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F1 Brazilian GP: Norris tops FP1 from Russell and Haas sub Bearman

McLaren driver Lando Norris led MercedesGeorge Russell and the Kevin Magnussen-replacing Ollie Bearman at Haas in the sole practice session for Formula 1’s 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton ended up well off the pace for Red Bull and Mercedes respectively for different reasons, while Sergio Perez registered another underwhelming result.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas led the pack out of the pits at the start of the one-hour session – with Pierre Gasly behind carving marks into the new track surface with his very low-slung Alpine – as a flurry of different drivers had short stints at the top on the opening runs.

These took place on the medium tyres for all apart from the RB drivers on softs, with Oscar Piastri ending the opening five minutes leading with a 1m13.200s.

Verstappen and Russell then lowered the first place benchmark, before Perez nipped ahead on a 1m12.099s.

That stood as the top spot for a little while, before Russell and then Verstappen got back ahead with 1m11.806s and 1m11.712s efforts respectively.

After a lull in action to allow for initial set-up adjustments, the drivers headed back out on the same rubber as before – with Hamilton climbing the order to sit second.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15 (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

Approaching the final third, Russell made an early switch to the softs and duly retook first with a 1m10.791s, but it took a chunk more of the session before any more of the frontrunners did likewise.

When they did in the final 10 minutes, following another period with many cars in the pits, Franco Colapinto jumped up the order to run second – albeit 0.828s slower than Russell.

Into that gap slotted Bearman, Alex Albon, Liam Lawson and Piastri a short while later – the first named just 0.014s slower than Russell’s leading time.

That looked be toppled when Verstappen went quicker than Russell in sector one on his first flier on the softs in the closing minutes, before the Dutchman lost time in sector two to be behind the benchmark and he then aborted the lap.

This confined Verstappen to 15th with his best time coming from the mediums, while Perez did complete a soft tyre run that was only good for 19th in the replaced chassis he is running this weekend.

Russell was finally beaten by Norris’s final lap in the closing minute, as the McLaren driver posted a 1m10.610s, which did not feature Norris’s best final sector of the session.

The final order behind the three Britons was Piastri, Albon and Charles Leclerc, who gained time with an improvement on his second run on the same set of softs, as Norris had also done.

Oliver Bearman, Haas VF-24 (Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images)

Carlos Sainz did not and finished seventh, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Gasly.

Hamilton did not run the softs in the session and so ended up 16th where there was much driver feedback on savage bumps in the new track surface.

F1 Brazilian GP - FP1 results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
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2
   
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom L. Norris McLaren 4 McLaren Mercedes 29

1'10.610

  219.691
2 United Kingdom G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes 24

+0.181

1'10.791

0.181 219.129
3 United Kingdom O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 50 Haas Ferrari 30

+0.195

1'10.805

0.014 219.086
4 Australia O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes 30

+0.340

1'10.950

0.145 218.638
5 Thailand A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes 28

+0.345

1'10.955

0.005 218.623
6 Monaco C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari 31

+0.428

1'11.038

0.083 218.367
7 Spain C. Sainz Ferrari 55 Ferrari Ferrari 30

+0.490

1'11.100

0.062 218.177
8 Germany N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team 27 Haas Ferrari 26

+0.514

1'11.124

0.024 218.103
9 Spain F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Mercedes 26

+0.605

1'11.215

0.091 217.824
10 France P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Renault 27

+0.606

1'11.216

0.001 217.821
11 New Zealand L. Lawson RB 30 RB Red Bull 26

+0.691

1'11.301

0.085 217.562
12 Japan Y. Tsunoda RB 22 RB Red Bull 25

+0.873

1'11.483

0.182 217.008
13 Argentina F. Colapinto Williams 43 Williams Mercedes 31

+1.009

1'11.619

0.136 216.596
14 Finland V. Bottas Sauber 77 Sauber Ferrari 29

+1.041

1'11.651

0.032 216.499
15 Netherlands M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 Red Bull Red Bull 30

+1.102

1'11.712

0.061 216.315
16 United Kingdom L. Hamilton Mercedes 44 Mercedes Mercedes 30

+1.144

1'11.754

0.042 216.188
17 Canada L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Mercedes 26

+1.173

1'11.783

0.029 216.101
18 France E. Ocon Alpine 31 Alpine Renault 26

+1.217

1'11.827

0.044 215.968
19 Mexico S. Perez Red Bull Racing 11 Red Bull Red Bull 28

+1.235

1'11.845

0.018 215.914
20 China Z. Guanyu Sauber 24 Sauber Ferrari 27

+2.273

1'12.883

1.038 212.839
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