Ahead of today's second session, the air temperature is 21 degrees C, while the track temperature is 35 degrees. It remains very cloud.

As a reminder, only one team has upgrades this weekend, McLaren, which has a new Front Wing, Rear Wing, Beam Wing and Floor Furniture, all of which are for performance as opposed to circuit specific. The completely new front wing design, is aimed at improving flow conditioning towards the floor and bodywork resulting in improved aerodynamic performance, while a new rear wing assembly has been designed aiming to increase aerodynamic load efficiently in all conditions. In conjunction with the rear wing, a new beam wing has been designed for improved interaction and flow conditioning, while a small modification to the floor furniture, will result in better flow conditioning and resultant improvement of aerodynamic performance of the floor.

Norris edged out Antonelli earlier, with Verstappen third ahead of Hamilton and Russell.

With six reserve drivers on duty earlier, this afternoon will see Piastri, Leclerc, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Gasly and Perez get their first taste of Interlagos 2026.

Interestingly, the softs appeared good for a couple of hot laps, unlike the previous two rounds.

Green light and Gasly leads the way, followed by Colapinto, Leclerc, Lindblad and Stroll.

As more drivers head out it is a mixture of hards and mediums.

Gasly posts a 14.165, but Colapinto responds with a 13.873 and Leclerc a 13.247.

Piastri (hard) stops the clock at 13.093, but Bortoleto (hard) has a 12.436 up his sleeve and Antonelli (hard) an 11.857.

Verstappen goes second (12.281) on the medium as teammate Hadjar goes fourth.

Norris (hard) goes second with a 12.110 while Hamilton complains that he is unable to get heat into his tyres. "I'm struggling big time out here," he reports.

Verstappen improves but remains second as Hamilton improves to eighth (12.799) on the mediums.

A 12.033 puts Norris second, 0.176s down on Antonelli.

As a reminder, Russell, who has yet to post a time, has a 5-place grid drop after taking on a new ICE.

Colapinto goes twelfth and Bearman fourteenth. New teammate Camara is currently seventeenth.

After this morning's issue, which sidelined Slater, there is still clearly a problem for what is actually Hulkenberg's car. Indeed, there is talk that he may not participate in this session.

Verstappen consolidates third with a 12.108 as Bortoleto goes fourth with a 12.436.

Russell goes fourth with a 121.252 as Audi reveals an electrical issue with Hulkenberg's car that will not allow it to fire up.

Lawson, Camara and Albon have times deleted, all for track limits in Turn 1.

Add Russell to the list... and the new world champion.

"Massive bottoming, whatever it was," reports Antonelli.

With 38 minutes remaining, Hadjar is the first driver to bolt on a set of softs. He subsequently goes second with an 11.839.

At which point Verstappen, Russell ands Hamilton make the switch to the red-banded rubber, as does Antonelli.

Russell goes purple in S1, and again in S2. At the line he posts an 11.036, as Lawson goes fifth with a 12.042.

Alonso goes tenth (12.538), while Norris goes top with an 11.016 and Hamilton third (11.213).

An 11.022 puts Verstappen second, 0.006s down on Norris, however Antonelli responds with a 10.763.

Piastri goes fifth, ahead of Hamilton and Bortoleto.

Bearman goes ninth with an 11.991 as Albon posts a 12.953 to go 18th.

"I'm not even overdriving and the car's going everywhere," complains Albon.

As Leclerc finally heads out on softs, there is fairly light drizzle in the air. He posts an 11.583 to go seventh, having been impeded by Camara as he went up the hill.

Camara will be investigated for the incident with Leclerc.

Gasly improves to fourteenth as elsewhere attention turns to Sunday.

Most remain on the softs, but Verstappen and Hamilton opt for mediums.

"We'll get back to you," Leclerc is told when he asks what is going on with his engine.

Norris switches to hards, as do Leclerc, Bearman and Colapinto.

Verstappen appears to be morphine into Basil Fawlty as he talks to his clutch, stopping short of threatening it with a good thrashing.

On the softs, is lapping at 15.1, while Antonelli, Hadjar and Russell are all lapping at 15.4. On the mediums, Verstappen is lapping at 15.6 and Hamilton at 15.9.

"Some drizzling reported, interesting conditions for Sunday," Hamilton is told, as Verstappen is in his garage and out of his car. There doesn't appear to be an issue with the car.

Maybe he's gone to find a big branch for that thrashing.

Hamilton switches back to the softs, while Colapinto is on hards.

Other than setting the pace, Antonelli is also leading the way in terms of mileage having completed 33 laps, as have Gasly and Albon. Russell and Hamilton are on 31.

"We have a small issue with Max's steering," confirms Laurent Mekies, "it is not something we can fix in the session. It's not easy for him to deal with it. It is a similar issue to FP1 that we have not been able to fix yet."

The session ends. Antonelli is quickest, ahead of Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc, Bortoleto, Hadjar and Bearman.

Colapinto is eleventh, ahead of Lindblad, Lawson, Gasly, Alonso, Camara, Sainz, Stroll, Albon, Perez, Bottas and Hulkenberg who didn't post a time.