Lewis Hamilton began his championship-winning parade by heading to the top of the time sheets in opening practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who has a fourth star on his crash helmet this weekend to represent his latest world title triumph, arrived here in Sao Paulo in the spotlight following claims that he had avoided a £3.3million VAT charge on his private jet.
But the 32-year-old Englishman put his off-track troubles to one side to end the first session at the summit of the order ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in third.
After sealing the championship with three rounds to spare back in 2015, Hamilton lost the final races to Nico Rosberg - a momentum the German carried over to his title-winning campaign.
But Hamilton has vowed not to make the same mistake this year, and started the penultimate weekend of the season in impressive form as he posted a best lap of one minute and 09.202 seconds at the sun-drenched Interlagos circuit.
INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1): A successful morning for @MercedesAMGF1 #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #FP1 pic.twitter.com/jjzGfH2gPp
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 10, 2017
Hamilton was just over one tenth clear of Bottas with Raikkonen half a second further back. Sebastian Vettel, who led the majority of this year's championship battle before his charge imploded in the Far East, was only sixth in the order after he ran off the road at turn nine.
There was a minor drama for Hamilton, too, after he was edged wide and on to the grass by Renault's Nico Hulkenberg. Hamilton was quick to express his feelings over the team radio. "That was very dangerous of Hulkenberg," the Briton said.
The Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen, a winner in Mexico, and Daniel Ricciardo, who is set to serve a 10-place grid penalty following a series of changes to his engine, finished fourth and fifth respectively.
George Russell, the 19-year-old from King's Lynn, Norfolk, was handed his grand prix berth by Force India here, and he ended the session a commendable 12th. Russell finished 1.8 secs slower than Hamilton and a little more than half a second adrift of Esteban Ocon in the other Force India.
Toro Rosso suffered engine problems on both of their cars with Brendon Hartley's session ending in a plume of smoke before he completed one lap while Pierre Gasly was restricted to just five laps before technical gremlins curtailed his running.
Elsewhere, Felipe Massa was seventh for Williams ahead of his final home race, with McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne eighth and Fernando Alonso 10th.
FP1 times
- 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1min 09.202secs
- 2 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes GP 1:09.329
- 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:09.744
- 4 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:09.750
- 5 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:09.828
- 6 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:09.984
- 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams 1:10.102
- 8 Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:10.402
- 9 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Force India 1:10.454
- 10 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:10.476
- 11 Lance Stroll (Can) Williams 1:10.632
- 12 George Russell (Gbr) Force India 1:11.043
- 13 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Haas F1 1:11.188
- 14 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:11.463
- 15 Carlos Sainz (Spa) Renault 1:11.467
- 16 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:11.608
- 17 Charles Leclerc (Fra) Sauber-Ferrari 1:11.802
- 18 Marcus Ericsson (Swe) Sauber-Ferrari 1:11.898
- 19 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:14.034
- 20 Brendon Hartley (Nzl) Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time
