Brazil – Free Practice 1: Hamilton fastest on medium and soft tyres, just ahead of Verstappen

The penultimate Friday of this 2016 season opened under bright sunshine in Brazil. Ideal conditions to begin work on this atypical yet legendary Interlagos circuit. An exciting setting and context, with the headline being the battle for the drivers’ title. Handicapped by his 19-point deficit, Lewis Hamilton will draw strength from his idol, who is also adored by the entire Brazilian nation. The helmet of the triple world champion for this round is heavily inspired by that worn by Ayrton Senna.

😍 @LewisHamilton is sporting an Ayrton Senna-inspired helmet this weekend #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/HjVBoCUKNb

— Formula 1 (@F1) 11 novembre 2016

At the beginning of the morning in South America (10 am), in the middle of the day in Europe (1 pm), this first session started under the impetus… of the Mercedes drivers, with Rosberg following in the footsteps of his rival who left a few seconds before him.

In the other garages, two new faces could be found in the different seats. Paradoxically, the two drivers leaving their respective teams had given up their places for this hour and a half. Transferred from Renault to Haas for 2017, Kevin Magnussen was replaced by the Russian Sergey Sirotkin in the French car.

And in the American team, Esteban Gutierrez temporarily gave up his position to the young Monegasque Charles Leclerc.

For next year, however, Gutierrez will have to seek his fortune elsewhere, as he himself indicated on the Twitter sphere last night.

Queridos amigos, quiero compartirles que no seguiré con @HaasF1Team para la próxima temporada. #EG21 pic.twitter.com/mx89fWCzUZ

— Esteban Gutierrez (@EstebanGtz) 11 novembre 2016

On the Interlagos track, the first laps were also an opportunity to conduct a new evaluation of the Halo system. Kimi Räikkönen, Romain Grosjean, Jolyon Palmer, and Marcus Ericsson were the luxury testers for this Brazilian morning.

On his side, Lewis Hamilton was equipped with different electronic sensors to cover the first 40 minutes of the session on the set of tires provided by Pirelli. The 2017 season already seems to be very much on people’s minds…

Sensores en el @MercedesAMGF1 de @LewisHamilton para la vuelta de instalación. Arranca el día. https://t.co/CqQdGh7I03 #F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/Sj24y3G3ye

— SoyMotor.com (@SoyMotor) 11 novembre 2016

A first part of the session where the benchmark was set on medium tires, by the Englishman himself; with a best time here established at 1:13.182. A great performance to start off on the right foot this Friday, even as his radio engineer advised him not to attack the curbs in the second and eighth turns. After losing ground, Nico Rosberg closed in at the end of this stint, coming back to just 0.005 seconds behind!

Behind, it wasn’t the Red Bulls but the Williams, with Bottas and Massa equipped with soft tires, in third and fourth place respectively.

In terms of reliability, these first laps of the circuit also revealed the problems that arose. Generally, there was an issue of overheating on the rear tires of the cars, as with Felipe Nasr, who did not fail to complain about it to his pit crew.

At Jenson Button’s, the overall balance of the car was in question.

For Renault, the obstacle was significant, with the Renault of temp driver Sirotkin stopped in the downhill of the final corner.

The Russian still managed to coast back to the pits.

“Something happened, something happened,” @sirotkin_sergey 📻

From third to neutral in a microsecond… #FP1 #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZabD76nT7k

— Formula 1 (@F1) 11 novembre 2016

At the mid-session point, the standings were as follows. The two Red Bulls had overtaken the Williams, still on their medium tires. The gap between the Austrian team and Mercedes was therefore particularly notable, with a small but respectable margin separating the two contenders.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (40 MINS TO GO): @MassaFelipe19 starting his #BrazilGP swansong running in the top six 💪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/YLWIKYqTig

— Formula 1 (@F1) 11 novembre 2016

That said, the Australian was suffering from an engine overheating problem and issues with parts of his Red Bull. It’s worth noting that the relatively high altitude (800 meters) causes some difficulties, similar to the last race held in Mexico.

In this ranking, however, the two Ferraris were somewhat lagging behind.

The cards were nevertheless reshuffled during the second part of the session, with most drivers on soft tires.

The red-hot Max Verstappen took advantage to set the fastest time, just for a few moments!

Even if Nico Rosberg couldn’t respond, Lewis Hamilton was going after the Dutchman’s time, setting a benchmark at 1:11.895. These top three were within two-tenths, and surprisingly, each of the three drivers held the benchmark in one sector (Verstappen in S1, Hamilton in S2, Rosberg in S3).

Meanwhile, Daniil Kvyat was scraping the tarmac a bit too much, bursting his tire at the exit of the fourth turn “Descida do Lago.” An early return to the pits was in store for the Toro Rosso driver. He wasn’t the only one at the time facing major difficulties.

Even though the Haas team changed its brakes for this Brazilian weekend, Romain Grosjean was still struggling with heating issues at the front tires. Ominously, the Frenchman admitted during this session needing help to resolve the grip problems on his car.

After a few attack laps, it was time for the leading drivers to experiment with long stints on their worn soft tires. On the other hand, staying on the mediums, Sebastian Vettel let out his first curse of the day. But rest assured, this time it was directed at himself, after a spin in the long curve of the twelfth corner.

Going. Going. Gone…

Seb in a spin as #FP1 counts down#BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/RuaHppiTOO

— Formula 1 (@F1) 11 novembre 2016

This event was the last notable occurrence of these first 90 minutes, which ended with the following standings.

At Mercedes, are they already starting to worry about Max Verstappen’s competitiveness?

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP1): @LewisHamilton edges out @Max33Verstappen as the #BrazilGP weekend kicks off @InterlagosTrack 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/uaZAuwmuNP

— Formula 1 (@F1) 11 novembre 2016

We now invite you to join us around 6:30 PM for the summary of the second free practice session.