Free Practice – Brazil: Mercedes dominate the first day in Brazil

For once, the weather did not decide to play the role of surprise guest on this Friday, and the Brazilian storms spared the circuit. The teams were therefore able to carry out the entirety of their development and analysis program.

Lewis Hamilton did not show any signs of his disrupted preparation for the weekend and thus set the fastest time of the session. By recording a time of 1:13.543, he was the only driver in the session able to complete a lap in under 1:14, as Nico Rosberg was over half a second behind.

Sebastian Vettel confirmed his statements from Thursday’s press conference where he indicated that he still wants to fight for the second place in the championship. Thus, the German from Ferrari was only just over a tenth behind his compatriot from Mercedes. Kimi Räikkönen, despite a major spin and going off track, ranked 5th.

In front of him, we find Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull. It’s interesting to note that the Australian lapped two-tenths faster than his teammate, Daniil Kvyat. The Australian has Renault’s new turbo, while the Russian still has to make do with the older version. This gives an idea of the performance gain from the new evolution from Viry-Chatillon.

Even though he is in front of his home crowd, Felipe Massa and Williams did not break their tradition of being behind on Friday. Thus, while Valtteri Bottas was able to secure the 7th fastest time of the session, his teammate never found the right balance for his car and could not do better than 17th.

We narrowly avoided a collision in the pit lane between Jolyon Palmer’s Lotus, once again in place of Romain Grosjean, and Jenson Button’s McLaren. However, the McLaren driver was able to brake sufficiently to avoid the collision.

FULL PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP1) #BrazilGP #GPBrasilF1 #F1Brasil pic.twitter.com/atw35ikypi

— Formula 1 (@F1) 13 Novembre 2015

For the second session, the drivers chose to head out on mediums, which allowed the track to dry completely after being wet from rain during the lunch break. However, when Fernando Alonso was one of the first to put on softs to seek performance, he spun and then reported losing engine power. Moments later, the Honda engine caught fire again. The two-time world champion then had no choice but to sit on the safety barrier and watch his car be towed back to the pits. Nonetheless, as he decided to reuse his Mexico engine, he will not face any new penalties.

ALONSO tells McLaren: “I have no power,” before breaking down #FP2 #BrazilGP #GPBrasilF1 pic.twitter.com/8ZaCPuaHAh

— Formula 1 (@F1) 13 Novembre 2015

In the end, it was Nico Rosberg who managed to clock the best time of the session and the day at 1:12.385. The gap with his teammate is also around half a second. The German seems well-positioned to attempt a fifth consecutive pole position, even though he wasn’t spared from technical issues. He had to stop at the end of the pit lane because he couldn’t shift his gears.

Behind them, the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen confirmed that they would have to be reckoned with, even though they are nearly a second off the lead. With his engine upgrade, Daniel Ricciardo will be one to watch as he finishes just behind Kimi Räikkönen’s time and could come out on top.

As for Romain Grosjean, he was keen to make up for his lost morning by recording the 7th fastest time of the session. This shows once again that Lotus is capable of presenting a competitive car despite their preparation being disrupted by a blocked garage on Wednesday.

Nico Hülkenberg also managed to slip into the top 10 in both sessions.

FULL PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF #FP2) #BrazilGP #GPBrasilF1 #F1Brasil pic.twitter.com/2NZ0mH5KXR

— Formula 1 (@F1) 13 Novembre 2015