Lando Norris set the fastest time in the first free practice session ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The McLaren world champion stopped the clocks at 1:11.717 minutes at the Interlagos circuit, which is 4.309 kilometres long.
Norris was 0.082 seconds faster than Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The world champion initially ran behind Max Verstappen, but gradually improved his time and moved into first position.
Four teams in the top four
Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, was the first to fit soft tyres and took the lead with a time of 1:11.953 minutes. Around ten minutes later, Antonelli improved on that time by 0.154 seconds, before Norris set the fastest lap of the session.
Verstappen remained third, while Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari took fourth place. This meant that the top four featured drivers from four different teams. George Russell, in the second Mercedes, finished fifth, followed by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
Seventh place went to Gabriele Minì of Alpine. The former rival of Nikola Tsolov for the Formula 2 title was 0.852 seconds slower than Norris. Rafael Câmara of Haas also took part in the session and finished more than a second behind the leader.
Norris returns to the scene of last year’s success
Norris won the race in Brazil last season on his way to the world title. His result in the first practice session puts McLaren at the front at the start of the race weekend, but the final balance of power will become clear after qualifying and the race itself.
The second free practice session will take place later on Friday. The third practice session and qualifying are scheduled for Saturday, while the Brazilian Grand Prix will be held at the Interlagos circuit on Sunday.