Hamilton and Bottas keep Mercedes in driving seat

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix last night, keeping Mercedes with the edge in the fight for the F1 constructors’ championship.

Bottas edged his Mercedes team-mate on a warminterlagostrack.the Finnish driver had a lap of 1 minute, 08.846 seconds in the second practice session at the Sao Paulo circuit, with world champion Hamilton only 0.003 seconds behind.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished third, 0.073 seconds from Bottas. The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen ended in fourth and fifth places, respectively, and Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was sixth.

Mercedes lead Ferrari in the constructor’s championship by 55 points.

Bottas could not say what made the small difference between him and fivetime champion Hamilton. He insisted the two Mercedes will have to improve to secure the constructors’ title.

“We can’t be feeling satisfied going to the hotel tonight, everyone will be working,” said Bottas, currently fourth in the drivers’ championship. “It is a short track, so the margin for improvement is small.”

Hamilton said he expects the biggest challenge coming from Ferrari, not Red Bull. He said “the car is feeling better than in Mexico,” where he secured his title two weeks ago.

Vettel said his performance was troubled by a screw that fell between his legs during the afternoon session. “We found it in the end!” the four-time champion said. “We still have to improve the car because it doesn’t feel good yet.

“If we get the balance in the window tomorrow, then it can be tight [against Mercedes].”