Practice report

F1 Brazil GP: Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri in McLaren 1-2 in FP1

Norris pips McLaren team-mate and F1 title rival Piastri in the only practice session before Brazil Grand Prix sprint qualifying

Lando Norris topped Formula 1's sole free practice session at the Brazil Grand Prix sprint weekend ahead of Oscar Piastri.

Norris reclaimed the championship lead from Piastri after two difficult weekends for the Australian in Austin and Mexico, and backed up his form by topping F1's only practice session at Interlagos on F1's fifth of six 2025 sprint weekends. But Piastri also appeared to make a bright start to the Sao Paulo weekend, as he and Norris head into sprint qualifying closely matched.

The session got underway after a slight delay due to the track receiving a late clean-up, but teams still got a full hour of crucial practice time in during the only practice session of the weekend, ahead of sprint qualifying later on Friday.

The early running was dominated by the C2 tyre, Pirelli's hardest compound for the Interlagos weekend, as McLaren's championship leader Norris and team-mate Piastri took up familiar positions at the top of the timesheet, trading places with Mercedes' George Russell and Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen.

In the second Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda went off the road at Turn 4 after a snap over the Turn 3 exit kerbs, the Japanese driver damaging his front and rear wing as he clipped the barriers. The incident cost Tsunoda valuable track time over a sprint weekend as a final decision on his Red Bull fate is still pending. Later on, Verstappen also went off at the same corner as Tsunoda, but recovered without damage.

Russell remained on top until 15 minutes remaining with a 1m11.188s lap on hard tyres, as teams prioritised what little time they had to conduct longer runs.

George Russell, Mercedes, Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

But in the final quarter, more and more drivers brandished the C3 medium tyres to conduct one-lap work, the tyre compound used for the first two phases of sprint qualifying. Tsunoda also rejoined the action - on softs - following repairs to his RB21.

Williams driver Alex Albon was the first driver to use the mediums to demote Russell, setting a 1m11.004s, which was just a prelude for a brace of improvements across the board.

Russell briefly reclaimed the top spot, before losing his lead to the second Williams of Carlos Sainz, but then Norris and Piastri found another gear, the latter going nearly three tenths clear of his team-mate with a 1m10.193s.

Piastri, who topped all three sectors of the classic Interlagos track, looked set to remain on top until the end as he aims to rebound from a difficult spell, going quicker still on his final effort to set a 1m.09.998s.

But Norris also found a late improvement on mediums to edge Piastri by 0.012s with a 1m.09.975s lap, the McLarens the only cars to dip below the 1m10 barrier.

They were surprisingly followed by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, albeit six tenths in arrears. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso split Hulkenberg from his team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in fifth, the rookie looking to make an impression on home soil as the first Brazilian in eight years to take part in the Sao Paulo race.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

Russell was pushed down to sixth, followed by Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sainz. Rookie duo Isack Hadjar and Andrea Kimi Antonelli rounded out the top 10.

Reigning world champion Verstappen, who trails Norris by 36 points and thus still retains an outside chance to win five world titles on the trot, had a low-key start of the session in 17th after abandoning his final soft-tyre flyer, muddying the competitive picture.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton trailed the Dutchman in 18th and 19th after not setting a qualifying lap either, with Tsunoda last in 20th.

Qualifying for Saturday's 24-lap sprint continues at 15:30 local Brazilian time or 18:30 GMT.

F1 Brazilian GP - FP1 results

FP1

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	31	1'09.975		M	221.684
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	33	+0.023 1'09.998	0.023	M	221.612
3	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	32	+0.619 1'10.594	0.596	M	219.741
4	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	26	+0.631 1'10.606	0.012	M	219.703
5	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	32	+0.641 1'10.616	0.010	M	219.672
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	35	+0.670 1'10.645	0.029	M	219.582
7	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	33	+0.706 1'10.681	0.036	M	219.470
8	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	36	+0.711 1'10.686	0.005	M	219.455
9	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	31	+0.732 1'10.707	0.021	M	219.389
10	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	37	+0.769 1'10.744	0.037	M	219.275
11	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Honda	36	+0.819 1'10.794	0.050	M	219.120
12	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	35	+0.832 1'10.807	0.013	M	219.080
13	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	29	+0.931 1'10.906	0.099	M	218.774
14	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	32	+0.986 1'10.961	0.055	M	218.604
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	31	+1.095 1'11.070	0.109	M	218.269
16	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	30	+1.185 1'11.160	0.090	M	217.993
17	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	31	+1.393 1'11.368	0.208	H	217.357
18	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	30	+1.518 1'11.493	0.125	H	216.977
19	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+1.551 1'11.526	0.033	H	216.877
20	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	20	+1.788 1'11.763	0.237	S	216.161
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