Interlagos FP1: Verstappen leads the way

Friday, 09 November 2018 at 15:38

Despite spending much of the build-up to the Brazilian Grand Prix predicting that he would not have the tools to do the business at Interlagos this weekend, Red Bull's Max Verstappen topped the timing screens at the end of the morning session.

The Dutchman often lamenting that Renault lack the horsepower was quickest of all in the 90-minute session with a best time of 1:09.011 was five-hundredth up on Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in second place and Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes a tenth off the top time. Very little separating the top three.

Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest, albeit three and a half tenths down on his teammate, followed by Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) - a little more than half a second separating the top three.

Haas looked strong early on and as a result were Best of the Rest with Romain Grosjean in eighth and Kevin Magnussen ninth, the Frenchman 1.2 seconds down on the top time but three tenths up on his teammate.

Charles Leclerc was ninth in the Sauber, a quarter second up on Antonio Giovinazzi in 13th, who was on duty in place of Marcus Ericsson in the sister car.

Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten in the Force India, Nicolas Latifi driving Sergio Perez's car in the session was slowest of all.

McLaren reserve Lando Norris was also in action on the day, again he was quicker than Stoffel Vandoorne. Norris was 16th, with Vandoorne four tenths down in 19th although the Belgian ran harder tyres during the session.