Lando Norris set the quickest time during the sole practice session for Formula 1’s São Paulo Grand Prix.
Norris had trailed McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by a quarter of a second on each of their first two push laps on Medium tyres at Interlagos, but turned the tables in the closing stages.
While Piastri failed to find time on his third push lap Norris lowered the overall benchmark to a 1:09.975s, putting him 0.023s clear of the Australian.
Sauber enjoyed a strong outing as Nico Hulkenberg was third while home hero Gabriel Bortoleto classified fifth on his first session at Interlagos as a Formula 1 driver.
They were split by Bortoleto’s manager, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Mercedes’ George Russell was sixth, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.
Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top 10.
There were tricky sessions for Red Bull and Ferrari.
Max Verstappen opted against using the Medium tyres – which the 16 drivers ahead all adopted – and was down in 17th spot, with his fastest lap coming on the Hards rather than the Softs they he used for a push lap.
His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was last of the 20 competitors after his session was interrupted following a mistake through Turn 4.
Tsunoda spun exiting the corner and lightly touched the barriers on the outside, though the contact was sufficient for the RB21 to sustain minor damage that kept him in the garage for a third of the session.
Ferrari’s drivers remained on the Hard tyres though Lewis Hamilton suffered an atypical spin through the downhill penultimate corner in the closing minutes of the session.
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