Verstappen leads Antonelli in final Sao Paulo practice

Max Verstappen topped final practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but a penalty for a new power unit will rule him out of the battle for pole position.

Practice remained dry despite earlier forecasts for thunderstorms throughout Saturday, allowing the session to build to its usual climax of low-fuel running in the final 15m of the hour.

Verstappen, the penultimate runner among the leaders, was fastest in the final sector to take top spot with a best time of 1m 11.622s.

His run up the hill and to the finish line through the final split will have benefited from the new power unit in the back of the car, however, which will move him to the back of the grid, eliminating him as a pole contender.

Kimi Antonelli was just 0.025s behind Verstappen, the Mercedes driver reliably quicker through the middle split but marginally slower than Verstappen in the two other sectors.

Lando Norris briefly held top spot before Antonelli and Verstappen’s laps but ended up 0.131s adrift, though he was quickest in the first sector.

George Russell was the first frontrunner to venture out on softs and was 0.184s off the pace. The Briton had already been confirmed to be carrying a five-place penalty for engine component changes.

Charles Leclerc was an improved fifth and more competitive 0.274s off the pace after what he described as one of the worst Fridays of the season. The Monegasque will serve a 10-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine for the session.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton likewise took a new motor in exchange for a 10-place grid drop, but the Englishman suffered engine problems throughout the session, at first reporting “strange vibrations” from the engine and “big engine braking”.

He returned to the track after a brief spell in his garage, but he was soon back in his box for good after reporting smoke in the cockpit, leaving him with just seven laps on the board and no low-fuel time on soft tires.

Hamilton’s floor was removed shortly afterwards, with work ongoing to rectify the car in time for qualifying.

Instead Oscar Piastri was sixth, 0.313s off the pace, ahead of Racing Bulls teammates Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, 0.438s and 0.549s off the pace respectively.

Isack Hadjar complained that his car was “undriveable” early in the session, and despite set-up changes, he was 0.591s off the pace in ninth.

Gabriel Bortoleto completed the top 10 but was 1.022s off the pace. Pierre Gasly in 11th set an identical time but was shuffled down a place for having set the lap second.

The broken-down Hamilton ended up 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Haas teammates Rafael Camara and Oliver Bearman.

Alex Albon was 17th and more than 1.5s off the pace, beating Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

Sergio Perez finished 20th and will see the stewards after the session for his car being in unsafe conditions after his onboard camera captured him throwing something out of his cockpit while on a lap.

Valtteri Bottas was 21st, while Lance Stroll completed only seven laps before retiring with an energy recovery system, leaving him 22nd and last.

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