Sergio Perez has made an excellent start to the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing driver managed to set the fastest time on the board in the first free practice session, keeping his teammate Max Verstappen behind him.
With qualifying already scheduled for Friday night, the drivers had to start right away. With his first place, Perez was confident, although he was only narrowly faster than Charles Leclerc and Verstappen. The drivers were four thousandths and eight thousandths short respectively.
Carlos Sainz finished in fourth place. However, it could have been a place lower for the Spaniard, as Lewis Hamilton approached his time to one thousandth. George Russell took sixth final position, keeping Sebastian Vettel behind him.
Tension heading into Brazilian qualifying
Mick Schumacher, Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly completed the top ten. Remarkably, Fernando Alonso did not manage to join the top half: he took 11th position. Furthermore, Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo did not get beyond the fifteenth and twentieth times.
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