F1 Brazilian GP: Norris fastest in opening practice from new champion Antonelli

Lando Norris was fastest in first practice at Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix, leading Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

This classification meant the four top teams were again very close to one another. Norris outpaced Antonelli by 0.082s on the soft rubber with a time of 1m11.717s, while Verstappen and Hamilton were two and three tenths adrift respectively.

Not all of them were happy, however, with Verstappen complaining about a longtime problem of the RB22. “Unacceptable, man. Unacceptable, these downshifts. What the ****?” he ranted on the radio. Later on, he mentioned yet another issue: “There’s something wrong with my steering. It’s getting harder and harder to turn the wheel.”

There were hefty lock-ups galore in Turn 1, for veterans and rookies alike – and there were many of the latter in action now. The most prominent of them undoubtedly was Rafael Camara, with Haas’ 2027 driver making an early F1 debut at home this weekend following Esteban Ocon’s fallout with the team.

Formula 2’s championship leader was 18th-fastest in this session, nearly nine tenths slower than team-mate Oliver Bearman.

One rookie who did outpace the sister car was Alpine’s Gabriele Mini, who took seventh place with a 1m12.569s, 0.085s quicker than Franco Colapinto. No other test driver made it into the top 10; McLaren’s Leonardo Fornaroli was 11th (+1.116s vs Norris), Williams’ Luke Browning 17th (+0.080s vs Alex Albon, who had a mechanical problem) and Cadillac’s Colton Herta 20th (+0.904s vs Valtteri Bottas).

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Herta’s trouble-free session – other than a mammoth lock-up into Turn 1 – should theoretically mean he will collect the final required point for an FIA superlicence, making him eligible to a 2027 F1 seat should Cadillac elect to promote him next year.

Ferrari’s Dino Beganovic and Audi’s Freddie Slater propped up the classification after encountering technical issue which prevented them from setting soft-tyre times and restricted their mileage. “The car has just switched off,” Slater said, causing a red flag just 12 minutes into the session. The pair completed 11 and seven laps respectively.

F1 Brazilian GP - FP1 results

FP1

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	33	1'11.717		S	216.300
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	32	+0.082 1'11.799	0.082	S	216.053
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	29	+0.236 1'11.953	0.154	S	215.590
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	31	+0.324 1'12.041	0.088	S	215.327
5	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.386 1'12.103	0.062	S	215.142
6	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+0.439 1'12.156	0.053	S	214.984
7	G. Minì Alpine	62		Alpine	Mercedes	28	+0.852 1'12.569	0.413	S	213.760
8	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	30	+0.897 1'12.614	0.045	S	213.628
9	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	34	+0.937 1'12.654	0.040	S	213.510
10	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		RB	Red Bull	32	+0.998 1'12.715	0.061	S	213.331
11	L. Fornaroli McLaren	67		McLaren	Mercedes	28	+1.116 1'12.833	0.118	S	212.985
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	27	+1.120 1'12.837	0.004	S	212.974
13	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	26	+1.300 1'13.017	0.180	S	212.449
14	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	32	+1.321 1'13.038	0.021	S	212.388
15	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	16	+1.654 1'13.371	0.333	S	211.424
16	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	18	+1.794 1'13.511	0.140	S	211.021
17	L. Browning Williams	46		Williams	Mercedes	12	+1.874 1'13.591	0.080	S	210.792
18	R. Câmara Haas F1 Team	51		Haas	Ferrari	30	+1.979 1'13.696	0.105	S	210.491
19	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	28	+2.043 1'13.760	0.064	S	210.309
20	C. Herta Cadillac F1 Team	25		Cadillac	Ferrari	31	+2.558 1'14.275	0.515	S	208.850
21	D. Beganovic Ferrari	38		Ferrari	Ferrari	11	+2.640 1'14.357	0.082	H	208.620
22	F. Slater Audi	98		Audi	Audi	7	+3.249 1'14.966	0.609	H	206.925
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