Perez tops tight Practice 1 in Interlargos

Sergio Perez has narrowly topped Free Practice 1 in a session that saw less than 0.01s split the top three.

Charles Leclerc was second best, his time set much later in the 60-minute hit out, with Max Verstappen third fastest.

With only the single practice session before cars go into parc ferme, it was a busy start with everyone bar Alex Albon immediately venturing out on track.

That included Lando Norris, who had returned to the circuit after being absent on Thursday with food poisoning.

Most opted for the hard compound tyres, though a smattering had fitted the mediums; the two Mercedes pilots along with Nicholas Latifi, Valtteri Bottas, and Guanyu Zhou.

Both Aston Martin drivers had also been on the yellow rubber, though Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll completed only an installation lap before touring back to the pits.

The early running was set by Max Verstappen, the Red Bull driver logging a 1:13.575 in a busy opening 15 minutes that saw him log 10 laps.

That was not unique with the bulk of the field having recorded a similar number of laps – in many instances more.

With 25 minutes run, Perez was the first driver to switch to the soft compound tyres.

The Mexican was third fastest at the time, his best a 1:13.972s to sit 0.3s away from his pace-setting team-mate.

He soon improved to a 1:11.853s to top the session, remaining there when Verstappen completed his soft tyre run moments later, 0.008s slower than Perez.

Carlos Sainz and Leclerc sat third and fourth, though neither had made the switch to the softer tyre.

They were 0.2s and 0.4s down on Perez respectively, though were enjoying good pace in the middle sector of the lap.

Bottas was fifth best, also on a set of soft compound tyres as the Alfa Romeo Sauber again showed promising pace – as it did in Mexico last time out.

Inside the last quarter hour of the session, George Russell moved fourth fastest with a 1:12.189s on a set of the soft compound tyres.

Vettel improved with 10 minutes to run, mustering a 1:12.157s to slot into fourth place, 0.03s quicker than Russell’s effort.

On a set of soft tyres, a mistake from Hamilton at Ferradura saw the Mercedes driver run wide, ruining his lap to remain 17th.

The Brit had run wide, getting onto the kerb on the outside of the double-right hander which saw him lock up as he turned into the tight right-hander at Esse which followed.

When he did manage to complete a lap, he rose to third best to slot in 0.187s back from Perez.

Leclerc split the two Red Bulls with a late lap, a time 0.004s off the pace on a set of soft compound rubber.

That was how Free Practice 1 ended, with Perez atop the timesheets, narrowly clear of Leclerc with Verstappen just 0.004s further back.

Fourth fastest was Sainz, then came the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell, followed by Vettel, Mick Schumacher, Bottas, and Pierre Gasly to round out the top 10.

Qualifying comes next, with cars set to enter parc ferme the moment they roll out of that session, the outcome of which will set the starting order for Saturday afternoon’s Sprint.

Results: Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Grand Prix, Free Practice 1