Kevin Magnussen missed the first free practice session due to illness, and was replaced by Oliver Bearman. In the only practice session before the sprint qualifying, Red Bull performed poorly, while McLaren was strong.
But the rest of the field also faced a strong challenge, as the Interlagos race track had been thoroughly renovated. The laps had barely begun when the news arrived that Max Verstappen would officially be penalized for Sunday's race, with the Dutchman being demoted five places down the grid. During practice itself, Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes dominated for a long time, and then the remaining time came with the soft-tyre tests, during which Lando Norris took the lead at the last minute ahead of George Russell and Oliver Bearman.
