Lewis Hamilton put his midweek troubles behind him with the fastest time of first practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The triple world champion arrived late in Brazil due to a fever, while he also revealed on Thursday that recent "heavy partying" had been a cause of a car accident he was involved in on Tuesday morning in Monaco. However, Hamilton had no trouble getting up to speed quickly at Interlagos as he set the pace on Friday morning with a 1:13.543.
Sporting a new helmet design featuring an Ayrton Senna tribute on the back, Hamilton ended the session 0.519s clear of team-mate Nico Rosberg as both Mercedes drivers trialled a new s-duct on the front of their cars.
Sebastian Vettel was third quickest for Ferrari, just 0.1s slower than Rosberg and 0.3s clear of Daniel Ricciardo who was running the updated Renault power unit for Red Bull.
With rapid tyre degradation the main complaint of many drivers, Hamilton twice ran wide at the first corner during what was a largely incident-free session, though Kimi Raikkonen - who finished with the fifth fastest time, a second off the pace - was lucky to escape damage when he went off at Turn 4.
Raikkonen lost the rear of his Ferrari under braking at the end of the straight, with the car snapping to the right and putting him on the grass. Raikkonen then spun at high speed, collecting the car in the gravel before managing to rejoin the track.
Max Verstappen also had a spin at Turn 3 early in the session but still finished FP1 in eighth place behind Daniil Kvyat in sixth and Valtteri Bottas in seventh. Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado rounded out the top ten.
2016 Lotus driver Jolyon Palmer finished just ahead of fellow Brit Jenson Button in 12th and 13th places respectively, though Palmer baulked the McLaren in the pit lane late in the session. Palmer was released at the same time as Button had been and seemed to struggle to get away quickly, with the McLaren forced to stop to avoid contact with the Lotus.
AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix FP1
Click here for Eric Silbermann's Brazilian grumpy preview
Click here for Chris Medland's Brazilian Grand Prix preview
Use the red tabs on either side of the screen to scroll through more Formula One news and features
Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:13.543 | 28 |
| 02 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:14.062 | 36 |
| 03 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:14.168 | 27 |
| 04 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1:14.449 | 27 |
| 05 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:14.549 | 20 |
| 06 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:14.696 | 25 |
| 07 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:14.886 | 25 |
| 08 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:14.960 | 38 |
| 09 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:15.174 | 33 |
| 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | 1:15.192 | 31 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:15.314 | 38 |
| 12 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus | 1:15.352 | 33 |
| 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:15.379 | 28 |
| 14 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:15.381 | 29 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | 1:15.408 | 32 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:15.413 | 29 |
| 17 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:15.469 | 24 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:15.798 | 34 |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | Manor | 1:17.860 | 23 |
| 20 | Will Stevens | Manor | 1:18.090 | 22 |
