Nico Rosberg set the pace in the opening practice session at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
There were several driver changes for the opening practice session at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace. Felipe Nasr replaced Valtteri Bottas at Williams, Max Verstappen deputised for Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso whilst Daniel Juncadella replaced Sergio Perez at Force India.
Daniil Kvyat had a strong session for Toro Rosso by setting the third quickest time ahead of Fernando Alonso and home-hero Felipe Massa who has won the Brazilian Grand Prix on two previous occasions.
After scoring his first points for Lotus in Austin, Pastor Maldonado was seventh fastest – 1.2 seconds slower than pacesetter Nico Rosberg. Red Bull struggled in the opening practice session at Brazil with Daniel Ricciardo only tenth fastest and Sebastian Vettel in fourteenth.
All of the drivers complained with a lack of grip due to the newly tarmacked surface at Interlagos. Adrian Sutil and Max Verstappen were among a handful of drivers who made mistakes throughout the session.
With thirty minutes remaining, Daniel Juncadella crashed at turn eight which resulted in a red flag. It appeared Juncadella simply lost control of the rear of his car and speared into the barriers. Sergio Perez’s running may be compromised as Force India repair his car during the break between sessions.
Jenson Button suffered an ERS problem on his initial installation lap and did not complete any further laps in FP1.
