Brazilian F1 Grand Prix 2019 Qualifying: Results, Times from Friday's Practices

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc in Friday practice for the 2019 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix in which both sessions ended prematurely due to crashes:

Red Bull Racing's Alexander Albon was the fastest in first practice but went off towards the end of the session in wet conditions on slick tyres, bringing out the red flag.

The two Ferrari drivers went fastest in second practice, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull came in third ahead of the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

The red flag came out again late in second practice when Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat slid into the barrier to end an incident-packed day of action at Interlagos.

FP1 Recap

Albon was the surprise name at the top of the standings after Friday's opening practice session on a damp track in Brazil:

Yet it was not all good news for the British driver. He slid wide on the slicks and ended up in the barrier at Juncao, bringing the first session to a premature end:

Albon was not the only driver to hit trouble in testing conditions. Team-mate Verstappen and former Toro Rosso team-mate Kvyat both spun at the Senna S curve but managed to avoid hitting the wall.

Leclerc was another driver to suffer a wobble in the session, which started after heavy rain. The circuit dried throughout the run but was not quite enough for slicks:

Bottas came in second for Mercedes, 0.551 seconds behind Albon but ahead of Ferrari duo Vettel and Leclerc in third and fourth.

Carlos Sainz took fifth in the McLaren ahead of the Renault duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo, while Pierre Gasly, Kvyat and Lando Norris completed the top 10.

World champion Hamilton was one of four drivers not to post a time in the first session along with Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean.

FP2 Recap

Friday's second practice saw drivers go out on a drier track, but the improved conditions did not prevent Williams' Robert Kubica hitting the barriers at the start of the session and stopping practice again:

The session resumed with rain in the air. Leclerc and then Vettel went fastest on medium tyres to replace Red Bull at the top of the standings:

Meanwhile, Hamilton had to swerve to avoid Bottas on his flying lap and did not seem too impressed with his team-mate:

The Finn also appeared to get in the way of Vettel, but that did not prevent the German later pipping Leclerc to top spot by 0.021 seconds.

There was misery for the two Toro Rosso cars in the second session. Gasly's engine failed and forced him to pull over in a cloud of smoke, while Kvyat lost power and ended up in the barrier:

The Russian's accident brought an early end to the second session, with Ferrari appearing to have the edge on Mercedes ahead of Saturday qualifying.