Norris makes the strongest start to the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend as top teams fill the top four

McLaren have the most reason to be satisfied after first practice for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Lando Norris was fastest in both the qualifying and race simulations. Kimi Antonelli finished second, with Max Verstappen third.

McLaren are the only team to have brought new components to Sao Paulo. The papaya squad introduced a new front wing featuring a revised philosophy, a rear wing and a floor, all as part of preparations for next year’s car.

So far, the package appears to be working; Lando Norris was fastest on both counts. Leonardo Fornaroli replaced Oscar Piastri in first practice and finished tenth using the older rear wing specification. His main task, however, was to gather data for comparison.

Newly crowned champion Kimi Antonelli heads into the weekend more relaxed than he was a week ago. He was just eight hundredths of a second behind Lando Norris, a gap that means virtually nothing ahead of the remaining sessions. The young Italian will be aiming to win on his hero Ayrton Senna’s home soil this weekend.

Max Verstappen was once again troubled by gear synchronisation issues. Towards the end of the session, he also reported his power steering cutting out, making it increasingly difficult to turn the wheel. The four-time champion nevertheless managed to finish third, two tenths off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Isack Hadjar occupied the next three positions, between three and four tenths of a second adrift. The rest of the field, which featured numerous rookies, were all at least eight tenths behind.

The fastest junior was Gabriele Mini in the Alpine, who managed to beat Franco Colapinto by just under a tenth in the qualifying simulation. Gabriel Bortoleto slotted in between them. Audi, however, did not have a smooth session. The German team are battling technical problems and even brought out a red flag.

The stoppage came just 12 minutes into the session. Freddie Slater’s power unit unexpectedly shut down, forcing the British driver to pull over in the second sector. The marshals swiftly moved his car behind the barriers, and running resumed seven minutes after the red flag. Audi, however, lost valuable data.

Technical problems also hit Alex Albon, who parked his Williams behind the barriers, while the other side of the garage, with Luke Browning at the wheel, fared no better.

Dino Beganovic took over Charles Leclerc’s car on this occasion, but managed only 11 laps before his engineer instructed him to return to the pits. Ferrari also suffered an unspecified fault. The machinery is feeling the strain at the end of the season.

There could also have been a collision at the end of the session. As Verstappen and Stroll chose their spots for a practice start on the start-finish straight, there was confusion over who would line up where. Verstappen was angered by Stroll’s attempt to take his grid slot and squeezed back in front of him. The stewards noted the incident and will look into it after the session.

Colton Herta completed more than 100 kilometres in practice in Brazil, meeting the requirement to earn a super licence point. He should now qualify as a full super licence holder, meaning that if Cadillac are interested in him, they can confirm him as Valtteri Bottas’s replacement for 2027.