The Mercedes drivers were comfortably fastest as usual in first practice at Interlagos where drivers found the resurfaced track offered a lot of grip.
Nico Rosberg’s session-topping lap of 1’12.764 was just three-tenths of a second slower than the last pole position time set in dry weather at the track in 2012.
The Toro Rosso drivers put on a good showing during the session, though both Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat had lurid oversteering moments. Verstappen later reported his balance was much improved, and Kvyat ended the session as the only driver to get within a second of Rosberg, besides Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso set the fourth-quickest time but team mate Kimi Raikkonen was another driver to be caught out by the track, suffering two spins during the session.
Daniel Juncadella had a more significant problem, crashing at the Laranjinha corner, which caused the session to be stopped. The Force India test driver was unhurt, but the team are left with a significant repair job to get Sergio Perez’s car ready for second practice.
Two drivers failed to set times: Jenson Button’s car cut out completely when he returned to the pits after his installation lap. He was pushed back to the garage where his car was isolated as the team investigated an electrical problem.
Esteban Gutierrez also didn’t get a time on the board. The Sauber driver reported a problem with his car on his first run, then headed for the pits.
The session ended with a test of the new Virtual Safety Car system.
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’12.764 | 30 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’12.985 | 0.221 | 32 |
| 3 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’13.723 | 0.959 | 39 |
| 4 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’13.742 | 0.978 | 30 |
| 5 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’13.811 | 1.047 | 28 |
| 6 | 38 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’13.827 | 1.063 | 26 |
| 7 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1’14.034 | 1.270 | 31 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’14.114 | 1.350 | 32 |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1’14.136 | 1.372 | 30 |
| 10 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | 1’14.197 | 1.433 | 27 |
| 11 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’14.434 | 1.670 | 31 |
| 12 | 40 | Felipe Nasr | Williams-Mercedes | 1’14.522 | 1.758 | 22 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1’14.678 | 1.914 | 33 |
| 14 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1’14.902 | 2.138 | 24 |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1’15.109 | 2.345 | 23 |
| 16 | 34 | Daniel Juncadella | Force India-Mercedes | 1’16.030 | 3.266 | 17 |
| 17 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1 | ||
| 18 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 6 |
2014 Brazilian Grand Prix
- Rosberg earns first Driver of the Weekend win of 2014
- 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- Solid Brazilian Grand Prix opens up title fight
- 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- Sponsor Watch: 2014 US and Brazilian Grands Prix
tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
7th November 2014, 13:41
“Kvyat ended the session as the only driver to get within a second of Rosberg, besides Hamilton.”… and Alonso.
hahostolze
7th November 2014, 13:43
Getting harder to ignore Verstappen
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
7th November 2014, 14:12
One tenth off Kyvat bodes very well.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
7th November 2014, 14:42
Before you know it Kvyat stays in STR and Verstappen goes straight into the RB11.
Roald (@roald)
7th November 2014, 13:44
Verstappen is ridiculously quick. Will Buxton was going crazy about him on twitter too. Shame he made mistakes by locking up and almost spinning when the track evolved. He’s still learning, but he’s shown his potential in a Formula 1 car now, splitting the Mercedes drivers in the first half of the session.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
7th November 2014, 15:36
I’m still blown away that a guy who was just 16 years old two months ago is able to have the maturity (both physical and mental) to drive an F1 car around a track, let alone be putting in such times. Very impressive!
petebaldwin (@)
7th November 2014, 16:31
F1 doesn’t really seem to present a physical challenge these days other than the heat/humidity at some races.
Very impressive though as you say that he was mentally ready to jump in an F1 car and do that straight away with the world watching.
Ju88sy (@)
8th November 2014, 7:48
Agreed, anyone can cope with a full race with 5g under braking and 3g through corners and under acceleration. No sweat…………..
Eddie (@wackyracer)
7th November 2014, 13:46
Go Maldonado! Go!
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
7th November 2014, 19:39
+1
Deej92 (@deej92)
7th November 2014, 13:55
I’m so looking forward to seeing this kid in F1 next year. The doubters should give him a chance. I’m going by the phrase – if you’re good enough you’re old enough.
evered7 (@evered7)
7th November 2014, 14:29
@deej92 All’s well when he is quick. But when he makes a rookie mistake, people should not toe the line that he is a youngster blah blah etc.
He was deemed fit and ready to race in F1 and that includes all aspects of racing. If he is to learn the trickery in F1, it will end badly for him and other drivers too. We don’t want him crashing into Championship contenders and putting himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
That said, All the best to him. With Sutil and Guti gone, I hope the places are occupied by drivers who are worthy of the limited seats in the pinnacle of Motorsports.
Deej92 (@deej92)
7th November 2014, 14:52
@evered7 That’s what I fear. People will jump on his age when he makes mistakes, which will happen. All drivers make them. And as a rookie, it’s normal to expect he’ll make a few rookie errors. I hope people show some patience when the mistakes happen. Obviously if he starts to make an abnormal amount of mistakes then perhaps the age debate will return.
Hopefully it doesn’t come to that and he shows he is worthy of being in F1.
Hamish
7th November 2014, 13:57
Wow that timesheet looks awfully small.
@HoHum (@hohum)
7th November 2014, 19:40
That struck me too !
evered7 (@evered7)
7th November 2014, 14:26
Verstappen seems quick. Hope he has the decision making skills as well. We already have a lot of fast drivers but the racing craft is missing (ex:Maldonado).
Timothy Katz (@timothykatz)
7th November 2014, 14:32
Did something go wrong for Vettel?
Sri Harsha (@harsha)
7th November 2014, 14:50
@timothykatz
Usual Procedure for Sebastian
Brakes issue in middle of FP1
CountryGent (@countrygent)
7th November 2014, 15:57
So just three tenth off the 2012 pole in FP1? The track resurface has improved the surface grip exponentially…
Matt Clark (@mattc888)
7th November 2014, 19:22
That Daniel Juncadella crash is an interesting one. Some really nice HQ video footage with multiple camera angles and awesome audio at this link.
http://www.nbcsports.com/motor-sports/f1/daniel-juncadella-crashes-out-p1
DM0407 (@dm0407)
7th November 2014, 21:18
Seems like he could have avoided the wall had he not jammed on the brakes so hard… easy for me to say of course.
DM0407 (@dm0407)
7th November 2014, 21:18
“Kimi Raikkonen was another driver to be caught out by the track, suffering two spins during the session.”
Glad to see Ferrari straightened out his under steer problem.