Sao Paulo FP2: Antonelli pulls clear as rivals battle over every thousandth

Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli picked up where they had left off in first practice, but this time swapped places on the notional front row. The Mercedes driver set the fastest time. Antonelli pulled clear of the rest of the field, but every thousandth of a second counted for Norris, as it did for the three drivers behind him.

Second practice offered something of a preview of what awaits us on Saturday and Sunday. Low cloud descended over Sao Paulo, visibility dropped so much that even the helicopter could not take off, and temperatures fell sharply. Rain was in the air. The first drops also fell on the circuit, but it was nothing serious for now. More rain is expected for qualifying and the race.

Today’s results therefore need to be treated with caution; if it rains, the drivers’ wet-weather skills will count for more than outright performance. If it stays dry, however, Kimi Antonelli will be the favourite for pole position.

Mercedes set purple times in the second and third sectors, but made its biggest gains in the middle part of the lap. Antonelli was in a league of his own there. Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen lost less than two tenths of a second to him, but the others were even further behind.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was fastest in the first third of the lap, but Ferrari is losing too much time on the run from Turn 12 to the finish line, which is essentially just a straight. The tifosi will hope that was down to the choice of engine mode rather than a genuine straight-line deficit for the Scuderia. Otherwise, it will face a very tough task.

Charles Leclerc handed his cockpit over to Dino Beganovic in first practice. On returning to the car, he had enough pace to match his team-mate, but only if he could put a whole lap together. Rafael Câmara blocked him in the final sector and the Monegasque driver almost ended up in the barriers. Fortunately, he kept it under control, but lost valuable time, contributing to his deficit.

Max Verstappen was again battling familiar power steering and gearshift problems, but was in fairly good spirits this time. He delivered one of the funniest radio messages of the season. When his engineer told him the gearshift should adapt to him, he was taken aback: “Uh, what does that mean? I have to speak to the engine myself? I think I should be like: Oh, clutch! I’m switching! You’ll be punished otherwise!”

Behind the leading teams, whose ranks Gabriel Bortoleto joined, Ollie Bearman rounded out the top 10. Bortoleto’s result gives Audi hope of a good weekend, although technical problems have hampered its efforts so far.

Nico Hülkenberg did not take to the track. The mechanics tried to repair the power unit following Freddie Slater’s problems in first practice, but when they finished and tried to fire up the engine, it would not start. The mechanics therefore rolled up their sleeves again and began dismantling the power unit. According to Audi, the problem was on the electrical side.