Max Verstappen fastest in third free practice in Brazil

Published on 07 November 2026 by Florence Cobben

Max Verstappen has claimed the fastest time in the third free practice ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix. On the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Max was one of the first on track, and quickly outpacing the rest of the grid on medium tyres. Once he switched to softs, he once again started lapping faster than the rest of the field. Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris completed the top three.

head of the practice, it’s announced that Max will start at the very back of the Grand Prix. The four-time world champion is adopting a brand new motor, and so will be served a hefty grid penalty. It was following the practices from yesterday that the decisive move was taken. Even though he’s looking at an uphill climb tomorrow, Max sounds optimistic and understanding of the FIA’s rulings.

He’s also not the only driver smiting under a grid penalty. Ferrari-drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will both taken a 10-place grid penalty, while George Russell (Mercedes) drops back five.

The start of FP3 unfolds quietly and predictably. The whole field is on mediums. Max immediately goes fastest, and notes a 1:12.6 time following his first flying lap. He’s on a roll, and improves his time to a 1:12.2, which keeps him happy in second place. Newly crowned world champion Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) is the fastest of the opening phase. His fastest time on the mediums is a noteworthy 75-thousandths seconds faster than Max.

The four-time world champion still has his challenges to overcome. Just like in the first free practice, he struggles with his steering wheel, reporting over the team radio that it feels heavy. "Want to hear something funny? The steering wheel feels really heavy when I want to turn right." Feedback to his joke was predictably dry: his one-liners were better yesterday. Verstappen quips: "Yeah, but the day's still very young."

Halfway through training, Hamilton’s session is prematurely over. Smoke is filling his cockpit, and he’s resigned to park the car once he’s back in the pit lane. Once the car has slowed to a halt, the smoke is very visible. The Brit retires from the session.

In the last quarter-of-an-hour of the session, everyone switches to the soft tyres. Antonelli sharpens his times to 1:11.6, and seems to be the fastest man on soft tyres. But then comes Max. Ofter two green sectors, his third goes purple, making him 26-thousandths of a second faster than the Italian. The top four are separated by only two-tenths from one another. Antonelli is followed by Lando Norris (McLaren), and Russell in fourth. Although the second run on the soft tyres looks promising, no one is able to improve on their initial soft-tyre-run. At the falling go the flag, Max has closed the session in first. The qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix starts at 19.00 CET (Central European Time).

For the Unleash The Lion Brazil Collection and scale models of Max’ Sao Paulo GP helmet, check: https://store.verstappen.com/en/c-19544

Results third free practice Brazil: