Brazil GP: Antonelli leads Friday practice, but rain could rip up the order in qualifying

Kimi Antonelli’s first day back as world champion ended with him on top at Interlagos. His 1:10.763 in second practice for the São Paulo Grand Prix was 0.253s clear of Lando Norris, who had led FP1 in his upgraded McLaren.

Max Verstappen was third in both sessions. But Friday stayed mostly dry, and today might not. Final practice is at 11:30 local time (14:30 UTC), with qualifying at 15:00 (18:00 UTC), if it runs on time.

FP2 results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:10.763
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.253s
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.259s
4	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.273s
5	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.321s
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.450s
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.720s
8	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.017s
9	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+1.076s
10	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+1.228s
11	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1.233s
12	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.245s
13	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.279s
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.346s
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1.775s
16	Rafael Camara	Haas	+1.798s
17	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+1.979s
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+2.179s
19	Alex Albon	Williams	+2.190s
20	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+2.553s
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+2.620s
22	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	No time

FP1 results

Six teams gave a rookie a car in the first session, so this order needs a little care.

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:11.717
2	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.082s
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.236s
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.324s
5	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.386s
6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+0.439s
7	Gabriele Mini (for Gasly)	Alpine	+0.852s
8	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+0.897s
9	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+0.937s
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+0.998s
11	Leonardo Fornaroli (for Piastri)	McLaren	+1.116s
12	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+1.120s
13	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1.300s
14	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.321s
15	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+1.654s
16	Alex Albon	Williams	+1.794s
17	Luke Browning (for Sainz)	Williams	+1.874s
18	Rafael Camara	Haas	+1.979s
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+2.043s
20	Colton Herta (for Perez)	Cadillac	+2.558s
21	Dino Beganovic (for Leclerc)	Ferrari	+2.640s
22	Freddie Slater (for Hulkenberg)	Audi	+3.249s

The news from Friday

Herta finally got there. Colton Herta did 31 laps in Perez’s Cadillac in FP1, well past the 24 he needed, and that gave him his 40th Super Licence point. It makes him eligible, not signed. Valtteri Bottas still thinks his seat is safe, and says any decision has to go through a board meeting that hasn’t happened yet.

Camara’s debut came with a reprimand. The Haas rookie, in for Esteban Ocon at his home race, got in Leclerc’s way on the run up to the main straight. Leclerc had to put a large part of his car off the track to avoid him. The stewards called it “clearly dangerous”, but there’s no grid penalty. On pace, he cut his gap to Bearman from 0.859s in FP1 to 0.570s in FP2.

Rafael Camara with Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu after signing for 2027. Photo: TGR Haas F1 Team

Russell will drop five places. He’s taken a new engine, so wherever he qualifies, he starts five places lower. “Five places doesn’t seem that bad, and we’ll try and come back through,” he said. Perez hasn’t decided whether to take an engine penalty too.

Hulkenberg didn’t turn a wheel. Slater stopped on track early in FP1 and brought out the red flag. Audi found the problem but ran out of time to fix it for FP2, so Hulkenberg hasn’t done a lap all weekend.

What to look for in qualifying

The rain, first of all

F1’s forecast this week gave a 50% chance of rain, most likely after 14:00, with gusts up to 50 km/h and possible standing water. The timing is what nobody can pin down.

“It looks like it’s a very heavy rain front,” said Red Bull’s Hannah Schmitz. “There are a few forecasts where it looks like it might come just after Qualifying, so there is a chance of a dry Qualifying still.” She isn’t even sure it starts on time, and Norris is expecting “very wet conditions”. In 2024, a storm pushed qualifying back to Sunday morning.

Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc at Interlagos during the 2025 São Paulo Sprint. Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

There’s also an unknown under the tyres. “The track here has been resurfaced and it feels okay in the dry, some of the usual bumps remain, but, of course, we have not yet driven in wet conditions,” Colapinto said. These cars have a wet-weather history too. Their software stopped cars on the formation laps at Sepang, and the FIA promised further changes after that.

Some people won’t mind. Verstappen said he’d “maybe hope for a little bit of rain”, while Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane said “we know the car runs well in the wet”.

Is Mercedes really that far clear?

Mercedes called it one of its better Fridays recently, but Antonelli radioed in about “massive bottoming”, and brake locking is still a problem. He isn’t assuming anything, saying “we know Ferrari can often find something extra when we get to qualifying”.

Russell’s penalty matters here too. His best possible start is sixth, so Mercedes needs Antonelli up front. It only has to outscore Ferrari by three points on Sunday to win the constructors’ title.

Has McLaren found something?

McLaren was the only team to declare aero upgrades this weekend, with a new front wing, rear wing and floor. Norris said “we seem to have gained performance and a little lap time”. Team boss Randy Singh thinks it’s so close that one good session could be “the difference between the front row and starting seventh or eighth”.

Can Verstappen’s car be sorted?

He ended FP2 early with a steering problem, and Red Bull says he’ll have a different steering wheel for the rest of the weekend. He has also won three of the last four races, and sits just two points ahead of Hamilton in the fight for second.

Where is Ferrari?

Hamilton took pole in Mexico last week, but he was only sixth here. “The track is very bumpy and slippery, which made it difficult to get the tyres into the right window,” he said. Pirelli said some teams struggled to warm up the front tyres on qualifying runs in the cool of FP2, and rain would only make that harder.

Leclerc only had FP2 after arriving late following the birth of his daughter, and his engineer said the Camara incident cost him two-tenths. Team boss Fred Vasseur has also held talks with both drivers after their clash in Mexico, so all eyes will be on how they share the track.

The home drivers and the tight midfield

Bortoleto was eighth in both sessions for Audi, a strong start at his home race. Camara has his first F1 qualifying, possibly in the rain, and Hulkenberg could go in with only one practice session, also possibly in the rain.

Behind the top seven, it’s very tight. Only 0.329s covered seven cars from eighth to 14th in FP2. As Gasly put it, “a tenth of a second makes up four places or so”.

Our view

Antonelli deserves to start as favourite. But the top five were split by just 0.321s, and Friday’s order won’t count for much if the storm arrives during the session. If it does, getting the timing right could matter more than having the fastest car, and that’s when Interlagos is at its best.

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