#BrazilGP: @Max33Verstappen takes dominant 17th-victory of the season. #F1 #SaoPauloGP

Verstappen Brazil GP Victory – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtook four-time world champion Alain Prost for fourth on the all-time winners list with 52 victories to his name after taking a dominant win at the Brazil GP having fended off McLaren’s Lando Norris early on.

 

 

This was also Verstappen’s 17^th victory of the 2023 campaign controlling the proceedings from start-to-finish.

 

At the beginning of the formation lap, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who was meant to start on the front row alongside Verstappen lost his hydraulics and spun off into the wall at turn seven, with the Ferrari SF-23 racer sustaining too much damage and was forced to retire before the race began.

 

When the 71-lap Brazil GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen made a solid getaway into the Senna S as McLaren’s Lando Norris jumped past the two Aston Martins into second place meanwhile behind them Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon suffered contact and got clipped by Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who was squeezed by both the Williams and his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen, then Albon went into the path of Magnussen – the pair collided, sending the Williams and other Haas VF-23 into the wall and off the circuit respectively.

 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo were also caught up in the opening incident with both drivers suffering damage to their rear wings by – Magnussen colliding with the former and a tyre carcass from the Albon-Magnussen-Hulkenberg incident got kicked up on the latter’s rear wing respectively and were forced to end their race early.

 

Originally the safety car was deployed before race stewards called for a red flag to remove all the debris and repair the tyre wall on the outside of turn one.

 

The order for the standing start when all continued was Verstappen on pole, Norris second, Hamilton third, Alonso fourth, Stroll fifth, Russell sixth, Perez seventh, Sainz eighth, Ocon ninth and Tsunoda tenth.

 

Both respective teams of Piastri and Ricciardo were pushing to repair their cars to get them out for the restart.

 

When the restart began following the lengthy 25-minute delay, pole-sitter Verstappen got a comfortable lead into turn one, meanwhile Norris had managed to keep Hamilton at bay into the Senna S.

 

On the rundown to turn four, Alonso ran into the slipstream of Hamilton and dived on the inside of the Mercedes to take third place.

 

On lap five, Verstappen held a 0.949 second lead over Norris with Alonso third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth and Perez rounding out the top six runners.

 

On the sixth tour, Verstappen had not escaped the DRS range of a hunting MCL60 of Norris, and with DRS enabled now. Behind them Alonso has dropped back, and so has Hamilton. Russell had DRS, but the Mercedes driver had his hands full with Perez behind in that very rapid RB19.

 

Lap eight saw a fight for the lead mounting as Norris kept pressure on race leader Verstappen with the Briton attempting to make a move on the outside of the Red Bull into turn four, but the Dutchman kept the MCL60 behind.

 

A tour later Norris was too far back behind from Verstappen and by lap ten, Verstappen’s lead increased to 2.052 seconds over the McLaren with Alonso third, Hamilton fourth and his Mercedes team-mate Russell tucked behind him in fifth.

 

On the 11^th lap, sixth-placed Perez was right behind Russell with DRS assistance on the main-straight and had a look into turn one, but the latter covered the Mexican and Russell managed to have DRS from his team-mate on the run-down into turn four.

 

Verstappen, Norris and Perez were well ahead of fourth-placed Hamilton who was managing his tyres after that race-restarting flat spot he suffered into the opening corner with a train of cars behind the Briton.

 

On lap 14, the battle for fifth saw Perez finally with DRS assistance dived up the inside of Russell into the Senna S and moved up to take the position, then on the rundown into turn four, Russell got DRS back and ran wheel-to-wheel alongside the Red Bull being a nudge ahead before Perez made a late lunge into turn four to make the move stick.

 

Lap 17 in the battle for fourth, Perez was right behind the Mercedes of Hamilton and a tour later, with DRS the former got into the slipstream of the seven-time world champion and made the move on the inside into turn one to grab the position and the Mexican managed to cover Hamilton into turn four.

 

On lap 19, Hamilton made his stop for a fresh of mediums and came out in 11^th place behind Hulkenberg.

 

The 20^th tour saw Verstappen’s lead at 2.753 seconds over Norris with Alonso third, Perez fourth as Russell pitted from fifth for a fresh set of mediums and emerged in 11^th behind his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton.

 

A lap later, Perez stopped in an attempt to cover the two Silver Arrows for his set of medium rubber and the Mexican slotted in tenth between the pairing.

 

Perez remained on the tail of Hamilton in the battle for a net-fourth on lap 22 and on the beginning of the next lap with DRS assistance Perez made a move on the outside into turn one, but the Briton covered the RB19 and then on the rundown to turn four, Perez made the move on the Mercedes and jumped into seventh place.

 

On the 25^th tour, Verstappen’s gap in-front was 3.667 seconds over Norris with Alonso third, Sainz fourth, Gasly fifth, Tsunoda sixth and Perez seventh.

 

Lap 26 saw Alonso pit from third for a set of medium rubber and came out in sixth place behind Tsunoda.

 

A tour later Sainz stopped from third for a fresh set of mediums and emerged in ninth place behind Ocon.

 

Lap 28 saw race leader Verstappen and second-placed Norris both pit for mediums and came out clear of the pack.

 

On lap 29 the fight of the two Mercedes began as Russell had a look at team-mate Hamilton for sixth place meanwhile Sainz breezed his way ahead of Alpine’s Ocon before reaching turn one to take eighth.

 

The 31^st tour saw Verstappen’s lead increased to 5.394 seconds over second-placed Norris with Alonso a further 6.177 seconds behind in third, Perez fourth, Stroll fifth and the Mercedes pairing of Hamilton and Russell sixth and seventh respectively.

 

A lap later, Russell drew ever closer to Hamilton, but the latter managed to have enough of a gap to keep his team-mate behind meanwhile Sainz was closing in on the pair of them.

 

Lap 35 saw Sainz right behind the Mercedes of Russell and with DRS assistance got into the slipstream and made the move on the inside before turn one to overtake the F1 W14 for seventh place.

 

A tour later, Sainz was getting closer to the second Silver Arrow of Hamilton in the battle for sixth meanwhile behind them, Tsunoda breezed ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas well before turn four to grab tenth.

 

Lap 37, Sainz made a move around the outside of Hamilton on the rundown into turn four to snatch sixth place from the Briton.

 

On the 40^th tour, Verstappen took the fastest lap from Norris with his lead sitting at 5.104 seconds over the McLaren driver, with Alonso a further 13.175 seconds off in third, Perez fourth and Stroll rounding out the top five whilst Bottas was forced to retire from tenth.

 

Lap 42 saw Gasly starting to close in on Russell for eighth. The gap was down to 1.2 seconds, and Gasly’s medium tyres were seven laps fresher than Russell’s. And Russell was told to lift and coast to cool his engine.

 

The 43^rd lap saw with DRS assistance, Gasly passed Russell on the main-straight before reaching turn one to take eighth from the Briton.

 

Russell stopped from ninth for a set of softs and emerged in 11^th place behind Ocon.

 

Meanwhile Perez, Hamilton and Gasly also pitted a tour later as the trio all came out in seventh, ninth and tenth respectively.

 

A lap later, Alonso reacted to the Mexican by stopping as Perez overtook Tsunoda into turn one for sixth and the Spaniard had the Red Bull well covered as he emerged from the pit-lane meanwhile Hamilton moved in-front of Ocon to take eighth.

 

The order on lap 50 saw Verstappen 6.995 seconds clear of Norris with Stroll third, Sainz fourth, Alonso fifth and Perez sixth as Gasly flew past Hamilton into turn one for seventh place.

 

Sainz pitted from fourth on lap 52 for a set of the C4 red side-walled softs and came out in sixth behind Tsunoda.

 

Stroll pitted a tour later for a set of softs and emerged behind Tsunoda in sixth and in-front of Sainz.

 

On lap 56 in the battle for the final podium place, Perez was much closer to Alonso’s AMR23 and the Spaniard managed to keep the Red Bull at bay into both turns one and four.

 

A tour later Verstappen pitted from the lead for a set of softs as Norris remained on track and out in-front.

 

On lap 58, Mercedes told Russell to retire the car with higher worsening power-unit temperature.

 

Norris pitted from the lead on lap 60 for a set of softs to come out back behind Verstappen as Perez had a look at Alonso at both into turns one and four again and the Spaniard was clever to keep the Red Bull behind.

 

With ten tours remaining Verstappen held a 12.032 second gap over Norris with Alonso third, Perez right on the Aston Martin’s tail in fourth, Stroll fifth as Sainz completed the top six runners.

 

On lap 65, Norris was eating into Verstappen’s lead now, with the gap down to 8.520 seconds, meanwhile Perez was still in DRS range in the battle for the final podium position with Alonso.

 

On the penultimate tour, Perez was much more closer to Alonso in the fight for third and with DRS into turn one, the former made the move to take the position and on the rundown into turn four Alonso attempted to take the place back, but the Red Bull managed to keep the double world champion behind.

 

Verstappen crossed the line to clinch his 17^th victory of the season at the Brazil GP and 8.277 seconds clear of Norris as Alonso reclaimed the final podium place on the rundown into turn four and just held onto the position from the Mexican by a very slim 0.053 seconds as they reached the chequered flag.

 

The second AMR23 of Stroll completed the top five and ahead of Sainz who ended the race sixth after managing a downshift problem and Gasly who placed seventh in the order.

 

Hamilton settled for eighth and in-front of Tsunoda and Ocon who rounded out the top ten.

 

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant finished the Sao Paulo Grand Prix outside the top 10 in 11^th place and ahead of Hulkenberg who took 12^th and Ricciardo and Piastri who were the final runners.

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2023 Brazil GP – The Top Three

 

 

2023 Brazil GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19:

“The starts were very important, both of them were very good. We were good on any tyre; we created a bit of a gap. With the high deg, the focus needed to be there, but luckily it worked out today.”

 

2^nd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team, Mercedes, MCL60, +8.277s:

“Couldn’t have gone much better to be honest, a good start at the beginning to go from sixth to second which was a nice surprise. P2 is as good as we can get for the time being. Max always seemed to have an answer to everything which is a shame, but fair play to him.”

 

3^rd Place – Fernando Alonso, #14, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, Mercedes, AMR23, +34.155s:

“For me it was like 30 laps I had the pressure from Checo. When he passed me with two laps to go, I though the podium was gone. This is a phenomenal result for the team, we’ve been struggling for a few races, two DNFs but this is for them. Happy with this result – and now to Vegas!”

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Formula 1 Rolex Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2023 Race Results Classification (71 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	71	1:26:07.136	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	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	0	DNF	0
NC	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	0	DNF	0
NC	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Norris scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1224/brazil/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings.

 

The penultimate round of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to Las Vegas, Nevada, United States for the first time since 1982 and this time on a street circuit, which features the famous Las Vegas strip for the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023 from Thursday November 16-Saturday November 18.

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