Verstappen pips Antonelli by 0.025s in FP3 as Hamilton's Ferrari fills with smoke at Interlagos

Max Verstappen edged Kimi Antonelli by a mere 0.025 seconds in Free Practice 3 at the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday at Interlagos, setting a 1m11.622s on soft tyres to head the timesheets ahead of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton’s session ended early after his Ferrari developed a worrying mechanical problem that produced smoke in the cockpit.

With rain threatening throughout, drivers wasted no time getting on track. The urgency was particularly acute for Nico Hülkenberg, whose Audi had suffered a terminal issue caused by rookie Freddie Slater in FP1, ruling him out of FP2 entirely and leaving Saturday morning as his first meaningful running of the weekend.

On the medium compound in the opening 40 minutes, Antonelli led the way with a 1m12.209s, holding a 0.075s advantage over Verstappen — who reported his steering felt “heavy to the right” — while Charles Leclerc was third, 0.230s back. George Russell, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri were within half a second of the Mercedes driver, with Lawson notably the fastest driver through sector three and nearly a full second clear of the wider midfield pack.

Hamilton, reporting “strange vibrations” from his new powertrain and “big engine braking”, was only eighth at that stage. His team-mate Leclerc was fifth on the combined soft-tyre classification, while Hamilton’s escalating issue ultimately kept him in the garage for the soft-tyre runs, leaving him 12th in the final order.

When the field switched to softs, Verstappen moved to the top with his 1m11.622s, just 0.025s clear of Antonelli. Lando Norris brought his McLaren up to third, 0.131s adrift, with Russell fourth and Leclerc fifth — the four leading constructors covered by just 0.274s, underlining how tightly matched the front of the grid remains heading into qualifying.

In the midfield, Arvid Lindblad edged Racing Bulls team-mate Lawson by a tenth on softs, the pair again roughly half a second clear of Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Isack Hadjar, who described his RB22 as “close to undriveable”, finished 0.591s off Verstappen’s benchmark.

Debutant Rafael Camara posted the 15th-fastest time, 0.128s ahead of Haas team-mate Oliver Bearman. Lance Stroll propped up the order after a suspected ERS failure 15 minutes into the session brought his afternoon to a premature end.