pressure will be spiking...

Max Verstappen is registering on our data screen as being the only driver out there on softs. He's posted a 1m11.968s lap but hard-booted George Russell is actually faster with a 1m11.861.

Lando Norris now eclipses that with 1m11.796s.

Have at you! Russell goes back to the top of the pile with a 1m11.542s.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS DEPT

Our data screen updates itself to show Verstappen on hards rather than softs.

Pole position for the sprint race last year was 1m08.899s, by the way. Qualifying for the grand prix was unrepresentative owing to wet conditions.

We're expecting even worse tomorrow – high winds as well as rain.

Russell still fastest, now on 1m11.188s.

"What are these idiots doing? Honestly!" harrumphs Kimi Antonelli as he comes across Lewis Hamilton and Oliver Bearman trundling around while he was on a push lap.

Slightly churlish in Hamilton's case since the Ferrari wasn't on the racing line.

Russell parks his Mercedes after a 10-lap run on those hard tyres. Verstappen has called it after nine. The McLarens have also pulled into their respective garages after 11 laps.

Both Ferraris, both Williams, the Racing Bulls and the Alpines are still out, as is Bearman.

The marshals around the track just making sure they know where the red flags are stashed – Lance Stroll is out now.

Russell and Antonelli back out, both using the same set of hards.

Sainz – currently sitting third on the timing screens – is back out, as are the two McLarens, all using the same set of hard Pirellis they'd been rolling on previously.

Charles Leclerc leaves the pits with a dose of flow-viz paint on his rear wing. Leclerc is running a different rear wing spec to Hamilton in this session, with slightly higher downforce, so the team will then make a call on which spec it will use in subsequent sessions after this back-to-back test.

Piastri now caught dawdling on track, meandering into the path of Isack Hadjar, who has to run over the kerb to avoid high-speed carambolage.

Well that was a costly shunt for Yuki Tsunoda. The cameras cut to his car still in the garage and with no wheels on yet. Less than half an hour to go in this session.

Piastri now stepping on it – relatively speaking – and goes third fastest with a 1m11.401s.

Verstappen has a sideways moment at the entry to Turn 4. That's where his team-mate went off earlier, but Max's car started playing up on the entry to the corner, rather than it being a case of him being untidy at the exit.

Tsunoda back on track now – on soft tyres, according to our data channel.

The stewards took a look at the aftermath of Verstappen's off – he rejoined ahead of George Russell and left the Mercedes no room as it tried to pass him around the outside on the approach to Turn 5. But they've decided it merits no further investigation.

Pierre Gasly currently P7 on a 1m11.577s. Decent so far after a miserable run of races for Alpine. Earlier on he remarked on the radio that the car seems "more alive" than it has in months.

Russell heads to the garage after 14 laps and remains atop the timesheet. That's 24 laps total on those hards. Quali sim next?

Antonelli, Hadjar, Albon and Stroll now taking to the track on medium tyres.

Russell and Sainz also now heading out on mediums.

Mediums for the two Haas cars now as well.

And predictably the times are tumbling. Alex Albon went fastest, was then displaced by George Russell, who in turn was usurped by Carlos Sainz. P1 is currently Sainz on 1m10.820, 0.086s quicker than Esteban Ocon – who has clearly shaken the ague he had last race weekend.

Piastri now quickest – 1m10.193s. Lando Norris goes P2, 0.278s off. It could be that Piastri enjoyed a little bit of a tow from a Racing Bulls car on the run to the finish line, but perhaps not to the tune of three tenths.

Piastri takes us until single figures with a 1m9.998s.

Verstappen now out on the soft – that's a new set, Tsunoda is back out on the set he used before. Tsuonda currently slowest of all.

Norris improves to a 1m10.259s. Hulkenberg currently third on 1m10.594s.

Verstappen aborted his push lap early on – looked like he got a bit held up by Liam Lawson – and has come back into the pits.

How bizarre – tyre change and he goe back onto hards, the same set he ran earlier.

So as the clock runs down, don't expect any fireworks in terms of laptime from the defending world champion. Verstappen did no laps at all on the mediums and didn't complete a push lap on the softs.

Now Lando Norris crosses the line and usurps his team-mate to the tune of 0.023s! This on a set of mediums with eight laps under their (radial) belts.

And a spin for Lewis Hamilton there – a double gyration, in fact – at Mergulho. He reports the car bottomed out before the spin.