SAO PAULO GP – Lando Norris fastest by nearly two-tenths ahead of George Russell in practice
Lando Norris was fastest in practice for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 10.610 on the soft tyre to put himself ahead of George Russell by just under two tenths. The McLaren driver once again looked on fire and was miles ahead of his championship rival Max Verstappen by over a second.
Norris produced the lap in the closing moments of the session to better Mercedes’ George Russell by almost two-tenths of a second, offering promise for the McLaren driver ahead of Sprint Qualifying later on Friday at Interlagos. That put him couple of tenths up on Russell, who echoed Hamilton’s comments about a “bumpy ride,” and standout practice performer Bearman.
He is forty-seven points behind Verstappen and the Dutchman cannot start the race higher than sixth, thanks to a fifth ICE meaning a five-place grid penalty. But he did abort his soft tyre run where he was roughly a tenth behind Russell.
Ollie Bearman put his Haas third having been called in to replace Kevin Magnussen who was unwell, the 2025 Haas driver will at least take part in sprint qualifying and the sprint. The Englishman was almost a tenth and a half behind Russell as he went a quarter of a second faster than Oscar Piastri. The second McLaren three-tenths behind his teammate as he went five thousandths faster than Alex Albon.
Bearman quick to get back out after not racing in any form since Baku a month and a half ago as he continued to get to grips with the car he will be driving next season. Despite it being a new track surface with drivers focused on learning the grip levels it was a trouble-free session with only a few spins.
Charles Leclerc was sixth fastest as he put himself seven hundredths faster than his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz. Nico Hulkenberg put his Haas a quarter of a tenth behind the Ferrari duo ahead of Fernando Alonso by nearly a tenth, the Aston Martin driver had missed media duties on Thursday having returned home for medical treatment between last weekend’s race in Mexico City.
The two time champion was just a thousandth faster than the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, as they completed the top ten. Both RBs missed out on the top ten, Liam Lawson eleventh going almost two-tenths faster than teammate Yuki Tsunoda, while the Williams of Franco Colapinto was three hundredths behind. This being his defacto home race being the only one in South America.
Verstappen had another difficult session as he was only fifteenth over a second off Norris who he is fighting for the championship, the Red Bull once again looking out of shape as he was four hundredths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Though Verstappen aborted his soft run late in the session and Hamilton not managing a soft run.
Verstappen on his soft run had gone faster than Russell in the first sector but aborted his lap after losing time in the middle sector, his best time being on the mediums.
Lance Stroll was almost four and a half hundredths ahead of Esteban Ocon, while his former teammate Perez was nearly two hundredths behind. While Guanyu Zhou completed the field.
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