Antonelli tops São Paulo long runs as Ferrari trails by over a second per lap

Newly crowned world champion Kimi Antonelli set the pace on long runs in Friday practice at Interlagos, after also topping the single-lap times in FP2. Motorsport.com’s race-simulation comparison accounted for differences in stint length and tyre compound; Antonelli’s 20-lap soft-tyre run produced the fastest adjusted average.

George Russell was second, 0.311 seconds per lap slower on the adjusted average, with Max Verstappen third at 0.474 seconds behind Antonelli. High tyre degradation at Interlagos means even a difference of a few laps can noticeably affect average times.

Antonelli said he felt good with the car over one lap and overall, while acknowledging that there was still work to do on the long run.

Ferrari’s adjusted long-run averages were more than a second per lap behind Antonelli’s: Charles Leclerc was 1.072 seconds back and Lewis Hamilton 1.090. Team principal Frederic Vasseur said Ferrari had encountered energy-deployment issues and still needed to improve the car’s balance.

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord rated Mercedes’ long-run pace on a par with Lando Norris and Verstappen, while expecting Ferrari to make progress as temperatures rose on Saturday.