Kimi Antonelli Dominates Sao Paulo Grand Prix Practice
Kimi Antonelli wasted no time reminding Formula 1 why the title is already his.
Five days after becoming the sport’s youngest world champion in Mexico, the Mercedes prodigy came back out at Interlagos, shrugged off the weight of expectation and topped second practice for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with a lap that looked like it belonged to a man who has been doing this for a decade.
Champion at ease, still the benchmark
Antonelli’s 1:10.763 was the only lap of the day under 71 seconds, two tenths clear of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Around this short, old-school, constantly busy circuit, that margin matters. It spoke of control, confidence, and a driver completely at ease with the car and the moment.
He had already been second quickest in first practice. Then he came back in the more representative afternoon session and turned the screw.
“I think Antonelli has just found a better rhythm around here than anyone else,” observed Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok. The pictures matched the words: light steering inputs, no drama, no wrestling. Just flow.
Antonelli admitted the obvious: the title is done, the pressure is gone. Now he’s simply driving.
“Yes definitely. I'm trying to enjoy it more,” he said. “Definitely not thinking about the championship right now… Not easy out there. Conditions are tricky but also the grip is quite low… we did a good step between FP1 and FP2 and we just need to work on tomorrow.”
He sounded relaxed. His driving looked even more so.
Norris bites back as McLaren upgrades land
If Antonelli owned the headline time, Norris walked away from Friday with plenty of reasons to feel bullish.
McLaren rolled out fresh upgrades on the MCL40 and, straight away, the outgoing world champion looked sharp. He was fastest in FP1, then second in FP2, and – crucially – his long-run pace hinted at a car that might go the distance on Sunday as well as one-lap fireworks on Saturday.
“I think FP1 we seemed quite easily on the pace,” Norris said. “FP2 we struggled a little bit more to match the Mercedes but it's been a pretty good start to the weekend and we have continued the trend we had in Mexico… Today was also a day where we kind of work through the upgrades and see if they work as they should, and they do. We have seemed to gain performance.”
Nothing about the way he said it sounded like a man bluffing. McLaren start the weekend 17 points behind third-placed Red Bull in the standings; on this evidence, they smell blood.
Verstappen lurking, Russell hit by penalty
Max Verstappen, so often the reference point on a Friday, had to settle for third in the timesheets, level on pace with Norris but just behind Antonelli’s benchmark. Red Bull did not look lost, just not yet fully turned up. They rarely show their hand early.
George Russell slotted into fourth in the second Mercedes, close enough to the front to underline that the world champions have brought a strong package to Brazil. His weekend, though, already carries a complication: a five-place grid penalty for a new engine.
Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, ended the day fifth, giving the team a solid orange block near the top of the order.
Behind them, Ferrari’s day told a very different story.
Ferrari still searching after Mexico flashpoint
After the first-lap clash in Mexico that cost Ferrari a likely victory and forced a clear-the-air meeting between Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and team principal Frederic Vasseur on Thursday evening, the Scuderia needed a calm, productive Friday.
They got the calm. The performance, less so.
Hamilton finished sixth, Leclerc seventh, but on the short runs the red cars looked a step off the front-running pace. Interlagos punishes a car that lacks bite on turn-in or traction out of the slower corners, and Ferrari never quite looked hooked up over a single lap.
Leclerc’s day carried an extra layer of complexity. He flew back from Monaco after the birth of his first child, Bianca, earlier in the week, missing Thursday’s media day and FP1 before jumping into the car for the second session. There was no sign of rust, but also no sign yet of the explosive qualifying form that often bails Ferrari out on Saturdays.
Antonelli, looking ahead to qualifying, knows they cannot be discounted.
“McLaren look strong, Red Bull look strong and we know Ferrari in qualifying can find a bit extra,” he said. “We will all be very close to each other and it will be a very tight qualifying.”
Audi’s nightmare, Bortoleto’s bright spot
Audi’s day split in two: one half deeply frustrating, the other quietly encouraging.
Nico Hulkenberg, one of the most experienced drivers in the field, never even set a time. He sat out FP1 to allow rookie mileage, then saw his entire FP2 wiped out by reliability issues. For a team still trying to lay foundations before the 2026 era, losing a full day of running with its lead driver is a heavy blow.
The problems started early. British youngster Freddie Slater, given track time in the first session, managed only seven laps before a technical issue stopped the car. The team scrambled to fix it for FP2, only for an electrical problem to sideline it completely.
On the other side of the garage, Gabriel Bortoleto delivered exactly what Audi needed: a clean, fast, home-soil performance. He finished eighth fastest in the sole-running car and carried the flag for the team in front of his local crowd.
Behind him, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar took ninth, Haas’s Oliver Bearman rounded out the top ten. Three young names, all inside the top ten at one of the trickiest tracks on the calendar. The next generation is not just coming; it’s already here.
Camara’s calm debut, late stewards summons
Haas added another Brazilian flavour to the grid by dropping Esteban Ocon – who will not race for the team again – and handing Rafael Camara his F1 debut at home.
The 21-year-old’s first day was steady, sensible, and largely incident-free. He finished 16th, half a second down on team-mate Bearman, a respectable margin for a rookie on debut around Interlagos.
There was one blemish. Camara impeded Leclerc on the fast uphill blast to the start-finish line, earning himself a post-session trip to the stewards. For a newcomer, that’s a harsh introduction to how little margin for error exists at this level.
Degradation high, tension higher
Beyond the headline times, the long runs painted a tricky picture. Grip levels stayed low, and tyre degradation looked significant across the field. That combination usually turns the Sao Paulo Grand Prix into a race of management, timing and nerve.
“Overall, the degradation seems to be high in the race [runs], so it's interesting,” Antonelli noted. “Not easy to find the right car balance…”
Norris, too, knows that whatever speed McLaren have found over one lap will mean little if they cannot keep the tyres alive on Sunday.
Storm clouds building over Interlagos
As FP2 wore on, low, misty cloud began to wrap itself around the circuit. The session stayed dry, but the atmosphere changed. Everyone in the paddock has seen this movie before in Sao Paulo.
Rain is coming. The only questions are when, how hard, and for how long.
“Tomorrow will be very, very wet!” Norris predicted. “I would bring your rain jacket and a hat.”
Antonelli sounded ready for chaos rather than fearful of it.
“We will try to be ready for anything,” he said. “We just need to be prepared, be dynamic because we know how unpredictable the weather can be.”
A newly crowned champion, driving free. A resurgent McLaren with fresh upgrades. A lurking Verstappen. A wounded Ferrari. Local heroes with everything to prove and nothing to lose.
If the clouds burst over Interlagos, qualifying might not just set the grid. It might redraw the pecking order for the rest of the season.
