MICHAEL LAMONATO

Lewis Hamilton will head the field for the Saturday sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after beating Max Verstappen by almost half a second.

The Briton never looked likely to be beaten in qualifying after being comfortably fastest in opening practice. Both his laps in Q3 were quick enough to top the session, and his final attempt, a 1m07.934s was 0.438s better than Verstappen’s scruffy fastest lap.

It was the first time Hamilton has topped qualifying since the Hungarian Grand Prix in August and only the fourth time he’s been fastest this season, though the sprint weekend format and his five-place grid penalty for a new engine mean he won’t be credited with pole position.

Lewis Hamilton topped title leader Max Verstappen by 0.367s in the crucial first practice session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Friday qualifying.

The Briton, who is running a new internal combustion engine that will cost him five places on Sunday’s grid, was unhappy with his car’s performance for most of the session, particularly on the medium tire, and his team had to make front suspension adjustments to address what he described as a bouncing front end before sending him out on softs.

His first flying lap on soft tires wasn’t enough to get near Verstappen’s one hot lap on the same compound. A second attempt got him 0.069s ahead, and his third run on softs stretched the margin to 0.367s.