Brazilian F1 Grand Prix 2016 Qualifying: Results, Times from Friday's Practice

Lewis Hamilton geared up for Sunday's Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix precisely as hoped after storming into an early lead during Friday's first practice session, where he finished fastest with a lap time of one minute, 11.895 seconds.

Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg will secure the 2016 Formula One world championship this weekend as long as he wins at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo on Sunday, but Hamilton is still putting up a fight.

Rosberg finished a little more than two-tenths of a second behind Hamilton, good enough for the third-fastest time in Friday's opening session, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen took second with a time of 1:11.991.

The sun was beaming in Sao Paulo as drivers tried out their medium and soft tyres, although there could be a few more twists to come as the conditions could introduce some rain in the days to come.

Here's a look at the lap leaderboard from Friday's opening practice session, provided by the official Formula 1 Twitter account:

Recap

Hamilton trails standings leader Rosberg by 19 points coming into the penultimate race of the 2016 season, although it was at Interlagos that he became the youngest world champion in the sport back in 2008.

And the Briton made a fine start to the weekend's action to breathe some life into his hopes of retaining the world title, wearing a helmet inspired by Brazilian great, Ayrton Senna, per Channel 4 F1:

The broadcaster also took note of the fact Hamilton's overall fortune at Interlagos has been poor, although 2016 could be the year that record is turned around:

Rosberg and Verstappen zipped closer to Hamilton as the early laps wore on, and some drivers experimented with the Halo safety device before reverting back to their usual setups.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean gave the Haas team some good feedback on his early action after managing to finish inside the top 10 during just one of his last 10 outings:

Most drivers proceeded on medium tyres until Valtteri Bottas made the transition to softs—the softest compound available in Brazil this weekend—and immediately posted a fastest lap time of 1:13.129.

Rosberg and Verstappen followed suit a little less than an hour into first practice, and both drivers also managed to shave some valuable milliseconds off their times in what proved to be a positive switch.

An apparent puncture meant Daniil Kyvat was forced back into the pit with only 30 minutes remaining in the session, just before Hamilton leaped to the top of the leaderboard with a quick lap of 1:11.895 seconds.

That time meant Hamilton was already eclipsing the figures managed en route to the world championship charge of last season's run in Brazil, as noted by the official Mercedes AMG F1 Twitter account:

The reigning world champion also completed an impressive 32 laps—the most of any driver to finish in the top four of first practice and a figure only bested by Bottas (36), Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa (both 33).

The drivers will be back out on the Interlagos track for second practice at 4 p.m. GMT, where Hamilton will be hopeful he can continue to apply pressure on Rosberg, who is seeking his maiden Formula One championship crown in Sao Paulo.