Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari): A disappointing mid-season review for the Brazilian Grand Prix

How do the various teams stack up in terms of competitiveness at the Interlagos circuit? The strongest impression from Friday’s endurance runs: World Champion Kimi Antonelli’s rivals still have a lot of work to do.

Champion Antonelli not only set the fastest time in the second practice session for the São Paulo Grand Prix, but the Mercedes star was also the fastest man in the endurance run.

Over a single fast lap, the 20-year-old Italian was about a quarter of a second faster than the two world champions, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, but in the endurance run the gap averaged half a second.

Ferrari’s impressive race pace in Mexico (from which the Italians were then unable to capitalise sufficiently due to the Leclerc versus Hamilton duel) has vanished into thin air: in the first section of the circuit, the Italian car is still more or less in the mix, but in the second and third sections, the picture changes.

Ferrari simply cannot keep up in the twisty Sector 2, nor on the uphill power straight back to the start-finish line.

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World Champion Kimi Antonelli: record-breaker, heart-breaker, the Tifosi’s dream

With his third-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest of the 36 Formula 1 world champions to date. The 20-year-old Italian is on a record-breaking run. The Tifosi are dreaming of Antonelli in a Ferrari.

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Ferrari is already losing half a second on a lap that’s just 70 seconds long in qualifying trim; Leclerc was roughly a second slower than leader Antonelli in the endurance run.

Mid-session assessment for Ferrari: unsatisfactory. The Italians will need to take a massive step forward on Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton confirmed: “The first day was quite a challenge. The track was slippery and bumpy. That made it difficult to get the tyres into their optimal operating window. All in all, the first practice session was quite okay, but the second 60-minute session was trickier. We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us.”