São Polo Grand Prix – Free Practice 1: Lewis Hamilton the fastest, Red Bulls following closely

This Free Practice 1 session will be of great importance as the drivers will only have one hour to prepare for tonight’s qualifying session. We are indeed at the 3rd and final Grand Prix incorporating a qualification (or sprint race) as early as tomorrow.

The sky was grey and the wind was very strong on the track and in the stands, the weather will be unstable this weekend.

The first 20 minutes

The teams have finally been delivered and some of them received the engines and single-seaters yesterday in the evening. The FIA had specially allowed the curfew so that the teams could assemble their single-seaters.

At the beginning of the session, we learned that Lewis Hamilton would have to change his engine this weekend and will therefore be penalized by 5 places (unless other elements are added to this change) on the starting grid.

Lewis Hamilton takes an engine change and a 5-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/wYOSouCPqf

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 12, 2021

All the drivers rushed to get their bearings on this track, 2.30 hours before the qualifying session. It is worth mentioning that the stakes are high in this battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the driver’s championship, as well as in the constructor’s championship between Ferrari and McLaren, or Alpine and AlphaTauri.

After twenty minutes of racing, Max Verstappen was leading the way with a time of 1:10.189, closely followed by his teammate Sergio Perez (+ 0.020) and Lewis Hamilton (+0.849), all on medium (yellow) tires. Esteban Ocon was in 4th place (+1.156) on hard tires.

At midday

After several laps, it was noticed that the Mercedes were wearing out their tires more than the Red Bulls. There was little graining on Perez’s tires compared to Lewis Hamilton’s, a sign of Red Bull’s track efficiency.

At mid-session, the Ferraris were in 2nd and 4th position (on medium tires), the weekend will be important for the Scuderia if it wants to keep its third place in the constructor championship. Bluff or not … however, the Italian team still believes that its rival McLaren will be more comfortable on this track.

After 40 minutes in this session, Max Verstappen was still leading the rankings with 1:09.417, followed closely by Sergio Perez (+0.075) and Valtteri Bottas (+0.450), with Leclerc (+0.777), Alonso (+0.784), and Sainz (+1.182) on medium tires.

FASTEST SECTORS @redbullracing are in the driving seat 🚀#BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6NVMYRaUAS

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 12, 2021

The last 20 minutes

With fifteen minutes remaining in the session, Lewis Hamilton, fitted with soft tires, managed to reach the top three by closing in on Max Verstappen’s time (+ 0.450). Clocking in successive laps, the Briton set the fastest time with 8 minutes left in the session (1:09.348).

Well placed in this session, the Alpines were temporarily in 7th and 8th positions, which may be a good omen in this battle for 5th place in the constructor’s championship. Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, Alpine’s rivals at the end of the year, were in 12th and 15th positions.

We were able to attend a lively session, with the drivers sparing no effort in preparation for qualifying. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were battling to achieve the best time.

Under the checkered flag, Lewis Hamilton was leading with a time of 1:09.050, followed by Max Verstappen (+0.367), Sergio Perez (+0.442) and Valtteri Bottas (+0.517). Pierre Gasly, at the end of the session, once again managed to position himself as the best of the rest (P5) with a time of 1:09.880.

Timing ranking