Ferrari tops interrupted practice for Brazilian GP

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc set almost identical times to end Friday practice fastest ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Both of the day’s sessions were ended early courtesy of red flags, first for Alex Albon and the afternoon’s session by Daniil Kvyat.

That followed an earlier red flag for Robert Kubica, who met the wall at Turn 3 early in second practice without having set a time.

The Pole sat out Practice 2 as Nicholas Latifi took over his seat, leaving Kubica with a total of two laps to his name for the day.

Vettel ended proceedings fastest on a 1:09.217s, just 0.021 faster than his team-mate at the end of the day’s running with a late lap that pushed him to the top of the timesheets.

Like the morning’s first session, Practice 2 ended early courtesy of a red flag when Kvyat was pitched into the wall at Juncao after the rear wheels on his Toro Rosso appeared to lock, sending him off the road.

Damage to the right rear corner of the car meant that, with five minutes left, running did not resume.

Vettel had been the early pace setter in Practice 2, conditions having improved markedly since the opening session earlier in the day, using a set of medium tyres to record a 1:09.570.

That stood until the field began switching to softs for their qualifying simulations, which saw Leclerc go quickest with a 1:09.238.

An improved lap then saw Vettel narrowly reclaim top spot to end the session with a Ferrari one-two.

Third fastest was Max Verstappen, just over a tenth back from the leading duo, with Bottas fourth over Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Alex Albon, and Carlos Sainz rounding out the top 10.

Earlier, Albon set the fastest time in the day’s opening session before crashing out after switching to slick tyres in the final minutes.

The Thai driver headed Bottas and Vettel in the session that saw little running in the only 15 minutes.

Improving conditions saw the field initially running on wets before switching to intermediates and, ultimately, attempt slicks in the final moments.

A number of drivers were caught out, including Verstappen and Leclerc who both had moments, before Albon’s session ending impact towards the end of his out lap on slicks.

Practice continues at Interlagos at 0200 AEDT on Sunday ahead of qualifying at 0500 AEDT.

Results: Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix, Practice 2

Pos	Num	Drier	Team	Time	Diff
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:09.217
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:09.238	+0.021s
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Honda	1:09.351	+0.134s
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:09.373	+0.156s
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.440	+0.223s
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:10.143	+0.926s
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:10.194	+0.977s
8	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:10.210	+0.993s
9	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Honda	1:10.275	+1.058s
10	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	1:10.310	+1.093s
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:10.325	+1.108s
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso Honda	1:10.352	+1.135s
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:10.419	+1.202s
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso Honda	1:10.424	+1.207s
15	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point Mercedes	1:10.443	+1.226s
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:10.504	+1.287s
17	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point Mercedes	1:10.568	+1.351s
18	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	1:10.700	+1.483s
19	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	1:11.818	+2.601s
20	88	Robert Kubica	Williams Mercedes

Results: Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix Practice 1

Pos	Num	Driver	Team	Time	Diff
1	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Honda	1:16.142
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:16.693	+0.551s
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:17.041	+0.899s
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:17.285	+1.143s
5	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	1:17.786	+1.644s
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:17.899	+1.757s
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:17.985	+1.843s
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso Honda	1:18.100	+1.958s
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso Honda	1:18.274	+2.132s
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	1:18.559	+2.417s
11	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	1:18.779	+2.637s
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:19.247	+3.105s
13	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point Mercedes	1:19.414	+3.272s
14	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:19.532	+3.390s
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	1:19.600	+3.458s
16	40	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	1:20.010	+3.868s
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari
18	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point Mercedes
19	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Honda
20	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes