Verstappen fitted a new engine and will be penalized with five places on the Sunday starting grid
The British driver Lando Norris (McLaren) set the best time this Friday during the single Practice of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix (Brazil), the twenty-first round of the Formula 1 World Championship, while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) were, respectively, seventh and ninth.
For the hour of filming on the asphalt of the Autodromo José Carlos Pace, in Interlagos, the cars of Lando Norris and the Australian Oscar Piastri dyed their heads papaya color. But soon it was the Red Bull of Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez and especially the Mercedes of another Englishman, George Russell, who fought for first position.
With intermediate tires and looking at the sky in case the weather worsened, Russell settled at the top (1:10.791), removing the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) from that place. The problems for the World Championship leader will grow on Sunday, as he installed a new internal combustion engine in his power unit and will be penalized with five places on the starting grid during that Sunday long race.
The best of the two Spaniards in these free practice sessions was until now Alonso, in the ‘top 5’ with less than a quarter of an hour to go. The man from Oviedo then stopped in his garage, so that the Aston Martin operators could make some adjustments to the so-called ‘rack’ of the car, especially in the front part.
For the final stretch of the session, Alonso took to the track again while almost all the drivers tested soft tires. This context favored the young Argentine Franco Colapinto (Williams), who placed second until he was overtaken by the Englishman Oliver Bearman (Haas) and then by the two McLaren cars.
In fact, with the clock at zero but on a valid lap, Norris made a best time of 1:10.610 and took first place ahead of Russell (+0.181) who finally came in second. Bearman (+0.195) took a testimonial third place, Piastri finished fourth (+0.340) and Thailand’s Alexander Albon (Williams, +0.345) finished in fifth place.