Brazilian GP: Mercedes and Ferrari expect close battle for pole
Just a tenth between Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel in Friday practice
Tuesday 4 December 2018 14:31, UK
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel expect a close battle at the Brazilian GP after a fiercely competitive opening to the weekend.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all appeared to be extremely evenly matched in Friday's practice sessions, with the top three drivers split by less than a tenth of a second in both P1 and P2.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen topped the timesheets ahead of Vettel and Hamilton in first practice, while Valtteri Bottas was just 0.003s faster than his world champion Mercedes team-mate later in the day.
P1: Verstappen edges out rivals
P2: Merc just ahead of Ferrari
"It's very close between us at the front but I think there's more potential there so we've just got to smooth it out," said Hamilton, who claimed his fifth title despite struggling at the last race in Mexico.
"The car felt better than it was feeling in Mexico. We still have some problems that we're trying to work through and understand, but the pace doesn't seem too bad. We've just got to keep working on it."
Questioned about the unpredictable forecast for the weekend, Hamilton continued: "I love driving in the rain but we need to make sure we're quick enough in the dry."
Bottas was six tenths off the pace in Practice One, but edged out Hamilton in P2 to give himself a confidence boost as he looks for a maiden 2018 victory this weekend.
"In second practice we really improved the car," Bottas said. "The pace seemed to be good, but it's a small track so the margins are small. We can't be feeling satisfied going to the hotel tonight."
Vettel is also looking for a morale-boosting victory, which would be his first since the Belgian GP in August, and was in the tight top three in both sessions.
"We are in the ball-park but we can launch forward from here," Vettel, a Brazil winner last year, stated.
The German added: "We still have to improve the car because it doesn't feel good yet. But I think if we can get the balance in the window it can be tight."
Red Bull rule themselves out of contention for pole?
Though Verstappen was an impressive pace-setter early on in Brazil, the Dutchman suffered a frustrating second session and was sidelined for the first part of P2 due to a crack in an oil tank on his Red Bull.
When he finally emerged, he could only manage fifth place, finishing half a second off the Mercedes.
But while Verstappen had a simple explanation for that, claiming he had to overtake two cars on his fastest lap due to traffic, he is still pessimistic about his chances this weekend.
Ricciardo hit with Brazil penalty
"There are no options in qualifying - we have to hope to do something in the race," said Verstappen.
"I don't even look to qualifying because we know we are not going to fight."
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo added: "We have a decent car but are three tenths off. And Mercedes and Ferrari will probably turn up the power tomorrow."
The Australian is facing another grid penalty this weekend, the latest setback in a string of reliability woes, following an engine-component change due to the most peculiar of failures.
Red Bull are having to replace his turbocharger after his previous part was wrecked by a marshal at the Mexican GP, who used a fire extinguisher on Ricciardo's stricken car.
"I can laugh about it now," said Ricciardo. "What do you do? It's out of my control. I've had a few days to digest that now so I've come to terms with it.
"We're going to start out of that front pack but hopefully we can get up there quickly."
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