Red Bull’s Sergio Perez headed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in first practice at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The Mexican was just 0.004 seconds ahead of the Ferrari but set his time a good half-hour earlier than Leclerc, when the track would have had less grip.
World champion Max Verstappen was third fastest, another 0.004secs behind with a lap set at the same time as Perez.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Hamilton was 0.187secs off the pace in the Mercedes, Russell 0.202secs behind Perez.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel headed the midfield runners, from Mick Schumacher’s Haas, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly.
Fernando Alonso was 11th in the Alpine on the medium tyre, the fastest driver not to use the soft rubber at all in the session.
The session was the only hour of practice before qualifying on the final ‘sprint’ event of the season.
Qualifying at 19:00 GMT will set the grid for a shorter race on Saturday afternoon, which establishes the starting positions for the grand prix.
Verstappen was complaining about a lack of front grip through the session, while Hamilton said his car had a “floaty” feeling and was lacking rear grip.
Sainz will start the grand prix on Sunday with a five-place grid penalty after Ferrari fitted his car with a new internal combustion engine, his sixth of the season, when only three are permitted for each driver.