F1: Ocon tops final practice in Brazil

In a session where every driver was working on race running and not taking too many risks, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon turned the fastest lap in final practice for the Sao Paulo GP in Brazil.

Ocon’s lap of 1m14.604s was 0.184s faster than the Red Bull of Sergio Perez in 2nd and 0.312s faster than George Russell’s Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso was 4th in the 2nd Alpine while Max Verstappen rounded out the top-5 in the #1 Red Bull Honda.

American Logan Sargeant, in Alex Albon’s Williams car was last, but he could not risk crashing Albon’s car and finished just 1.876s off the fastest time – very respectable – and he never put a wheel wrong.  He also ran over 24 laps so he earned 1 Super License point.

American Logan Sargeant surpasses 24 laps (100km) to edge closer to a super license

A clean session for all drivers, plenty of laps completed, and hopefully more than enough learned.

So practice is done – and next up is the Sprint. A proper racing start, 24 laps of frantic action, no need to pit. Eight points and P1 for the Grand Prix on offer for the winner.

Magnussen will be starting P1 for that for Haas – and if that hasn’t sunk in for the fans, you can bet it hasn’t sunk in for him nor his team. Can he hold off a charging Verstappen? Nothing like having a two-time world champion right on your tail for sharpening one’s focus.

Can Perez, Leclerc and Hamilton recover through the field? Can Alpine hold them off – or will Ocon and Alonso be attacking Norris ahead?

Russell may well want to sit back and watch the fireworks ahead from P3. There are storylines up and down the field, and it’s going to be a fascinating final Sprint of the season.

Practice 2 Results

POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME BEHIND LAPS
1 Esteban Ocon FRA BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m14.604s +0.000 27
2 Sergio Perez MEX Oracle Bull Racing 1m14.788s +0.184 36
3 George Russell GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas 1m14.916s +0.312 31
4 Fernando Alonso ESP BWT Alpine F1 Team 1m15.049s +0.445 29
5 Max Verstappen NED Oracle Red Bull Racing 1m15.098s +0.494 30
6 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas 1m15.137s +0.533 32
7 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m15.636s +1.032 31
8 Mick Schumacher GER Haas F1 Team 1m15.684s +1.080 40
9 Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas F1 Team 1m15.815s +1.211 37
10 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m15.851s +1.247 24
11 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari 1m15.856s +1.252 37
12 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri 1m15.868s +1.261 31
13 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari 1m15.868s +1.264 36
14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m15.994s +1.390 28
15 Valtteri Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen 1m16.047s +1.443 33
16 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m16.181s +1.577 33
17 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m16.283s +1.659 42
18 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant 1m16.400s +1.796 43
19 Zhou Guanyu CHN Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen 1m16.468s +1.864 36
20 Logan Sargeant USA Williams Racing 1m16.480s +1.876 28