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Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2023 - Results
Interlagos delivers again! Great weekend.
Two weeks until Las Vegas, Nov. 16-19. Which I'll be at -- Well, at least FP1!
Remember, this is an unusual one since it's a Saturday night race.
Results for both the GP and the Sprint Race from yesterday below.
GRAND PRIX Results -- SPOILER
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 71 | 1:56:48.894 | 25 |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 71 | +8.277s | 19 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 71 | +34.155s | 15 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 71 | +34.208s | 12 |
| 5 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 71 | +40.845s | 10 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 71 | +50.188s | 8 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 71 | +56.093s | 6 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 71 | +62.859s | 4 |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 71 | +69.880s | 2 |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 70 | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 13 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 70 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 14 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 69 | +2 laps | 0 |
| NC | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 57 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 39 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 22 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 0 | DNS | 0 |
Fastest Lap: Lando Norris
Source: F1.com
SPRINT RACE Results -- SPOILER
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 24 | 30:07.209 | 8 |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 24 | +4.287s | 7 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 24 | +13.617s | 6 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 24 | +25.879s | 5 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 24 | +28.560s | 4 |
| 6 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 24 | +29.210s | 3 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 24 | +34.726s | 2 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 24 | +35.106s | 1 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 24 | +35.303s | 0 |
| 10 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 24 | +38.219s | 0 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 24 | +39.061s | 0 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 24 | +39.478s | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 24 | +40.621s | 0 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 24 | +42.848s | 0 |
| 15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 24 | +43.394s | 0 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 24 | +56.507s | 0 |
| 17 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 24 | +58.723s | 0 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 24 | +60.330s | 0 |
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 24 | +60.749s | 0 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 24 | +60.945s | 0 |
Source: F1.com
Enjoy the break!
Awesome shootout between Alonso and Perez at the end, and the start was wild. Rest of the race was a bit boring.
Really great defense from ALO there! I was gunning for him for sure. It was such a performance I even stuck around to make sure I heard his post-race interview (which I've been thoroughly ambivalent of throughout the 2023 VER show)!
Leclerc, man… what can you even say. It’s a cruel joke at this point, poor guy.
The battle at the end for third was great on the one hand, but it really also just exposed Perez a bit imo. It’s like he never deviates from his one overtake strategy, and just keeps falling for the same trick over and over again. Glad to see Aston back in some form, even if I think the setup issues due to sprint format probably had a lot to do with it.
Pérez did a good job, but at the end of the day, if anyone can expose pretty much anyone on the grid, I think it's Alonso. There's nothing to be ashamed of, even, it's Alonso. I think him, Verstappen and Hamilton could school anyone on the grid right now in equal machinery. Pérez really needed to lay it all on the line in those final laps and make the pass impossible for Alonso, because anyone could see Alonso was going to push all the way to the limit to get past.
I was on reddit (I know, I know...) after the race and lots of people were jumping on Perez still for allowing Alonso to pass him up. But it's Alonso. And he's in a resurgent, improved AM. Alonso is literally the most experienced driver on track, a 2x WDC. Yes, Perez is in one of two best cars on the field, but I think it's still difficult to keep Alonso behind.
I could be wrong (I don't know tracks well enough), but it also seems like Interlagos' DRS zones are placed in such a way to encourage those kinds of back and forth, where if a driver gets overtaken, that driver still has a chance to get the place back with DRS. I feel like we saw that several times during this weekend's sprint and grand prix.
So yeah, I agree, Perez did as best as he could, against a very formidable opponent. And to be fair, he did what he needed to to: End up ahead of Hamilton, to score more points and keep his P2 in the WDC for now.
Interlagos is unique (by which I mean better) in that its two close together DRS zones have different detection points. The first DRS straight is longer, but if a car gets overtaken on it, they get a chance to fight back on the next straight. Compare this to Mexico, which has two DRS straights with one detection, so the car that overtakes in the first just flies away in the second.
What's the point of just one detection zone for multiple zones? I've seen that at other tracks, too, and it always looked weird to me.
In Mexico (and most other tracks with doubled DRS with single detection point) it’s basically a matter of overtaking being pretty difficult and neither DRS straight being super long on its own, and there not being enough of a distance between the two zones to assess a gap between cars properly. In Mexico specifically, the altitude also makes DRS very weak so it doesn’t actually end up mattering that much anyway.
Norris had great place this weekend. When the improvement keeps up they may challenge Max for the win by the final race
Ferrari has squandered their chances at a second place in the WDC with this DNS. Not that I was too hopeful, but maybe if Sainz's fuel system didn't decide to go on strike in Qatar, coupled with Leclerc's advantageous start position, Ferrari could take this to the last race of the season.
It's just weird because no other team is having that much unluckiness with reliability before a race even starts, even Ferrari's customer teams (which are admittedly doing just as bad if not worse during races). A driver crashing out during the formation lap in a dramatic way due to a mechanical fault is such a glaringly unusual sight that it should warrant some self-questioning at Maranello.
I loved the DRS zones, and their dynamic. You had to nail the Senna S, otherwise the next DRS zone would expose you, so any overtake had to be spot on, and you couldn’t relax. The Alonso-Perez battle epitomised that perfectly with Perez’ mistake being exploited by the lion.