FP1: Sainz leads Leclerc and Russell as sprint weekend begins in Sao Paolo | Formula 1®
Carlos Sainz topped the timesheets in the first and only practice session for this weekend’s Sao Paolo Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver leading his teammate Charles Leclerc and Mercedes driver George Russell.
With the final sprint event of the season taking place on Saturday, today’s FP1 offered the teams and drivers the last chance to finalize their setups and make final preparations before qualifying later today.
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So it was a busy hour at the Interlagos circuit. The session started in warm and dry conditions and Max Verstappen was among those ready to get going. The world champion led the line of drivers in the pit lane and waited for the green light.
With the exception of the Williams duo and Daniel Ricciardo, everyone was on track as soon as the session began. With the weather forecast calling for a 20% chance of precipitation over the course of the hour, some may have been keen to get some rain in case of changing conditions, although it remained dry throughout.
All cars drove on the hard tires in their first laps. There appeared to be problems for Esteban Ocon, who reported a lateral screw on his front tire. Meanwhile, Verstappen, who set the pace quickly at the start, explained that his seat gave way, despite race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase assuring him that it was not a reliability issue.
Sainz was the first to falter slightly after 10 minutes of driving, with the Ferrari losing its tail after taking too many nicks. The Scuderia couldn’t quite match the pace of Red Bull and Mercedes, with Verstappen and Sergio Perez ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Russell in the early stages, but the Italian team seemed to be putting in a lot of laps as the session progressed back to fix your tire wear problems.
Fernando Alonso – desperate to bounce back this weekend after two consecutive retirements – was forced into the pits after being told his car had a puncture, requiring him to fit a new set of hard tyres. Shortly afterwards, Yuki Tsunoda moved to the top of the timesheets after being first to put on the medium tires before being brought down by Russell on the same compound.
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As the hour reached half-time, Russell remained in first place while a number of strategies prevailed in the field. There was drama between Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris as the pair made contact as Norris attempted to overtake the slow Haas. The incident was noted by the stewards for investigation after the meeting.
However, that didn’t stop Hülkenberg and his teammate Kevin Magnussen from placing at the top of the timesheets during their runs on the soft tires, while many others stayed on the hard and medium compounds.
With the wind increasing as the hour reached its final 10 minutes, drivers like Sainz and Leclerc decided to practice some qualifying runs on the soft tires. This helped the Ferrari duo finish in P1 and P2 respectively, relegating Russell to third.
Russell was the winner of the Sao Paolo Grand Prix in 2022
Hülkenberg remained in fourth place in mixed order, ahead of Alex Albon in fifth and Lance Stroll in sixth. Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant – who had an issue in the second half of the session that appeared to cause his front tire to lift off the ground in some corners – and Magnussen completed the top 10.
Alonso finished the hour in 11th, Hamilton in 12th and the AlphaTauri pair Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in 13th and 14th. Ocon followed in 15th, ahead of Verstappen in 16th. Both he and Perez – in 18th place – only used the hard tires during the session.
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Valtteri Bottas placed P17, while McLaren duo Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the order in P19 and P20.
Since many teams did not use the soft tires in this single practice session, this raises many questions before qualifying. The teams and drivers are now preparing, the starting signal will be fired at 3:00 p.m. local time.