Newly-minted world champion Kimi Antonelli topped Friday’s second practice session at the Brazilian GP, heading Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in Sao Paulo as reported by Autosport.com.
Practice Session at Interlagos
At the classic 4.3km Interlagos circuit, Antonelli set his quickest time just before the halfway mark of FP2 as drivers moved towards soft-tyre running, the Italian going faster than Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Despite fans intermittently reaching for their ponchos, light drops of rain never really persisted on what was predicted to be the clearest day of a rain-affected weekend. But the cooler, overcast conditions did affect the running in different ways, as Lewis Hamilton reported he can’t get the tyre temperatures up. Hamilton was one of several drivers to lock up the front-left wheel on approach to the heavily cambered Turn 1.
Antonelli, who became F1’s youngest ever world champion last weekend in Mexico, suffered from heavy bottoming on the bumpy layout, but still managed to lead the early running on hard tyres with a 1m11.8 lap. Following a quieter spell, the paddock collectively unwrapped Pirelli’s soft tyre compound. George Russell, who has a five-place grid penalty overhanging his weekend for taking a new engine, came to the fore with a 1m11.016s lap, before being demoted by Norris and Verstappen.
Russell’s Mercedes partner Antonelli went quicker still, dipping below the 1m11 barrier with a 1m10.763s effort. That was a quarter of a second quicker than three drivers from three different teams, such is the convergence of performance towards the end of the 2026 season. In the upgraded McLaren MCL40, which boasts a new front wing, Norris took second with a 1m11.016s lap, which was 0.006s ahead of third-placed Verstappen, who caused some hilarity with his radio complaints about his Red Bull’s clutch.
Field Results and Team Standings
Russell and Oscar Piastri all followed within a tenth of Norris to complete the top five. Ferrari, often strong out of the gates on Friday, had an unusually muted start in Brazil. After going quickest in the first sector, Hamilton settled for sixth with team-mate Charles Leclerc in seventh, Leclerc rueing being impeded on the straight by Haas debutant Rafael Camara. Aboard a dark green Audi, Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth on home soil, with Isack Hadjar and Haas driver Oliver Bearman rounding out the top 10.
Camara eventually took 16th, half a second off his team-mate, as Haas’ 2027 signing completed his first full day as a grand prix driver replacing the ousted Esteban Ocon. Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg remained stuck in the garage after undisclosed issues plaguing FP1 stand-in Freddie Slater earlier on Friday.
