SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Max Verstappen topped a tight opening practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton within one tenth of a second of his quickest time.

Verstappen's headline time of 1:09.011 set the benchmark in the opening session but was almost matched by the quickest Ferrari and Mercedes. During Thursday's media day, Verstappen played down Red Bull's chances of repeating his triumph at the Mexican Grand Prix two weeks ago, but his strong start will lead to optimism of a three-way fight continuing throughout the weekend.

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Vettel, who won at Interlagos last year, hooked together a nice lap to edge out the man who beat him to this year's title. Hamilton is returning to Interlagos ten years after securing the first of his five world championships in Sao Paulo at one of F1's most dramatic title deciders ever.

The nearest man to the top three, Daniel Ricciardo, was 0.3s back and came into the session already knowing his weekend has been hindered by a grid penalty he will serve on Sunday. The Australian will drop five places from wherever he qualifies on Saturday afternoon after Red Bull was forced to change the turbocharger in his Red Bull. Behind Ricciardo was Finnish pair Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, who finished 0.5s behind their respective Ferrari and Mercedes teammates.

Haas made a fast start to the weekend and saw its cars occupy the 'best of the rest' positions behind the top three, with Romain Grosjean leading teammate Kevin Magnussen. Sauber's Charles Leclerc was ninth, marginally ahead of Force India's Esteban Ocon. Renault has been comfortably best of the rest at the last two races but it looks like it will be sucked into a tight midfield fight this weekend, with Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg settling for 11th and 12th.

Antonio Giovinazzi took Marcus Ericsson's spot in the session as he continues his preparations for his 2019 season with Sauber. The Italian finished 13th ahead of Williams driver Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly.

Another FP1 stand-in was next up; Lando Norris took Fernando Alonso's place for McLaren. British youngster Norris will take part in his rookie campaign next year alongside Sainz, who will join McLaren from Renault, while Alonso continues pursuing opportunities away from F1. McLaren's other outgoing driver, Stoffel Vandoorne, was 19th.

Sergey Sirotkin was 17th for Williams ahead of under-pressure Brendon Hartley, who still appears to be attempting to prove to Toro Rosso he deserves another chance with the team in 2019. Force India's Nicholas Latifi stepped in for Sergio Perez and finished bottom of the order.