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Hamilton On Top in Brazil GP Free Practice 1

Lewis Hamilton topped the time sheets at the end of the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

Hamilton set his best time of 1:11.895 on the soft tyre just marginally faster than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who set a best time of 1:11.991. Verstappen’s time came mid way through the session on the soft tyres and looks like an early signal that Red Bull will be taking the fight to Mercedes this weekend.

Nico Rosberg was 3rd fastest at the end of the session setting a best time of 1:12.125 on the soft tyre, 0.230s off Hamilton’s pace. Not far off Rosberg’s pace was Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in 4th.

Valtteri Bottas finished 5th fastest in the Williams ahead of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg in 6th and 7th respectively for Force India. Felipe Massa, at his final F1 race in his home country, was 8th fastest.

Rounding out the top 10 were the two Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen more than 1.5s off the pace. Ferrari did not run the soft tyre in the session and stuck to the medium compound tyres. Both Ferrari drivers had just 0.002s between them at the end of the session. Vettel did not look comfortable in the car and made a few mistakes around the circuit. He spun it at Turn 11 just before the end of the session bringing an end to a very anonymous session by both Ferrari’s.

Red Bull are showing some good early pace which should give Mercedes something to think about going into Qualifying tomorrow. The characteristics of the track suit the Red Bulls and Mercedes may find it tricky keeping the Red Bulls at bay.

Pos. Driver Team Best Time Gap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.895s 32
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.991 +0.096s 29
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:12.125 +0.230s 26
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:12.371 +0.476s 27
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:13.129 +1.234s 36
6 Sergio Perez Force India 1:13.289 +1.394s 31
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:13.293 +1.398s 33
8 Felipe Massa Williams 1:13.318 +1.423s 33
9 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:13.567 +1.672s 24
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:13.569 +1.674s 26
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:13.711 +1.816s 22
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:14.090 +2.195s 15
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:14.252 +2.357s 27
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:14.296 +2.401s 26
15 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:14.507 +2.612s 25
16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:14.631 +2.736s 21
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:14.654 +2.759s 23
18 Esteban Ocon Manor 1:14.827 +2.932s 30
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:14.908 +3.013s 32
20 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:14.948 +3.053s 32
21 Charles Leclerc Haas 1:15.391 +3.496s 27
22 Sergey Sirotkin Renault 1:15.800 +3.905s 10

About Ritesh K Bhana

Ritesh likes to think he is a true Tifosi, but he still remains fair to other teams. He supports two other teams which are not Red Bull and McLaren. Follow Ritesh on twitter @Humanshield_1

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