The 20th and penultimate round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship began with practice Friday at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo as teams prepared for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn circuit ran under mixed conditions, showers impacted the morning, but conditions cleared to merely overcast in the afternoon.
Rain and the declaration of a wet track saw Grosjean and Magnussen limited to installation laps only in the first half of FP1 – both drivers utilizing Pirelli’s Cinturato Blue wet weather compound. The remaining 45-minutes brought improved circuit conditions, with stints on intermediate tires finally delivering track action for the fans and lap times on the board.
Magnussen banked an eight-lap run on the inters with a best time of 1:19.247 placing him 12th overall. Grosjean was one of four drivers not to record a timed lap in the session, the others being Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. An attempt to run on the P Zero Red soft rubber was thwarted for both Haas F1 drivers shortly after they had exited the garage in the closing minutes – an off involving Alexander Albon at Turn 12 brought out the red flag to end the session prematurely.
Presented with a dry track in the afternoon, Grosjean and Magnussen commenced proceedings in FP2 with a baseline run on the P Zero Yellow medium tires. They switched to soft tires to clock their fastest laps of the day with qualifying simulations. Magnussen ended the session sixth overall having set a best time of 1:10.143, meanwhile Grosjean’s 1:10.504 lap placed him 16th on the timesheets. They bolstered their respective lap tallies with high-fuel, race-simulation runs to bring Friday’s track activities to a close.
Between the two sessions, Haas F1 Team ran a total of 89 laps – 48 by Magnussen and 41 by Grosjean.
Haas F1 Team PR
