Max Verstappen's ongoing title battle against Lando Norris has swing in favour of the challenger, with a poor FP1 performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The British driver set the fastest time of the afternoon in the only practice session of the sprint weekend, with Verstappen all the way down in 15th.
Red Bull are already on the back foot this weekend after it was confirmed the reigning champion will be handed a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race after Verstappen's RB20 was fitted with a new internal combustion engine ahead of proceedings in Sao Paulo.
A last-minute lineup change saw Ollie Bearman return to pilot the Haas of Kevin Magnussen after the 32-year-old was taken ill, with team boss Ayao Komatsu revealing to Sky F1 that his sickness had worsened overnight.
Bearman exceeded expectations, coming in third fastest at the end of the session, with the young Brit proving Haas made the correct decision to sign him as part of their 2025 driver lineup.
McLaren continued to look strong heading into the Brazilian GP weekend, with now just four race weekends for either Ferrari or Red Bull to topple them off the top spot in the constructors' standings.