F1: Alonso tops final F1 practice in Brazil

Alpine driver Fernando Alonso showed some of his old magic by turning a lap of 1m11.238s to lead final practice for the Brazilian GP.

Of course, Alonso may have been running a much lower fuel load, but he lapped 0.864s faster than 2nd fastest Max Verstappen.

Valtteri Bottas was third fastest, 1.117s back in the #77 Mercedes.

Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon was 4th quick 1.169s behind, these times aren’t nearly as representative as usual. That being said, Ocon has fresh soft tires for later and may well copy his teammate’s previous tactics of starting on the red-marked rubber to jump ahead off the line.

It will be a huge gamble with 24 laps to complete to make it to the end of the Sprint – and with the tow here so powerful in the final sector, a strong start by a soft shod car could well spell danger towards the end of the Sprint.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5, 1.503s behind.

Lewis Hamilton

Practice 2 Results

POS NO DRIVER CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 1:11.238 +0.000s 23
2 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda 1:12.102 +0.864s 26
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:12.355 +1.117s 24
4 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1:12.407 +1.169s 26
5 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.741 +1.503s 25
6 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing Honda 1:12.903 +1.665s 29
7 99 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:12.997 +1.759s 37
8 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:13.078 +1.840s 31
9 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:13.099 +1.861s 33
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari 1:13.355 +2.117s 39
11 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes 1:13.426 +2.188s 41
12 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 1:13.448 +2.210s 25
13 4 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1:13.581 +2.343s 23
14 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Honda 1:13.608 +2.370s 32
15 63 George Russell Williams Mercedes 1:13.615 +2.377s 24
16 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Honda 1:13.726 +2.488s 38
17 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes 1:13.747 +2.509s 42
18 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1:14.025 +2.787s 24
19 47 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 1:14.066 +2.828s 40
20 9 Nikita Mazepin Haas Ferrari 1:14.909 +3.671s 37