2023-11-03 15:59:16
The GP teams and their stars were greeted by a partly cloudy sky and an outside temperature of 29 degrees Celsius for the first free training session. The slope had heated up to 41 degrees at the start of the session. The weather experts put the chance of rain at 20 percent, but in Interlagos the weather can change quickly. This was not the only reason why the track filled up quickly following Max Verstappen was the first to drive onto the track.
The fact that this session was the only free training hour before qualifying for the GP on Sunday also meant that the World Championship participants were quick to hunt for data. Williams rookie Logan Sargeant was the last to leave the pits; all other drivers had already completed at least one timed lap by this point.
After the first ten minutes, Verstappen was the fastest driver on the Brazilian track. At 1:13.138 min he was only 25 thousandths faster than his teammate Sergio Pérez. Fernando Alonso, who took third place, was already more than seven tenths shy of the three-time champion’s record.
Behind Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton completed the timesheet. The latter soon improved to third place behind the Red Bull Racing duo, who were almost three tenths faster. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell stepped up and lined up behind the seven-time world champion.
After ten more minutes, the Red Bull Racing duo were still ahead, but Russell had now reduced the gap to just 66 thousandths. Alonso, who had slipped to sixth position, had to pit on the instructions of the Aston Martin team because his left rear tire was flat.
On the other side of the feel-good scale was Tsunoda, who set a new benchmark for the rest of the field following 22 minutes with a time of 1:12.802 minutes. However, the Japanese was the only one who accelerated on the medium-hard tires at this point; the rest of the field was still on the hard compound.
Russell did the same as Tsunoda and moved to the yellow marked rubber five minutes before half time. Ricciardo, on the other hand, had to hold out because his underbody on the right side had to be repaired.
The AlphaTauri star was still in the pits when George Russell took over the top position shortly before half-time with a time of 1:11.865 minutes. Behind them were Alonso, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Pérez, Hamilton, Norris, Leclerc, Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz in the other top 10 places ahead of Oscar Piastri, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Sargeant, Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen.
Hülkenberg and Norris caused a moment of shock: the former was traveling at slow speed when Norris tried to overtake in front of turn 12, and the two GP racers touched each other – which, however, had no technical consequences. The regulators, however, announced an investigation into the scene.
While Russell was able to stay at the front, the two Haas drivers sat behind the Brit from the Mercedes team. Both had the soft tires on. Albon also had the fastest mix and moved into third place behind Hülkenberg.
Stroll made it to 4th position on the medium-hard rubber ahead of Magnussen, Alonso, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Pérez, Bottas, Gasly, Ocon, Hamilton, Zhou, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz, Piastri, Ricciardo and Sargeant. Alonso, Verstappen, Pérez, Leclerc and Sainz were the only drivers in the field who were only on the hard tires in the first 50 minutes.
Although Hülkenberg was able to celebrate second place on the time monitor five minutes before the end of the session, the German was not without worries because following a wild ride over the curbs in the fourth corner he reported that he no longer had any power.
The competition didn’t allow themselves to be distracted by this, several drivers did a lap on the soft tires at the end and Sainz took the lead with a time of 1:11.732 minutes ahead of his Ferrari teammate Leclerc. It stayed that way, Sainz was able to celebrate the best time, Leclerc, Russell, Hülkenberg, Albon, Stroll, Gasly, Zhou, Sargeant and Magnussen followed in the other top 10 positions. Verstappen, who only used the hard tires, ended up in 16th place.
1. Training, Interlagos
01. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1:11.732 min
02. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +0,108 sec
03. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +0,133
04. Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, +0.196
05. Alex Albon (T), Williams, +0,312
06. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +0,404
07. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +0,452
08. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Alfa Romeo, +0,749
09. Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, +0,847
10. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +0.860
11. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, +0.883
12. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +0,906
13. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, +0,982
14. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), AlphaTauri, +1,046
15. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +1,047
16. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, +1,061
17. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +1,280
18. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +1,324
19. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +1.897
20. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, +2.106
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