Sainz heads Ferrari one-two and Norris and Hulkenberg collide

Carlos Sainz Jnr set the pace in the sole practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc in Interlagos.

There was little to separate the Ferrari drivers, however many of their closest rivals opted not to complete flying laps on the softer compounds through the session.

The opening session of the weekend may have taken place under overcast skies, but the conditions were warm and humid as teams headed out of the pit lane for the first time. With teams afforded just a single hour of practice to tune their cars ahead of the rest of the weekend, naturally there was a rush of cars heading out of the pit lane as practice began.

All drivers took to the track of hard tyres for their first laps around Interlagos of the weekend. World champion Max Verstappen was the first driver out and wasted no time in getting up to speed, immediately posting a 1’13.950 to set the first time of the weekend. He would soon improve on that by eight tenths on his next push lap, while Sergio Perez went within half a second of his team mate.

The two Mercedes slotted in behind the Red Bulls at the top of the timing screen, Lewis Hamilton just ahead of his team mate George Russell in fourth. Fernando Alonso was in the top five in his Aston Martin before he was called in by his team for a suspected punctured tyre.

Drivers were vocal in their complaints about the wind around Interlagos, with Verstappen and Leclerc complaining about inconsistent winds into the first corner of the circuit. The fast entry into the pit lane caught out Oscar Piastri, who was new to the circuit, the McLaren driver locking up on the way to the pit entry line.

After 20 minutes, Yuki Tsunoda was the first to set a lap on the medium tyre compound, going quickest of all with a 1’12.802. Verstappen remained on the same set of hard tyres he started with and improved on his next run to go quickest of all by a handful of thousandths of a second, before Russell became the first driver under a 1’12 to go quickest on mediums.

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Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg then had a potentially dangerous incident into the final braking zone of the lap at turn 12 when Norris attempted to pass the Haas into the left hander. The pair collided lightly with the McLaren’s right-rear brushing Hulkenberg’s left-front. Hulkenberg returned to the pits while McLaren told Norris they were not concerned he had picked up any damage from the contact. The stewards later announced they would investigate the incident after the session.

Alonso remained in the pits after his earlier puncture, but Hamilton was also forced to abandon a run and return to the pits with Mercedes noticing a left-rear puncture on his car. Logan Sargeant suffered a concerning problem with his Williams as his right front wheel was lifting into the air through the many right hand corners in the middle sector.

Russell’s best time remained untouched until the closing minutes when some drivers chose to run on the soft tyres. The two Ferraris were two of those drivers, with Sainz going quickest of all with the soft tyres with a 1’11.732, a tenth faster than Russell’s previous best on mediums. Leclerc moved into second with his lap on soft tyres, just ahead of Russell in third.

That order remained until the chequered flag with Sainz going quickest, Leclerc second and Russell third. Despite his contact with Norris, Hulkenberg ended the session in fourth with Alexander Albon fifth for Williams.

Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin ahead of Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu and Sargeant ninth. Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten as neither of the Red Bulls nor the McLaren drivers opted to set a flying lap on anything but hard tyres.

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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix first practice result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’11.732		30
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’11.840	0.108	32
3	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’11.865	0.133	31
4	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’11.928	0.196	19
5	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’12.044	0.312	28
6	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’12.136	0.404	26
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’12.184	0.452	31
8	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’12.481	0.749	27
9	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’12.579	0.847	30
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’12.592	0.860	24
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’12.615	0.883	28
12	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’12.638	0.906	30
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’12.714	0.982	29
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’12.778	1.046	27
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’12.779	1.047	30
16	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’12.793	1.061	30
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’13.012	1.280	31
18	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’13.056	1.324	31
19	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’13.629	1.897	25
20	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’13.838	2.106	28

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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Perez’s missed “open goal” in Miami was turning point in title fight – Horner
• F1 drivers insist new rules to prevent impeding in qualifying don’t work
• McLaren surprised by margin over rivals at track Norris thought would be “tough”
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• Mercedes’ Brazilian GP set-up was “conservative” after US GP disqualification

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