Interlagos FP1: Hamilton on top as Verstappen splits Mercs

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first free practice session of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend with Red Bull's Max Verstappen second best and splitting the Silver Arrows on the timing screens.

Hamilton's best time of 1:11.895 seconds was 0.096 of a second faster than Verstappen, the pair were the only two to dip into the 71 seconds zone at a hot and sunny Interlagos.

Third fastest was Nico Rosberg, the championship leader, almost a quarter of a second down on Hamilton's benchmark time during the 90 minutes morning session in Sao Paulo.

Daniel Ricciardo was fourth, half a second adrift of the top time, suggesting that Red Bull will be a force for Mercedes to reckon with this weekend.

Next up, in fifth, was Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, ahead of the Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who were sandwiched by the other Williams of local hero Felipe Massa in eighth.

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were ninth and tenth respectively, with Ferrari opting to focus on long runs and ignoring the soft tyres during the session.

Charles Leclerc was on duty for Haas in place of Esteban Gutierrez, with Sergey Sirotkin taking over Kevin Magnussen's Renault cockpit for the morning. The pair were 21st and 22nd respectively.