Norris edges Russell in Sao Paulo GP practice

Lando Norris beat George Russell to top spot for the sole practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Sprint qualifying later today. The performance runs on the soft-compound tire were saved until the very end of the session, with the bulk of the hour dedicated to long running on the medium tire. The medium compound will also be used for the first two segments of Sprint qualifying. Russell had held top spot for most of the last 20 minutes despite ride quality issues, with Norris leaping to first place with a lap completed after the checkered flag with a 0.181s margin. Oliver Bearman, substituting for the ill Kevin Magnussen until at least Saturday afternoon, slotted into third just 0.195s further back for Haas. The 19-year-old Briton will qualify for the Sprint and compete in the short race tomorrow. The team is yet to commit to re-instating Magnussen in time for grand prix qualifying on Saturday, preferring to monitor his recovery before making a call. Bearman has already raced once for Haas, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as well as for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia in the second round of the season. Oscar Piastri was fourth in the order in the second McLaren, 0.34s behind his session-topping teammate, with Alex Albon completing the top five for Williams just 0.005s further adrift. Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were sixth and seventh just under half a second off the pace. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in the second Haas car ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Liam Lawson was almost 0.2s quicker than RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 11th and 12th ahead of Franco Colapinto, the first driver in the order more than 1s off the pace, and Valtteri Bottas. Max Verstappen was only 15th but didn’t complete his flying lap on soft tires. The Dutchman set personal-best times in the first and second sectors and was only 0.038s down on Russell’s then leading time when he abandoned the lap for pit lane, leaving his ultimate pace obscured. The world champion is equipped with a new internal combustion engine in his power unit, his sixth of the season, incurring a five-place grid penalty. The grid drop applies only to Sunday’s grand prix, with the Dutchman free to start the Sprint where he qualifies later today. He also took his seventh of eight permissible exhaust systems. Lewis Hamilton complained of back pain after a rough ride in his Mercedes on his way to 16th ahead of Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon. Sergio Perez was 19th and 1.235s off the pace after a slow middle sector on his flying lap cost him around 0.2s relative to his personal best. The under-pressure Mexican was granted a chassis change for this weekend in a bid to snap his form slump after his disastrous non-scoring finish at his home grand prix last weekend. The team confirmed he’s running a tub from earlier in the season, this being too late in the year to contemplate a new build. There was no known issue with the specification he used in previous rounds. Zhou Guanyu propped up the order for Sauber in 20th, the Chinese driver more than 1s off the back of the pack.