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Perez tops FP1 with just 0.008 seconds between the top three in Brazil

Perez tops FP1 with just 0.008 seconds between the top three in Brazil

11-11-2022 16:30 Last update: 16:34
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Matt Gretton

Editor-in-Chief

Sergio Perez finished the first free practice session of the Brazil Grand Prix weekend on top of the leaderboard, with the top three separated by just 0.008 seconds. Charles Leclerc finished second, however, he recorded his push lap on soft tyres much later in the session compared to Red Bull after a high degree of track evolution. Max Verstappen rounded out the top three. 

Busy track

With teams and drivers limited to just 60 minutes of practice before qualifying, it became one of the most important FP1 sessions of the entire season. As a result, a stampede out of the garage followed and the track became very busy early on. Traffic became a little bit of a challenge, but it went without accident despite some running across the grass and radio complaints. The limited amount of time before the set-ups were locked in meant completely different run plans and early race simulations which made it difficult to draw any hard conclusions during the session. 

Verstappen explained how the car wasn't turning in during the opening 15 minutes, but he sailed to the top of the leaderboard just a few minutes after making the remark. Sergio Perez joined the Red Bull driver at the top of the leaderboard, suggesting that the Mexican might be a bit closer to his teammate this weekend in Sao Paulo. Ferrari ran some race simulations in this part of the session. Only in the final five minutes did Ferrari push on the soft tyres. It seems as though Ferrari are around two-tenths down on Red Bull, with Mercedes being evenly matched with the Italian team. 

Valtteri Bottas made a positive start to the weekend in Brazil. On the medium tyres, he sat second on the leaderboard 20 minutes into the session. He formed the part of the leaderboard that changed frequently given the different run plans. Haas also joined Bottas in jumping up and down the top 10. At one point, Schumacher and Magnussen placed in the top five. In the end, Bottas and Schumacher finished just inside the top 10. Magnussen slipped down the standings. 

McLaren had a disappointing session. Lando Norris was back in the paddock after missing Thursday's media day due to food poising. But the British driver would've wished for a better. He sat in P19 and Daniel Ricciardo also had issues by being one place below on the leaderboard. With a late medium tyre lap, Norris moved up to P15.