Norris tops Sao Paulo practice as Verstappen reports car problems

Lando Norris set the fastest time in the opening practice session for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, clocking 1m11.717s on the soft tyre. He finished 0.082s ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, with Max Verstappen third, two tenths off the pace, and Lewis Hamilton fourth. The leading teams were separated by only a few tenths.

Verstappen was unhappy with his Red Bull RB22, complaining over team radio about the downshifts and reporting that his steering was becoming harder to turn. Red Bull will need to resolve these issues before qualifying.

The session was interrupted 12 minutes in by a red flag after Audi's Freddie Slater reported that his car had switched off. Slater and Ferrari's Dino Beganovic both suffered technical problems and finished at the bottom of the classification.