Sao Paulo Race Reaction
Image: Aston Martin F1
The latest outing in Sao Paulo saw Max Verstappen take his 52nd victory, Lando Norris claim a surprising pole position, and a tense battle between two amazing drivers. With the final sprint race weekend of the season giving us so much to analyse, let’s dive right in.
Qualifying
The Friday qualifying session at Interlagos was a hectic one with torrential rain storms delaying the start of the session. The ever-evolving track conditions proved tricky for the grid to navigate as drivers struggled to set an error-free lap. The Alpha Tauri cars, after such a spellbinding performance in Austin, were both knocked out in Q1. The Alfa Romeo cars also failed to make Q2 as both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu didn’t manage to put in quick laps.
The drivers knocked out in Q1 were: Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Bottas, Sargeant, and Zhou
Alex Albon had a nightmare Q2 as the Thai driver had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him P15. The Alpine and Haas cars also couldn’t make it out of Q2, giving Aston Martin its first double Q3 appearance in a very long time.
The drivers out in Q2 were: Hulkenberg, Ocon, Gasly, Magnussen, and Albon
Image: Formula One Management
With dark skies looming, looking something like a movie, the drivers were cautious of the inbound rain that was set to pour in great quantities over the track. Verstappen set a steaming lap early on, securing his 31st career pole position.
His teammate Sergio Perez could only manage ninth, however, owing for another comeback drive for the Mexican driver. Piastri had a moment on one of his laps. This left the grid order mixed up with Aston Martin locking out the second row, with Fernando Alonso P4 and Lance Stroll an amazing P3, his highest result since his surprise pole position at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix.
George Russell was given a two-place grid drop for impeding drivers at the pit lane exit, leaving him P8 on Sunday’s grid.
Your top ten at the end of qualifying was: Verstappen, Leclerc, Stroll, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell (+2), Norris, Sainz, Perez, and Piastri.
Sprint Race
The opening few laps of the sprint qualifying shootout saw a strange incident between old teammates Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon – both drivers blamed each other for the crash. Norris took a commanding pole position ahead of Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
The start of the sprint race was as predictable as ever with Verstappen diving down the inside of Norris at Turn 1 and disappearing for the remainder of the race. The Mercedes cars seemed to struggle with tyre wear, as proved by Lewis Hamilton’s drop in pace, finishing behind Yuki Tsunoda in P7. His teammate, George Russell, had a slightly better race but just missed out on a podium to Sergio Perez, who desperately needed a result like this.
To The Max
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
It was a commanding performance from Max Verstappen, taking a record-breaking 17th win of the season. Pulling away from pole position on the grid on Lap 1, his lead seemed almost insurmountable. That was until Lando Norris had an excellent run on the Dutchman in the following laps but ultimately failed to pass him, leaving the Brit to settle for yet another P2 finish.
Red Bull had another stellar weekend with Perez almost back to his regular form, finishing in fourth, just behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. With Verstappen claiming his 52nd career win, he now places fourth in the all-time win standings, just between Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel.
Only two races remain for Perez to waive off the threat of Lewis Hamilton overtaking him for second place in the drivers’ standings.
Mercedes’ Mess?
Image: Mercedes-AMG F1
After a convincing spell of performances, Mercedes’ pace in Sao Paulo seemed unusual. With Lewis Hamilton praising his W14 Mercedes just a few races ago, Hamilton’s opinion on his car has changed completely.
“Only a couple more races with this car and it’s gone, and I’ll be happy!”
Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, had an equally horrible weekend with the Brit suffering a DNF due to worsening power unit oil temperature. The race seemed to go from bad to worse for Mercedes as both drivers tumbled down the order with Hamilton being overtaken by Perez, Stroll, Sainz, and even Pierre Gasly,
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff billed the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix “the worst weekend in 13 years” which sets reasonable doubt over Mercedes’ outlook for the two remaining races of the 2023 season and beyond.
El Padre
Image: Aston Martin F1
