Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) secured the fastest time in the first free practice session of Formula 1 for the Grand Prix of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Sainz was 0.108 seconds faster than his teammate Charles Leclerc (2nd) on the dry track at Interlagos in the only session before qualifying. Third place went to George Russell (Mercedes/+0.133), whose time is highly rated because it was achieved on the harder medium tires.
A strange scene occurred after about half an hour when Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) was on an out-lap and started to accelerate when he was overtaken by Lando Norris (McLaren) before the last corner. Norris drove past Hülkenberg on the inside – and the wheels of the two cars came into contact when Hülkenberg steered to the inside.
The wires on the pit radio then glowed hot. “Jesus!” Hülkenberg wondered about the action, without blaming Norris. Neither of them initially knew whether they should continue driving or come to the pits, but shortly afterwards it became clear that both the Haas and the McLaren had survived the situation unscathed.
Formula 1: Hülkenberg threatens repercussions
Nevertheless, there is still a risk of repercussions, as the FIA race stewards took note of the situation and announced an investigation after the end of the session. Reason: “Causing a collision”. It is possible that Hülkenberg, who was warned by his race engineer on the pit radio that Norris was coming from behind, will be sanctioned.
At least in terms of lap times, the training was a success for Hülkenberg. Shortly after the Norris situation, he set a personal best of 1:11.928 minutes, which brought him to second and ultimately fourth place. Norris finished 19th, 1.897 seconds behind Sainz, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri (+2.106).
Alexander Albon (5th/Williams/+0.312), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin/+0.404), Pierre Gasly (Alpine/+0.452), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo/+0.749), Logan Sargeant also made it into the top 10 (Williams/+0.847) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas/+0.860). Exciting: There were only 0.312 seconds between Zhou in P8 and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) in P16.
However, lap times should not be given too much importance. Changing winds, little grip and different programs do not allow a serious assessment of the balance of power at this point in time. Especially since many people worked more towards the race, others more towards qualifying.