What happened in F1 2026 Brazilian GP second practice
Kimi Antonelli showed no signs of becoming complacent after his recently-sealed 2026 Formula 1 title win as he completed his domination of Friday practice in Brazil.
Antonelli topped FP2 with a comfortable 0.253s margin ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who headed a gaggle of other cars.
In fact, the gap the lead Mercedes had over a mixed-up cast of would-be contenders at Interlagos reflected how 2026 has tended to play out overall.
Norris, Max Verstappen's Red Bull and George Russell's Mercedes were covered by just 0.020s, while Oscar Piastri was fifth in the second McLaren only half a tenth further back.
Verstappen was once again displeased with some engine behaviour in this session - and his confusion over Red Bull’s slightly vague update on how it was "adapting" to him prompted an amusing radio exchange where Verstappen suggested he should start talking to the clutch directly.
Less funny was the fact he ended the session early in the garage as a steering issue emerged that Red Bull could not quickly resolve.
In performance terms, the outlier at the moment is Ferrari, which seems to be struggling on balance but also (as usual) with straightline speed.
Lewis Hamilton led the team in sixth, nearly three tenths ahead of Charles Leclerc – who survived a high-speed near-miss when F1 debutant Rafa Camara’s Haas inadvertently squeezed him coming onto the start-finish straight.
Camara, who ended his first day as an F1 driver 16th fastest and just over half a second slower than Haas team-mate Ollie Bearman, will be investigated after the session for the incident.
He was preparing to start a lap when he squeezed Leclerc, who was finishing one, towards the run-off as they navigated the flat-out kink of Turn 15.
Leclerc kept his foot in over the bumpy run-off and managed to finish the lap, losing a couple of tenths in the process, and expressed his irritation afterwards.
These were Leclerc’s first laps of the weekend after Dino Beganovic drove his car in FP1.
Early on Leclerc complained that the balance was too far to the rear, and at the end of the session he was asking about the engine.
Towards the foot of the top 10, Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth in his Audi on home soil, just over a second off Antonelli but ahead of Isack Hadjar's Red Bull.
Ollie Bearman's Haas completed the top 10 but there was just half a tenth covering him, Franco Colapinto's Alpine and the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson.
The only driver not to set a time was Nico Hulkenberg, who did not run at all after the issue that stopped Freddie Slater on track in FP1 could not be addressed by Audi in time, leaving Hulkenberg without a single lap in the car on Friday.
For those who did drive, there was a recurring challenge for almost everybody: lock-ups into the first corner.
At least half the field had a big moment under braking for the Senna S, struggling with the bumps as the track falls away, which could be a precursor to a defining performance differentiator come qualifying on Saturday.
FP2 times
1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1m10.763s
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.253s
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.259s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.273s
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.321s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.450s
7 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.720s
8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.017s
9 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.076s
10 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.228s
11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.233s
12 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.245s
13 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.279s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.346s
15 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.775s
16 Rafael Camara (Haas) +1.798s
17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.979s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +2.179s
19 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.190s
20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.553s
21 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.620s
22 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) no time
