EL1 – Hamilton and Mercedes dominate, Vettel in difficulty

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) set the best time in the first free practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix held in Sao Paulo. The recent quadruple world champion has repeatedly broken the circuit record with super soft tires (red sidewalls). The Briton closes this first session with a tenth ahead of Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) and more than five tenths over Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari, 3th).

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) recorded a shy sixth time. The Ferrari even spun in a slow corner, without damage. For an hour and a half, the competitors varied their strategies in order to acclimatize their car on the Brazilian route. The rain, expected for the second session of the day, did not disrupt operations in any way.

Esteban Ocon (Force India) finished with the 9th time, while Romain Grosjean (Haas) registered the 11th time. For his debut in F1, the 3 GP2017 champion George Russell (Force India) took the seat of Sergio Pérez diligently (12th). THE Renault appear at 15th and 16th rank, respectively for Carlos Sainz Jr and Nico Hulkenberg.

Not varnished on the Interlagos route, the Toro Rosso spent most of their time in the garage. Pierre Gasly (19th) was once again the victim of engine failure, similar to Mexico two weeks earlier. As for Brendon Hartley, he did not even complete an installation lap, his engine block going up in smoke after two sectors. Both men were already penalized due to their setbacks at the previous GP.

Difficult start to # FP1 for HAR

He parks up with smoke coming from his car #BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/JoHBtuhZH7

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 10, 2017

The second session will begin Friday at 17 p.m. French time.