2021 Brazilian Grand Prix: Who Led the FP1?

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets for the first practice session before the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paolo. The Brit has topped the FP1 timesheets after a boring time since the Turkish Grand Prix.

Hamilton was followed by Red Bull Racing drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as second and third fastest. Both Red Bull cars shared the two Mercedes vehicles, with Valtteri Bottas ranking fourth fastest in the first practice session before the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton takes an engine change and a 5 place penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton takes an engine change and a starting place penalty of 5 places for the Brazilian Grand Prix on the Sunday before #BrazilGP





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Before the free practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the FIA ​​confirmed that the seven-time world champion was given a five-place penalty for changing the engine before the session.

The pace gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was 0.367 seconds. However, the Brit overtook the Dutchman towards the end of the session as the track had evolved.

The gap between the two Red Bull Racing drivers was less than a tenth of a second. Bottas, however, was almost half a second behind the best time of his team-mate.

Both Red Bull Racing drivers dominated a large part of the track in all three sectors during the first practice session before qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Perez clocked the fastest first and third sectors and Verstappen clocked the fastest second sector.

Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly drove the fifth fastest lap of the session, followed by Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth and seventh. Less than a tenth of a second behind, the two Ferrari drivers were close together.

Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso drove the eighth and ninth fastest laps of the session. The duo was the only driver in the top 10 who drove their fastest laps on medium-compound tires. They were followed by Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, who completed the top 10 fastest drivers in the first practice session at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

According to most of the analysis ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, the Mercedes and Red Bull Racing cars are expected to be much closer to each other on this track, which was stated in the FP1 result.

Because of the new sprint weekend format, most teams tried qualifying simulations for most of the training. However, Red Bull Racing was clearly a team that attempted long runs and race simulations in the first half of free practice prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Full results of FP1 at the 2021 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix

Below are the results of the first training from Sao Paolo:

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