#F1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024 Preview. #SaoPauloGP #BrazilGP
Formula 1 Rolex Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2023 Race Start, Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2024 Brazil GP Preview, Sao Paulo GP Preview, Formula 1 Brazil Preview, 2024 F1 Brazil GP Preview.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – After Carlos Sainz claimed victory at a thrilling Mexico GP with Charles Leclerc taking third to bring Ferrari closer in their battle for the Constructor’s with leaders McLaren and Lando Norris finishing second after an early tangle with title-rival Max Verstappen which saw the latter penalised twice, round 21 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the famous Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos) in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Formula 1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024. This marks the 51st running as a round of the world championship since its inception in 1950 and the 40th event to be held at Interlagos. This is also the final part of the triple-header alongside the United States and Mexican Grands Prix and the penultimate race of the season that will feature the F1 100km Sprint Format.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – A look at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, known by its former name Interlagos is a permanent racing circuit located in the city of Sao Paulo in the neighbourhood of Interlagos. The circuit was renamed after Brazilian Formula 1 driver Carlos Pace who was tragically killed in a plane accident.
In 1938 a huge plot of land was bought in Sao Paulo by two property developers whose intention was to build accommodation. Following difficulties partly due to the 1929 stock market crash and one part of the land not being suitable for housing, they decided to build a racing circuit instead. Construction began in 1938, and the track opened in 1940. Sao Paulo grew at a rapid rate and the circuit was quickly surrounded by houses.
In the 1970s when legend Emerson Fittipaldi began to have international success, the Brazilians wanted to host a Grand Prix. In 1971 and 1972 Interlagos hosted non-championship races but in 1973 the track staged its first Grand Prix as part of the world championship.
The track quickly became the locals’ lucky charm, with Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace claiming victories in the 1970s. Interlagos was the scene of Pace’s first and only Formula One victory and following his death in a plane crash the circuit was renamed in his honour.
In 1978 it moved to the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro, but in 1979 Interlagos reclaimed the race back for a couple of years. By 1981 however, Rio de Janeiro had taken the Grand Prix back. When an agreed $15m investment to shorten and smoothen the circuit was made due to recent success of Sao Paulo native Ayrton Senna, the race made its return to Interlagos in 1990 and has stayed as the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix ever since.
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Paces’ natural contours provides a challenging combination of technically demanding medium and low-speed turns linked with high-speed straights and bends. The topography of the circuit means many of these are off camber, increasing the challenge.
A major car setup consideration is the altitude. At 800m, Interlagos is the second highest altitude circuit of the year after the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico and the thinner air in the past led engines to produce 7-8 per cent less power but the 1.6L turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrains have the advantage over its naturally aspirated predecessors due to the turbochargers being able to spin faster to compensate for lower atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. The altitude levels also effect aerodynamic performance too as such teams will run higher downforce packages to cope with inefficiencies. The lack of aerodynamic grip also means that the importance of good mechanical grip is emphasised. The other variable is the weather and conditions at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace which can be hard to predict at times.
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace is 4.309km (2.677 miles) in length with 15 corners and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.
Race distance is 305.909km (190.067 miles) in length with 71 laps in total.
Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest lap record at the circuit with a 1:10.540 set at the 2018 event in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+.
Four-time World Champion Alain Prost holds the record for most Brazilian Grand Prix victories with six.
McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Brazilian Grand Prix with 12 victories.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – Onboard lap of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
Here is the onboard pole lap of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace set at the 2023 event by Max Verstappen in his Oracle Red Bull Racing Honda-RBPT RB19 racer, with the three-time world champion posting a solid 1:10.727. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6QtZ-RQPHE
2024 Brazil GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2021: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2020: Not Held. 2019: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – Tyres
Sole-tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to Brazil the C3 white side-walled Hard rubber, the yellow-marked C4 P-Zero Medium tyres and the C5 red-branded Soft compounds along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.
There will be two sets of C3 Hards, four C4 Mediums and six sets of C5 Soft tyres for all drivers.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS Zones at Interlagos. The first detection point is at the apex of turn two, with the activation point 20 metres after turn three. The second detection zone is 30 metres after turn 13 with the activation point 30 metres after the final corner.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Sainz cruises to dominant Mexican GP victory as Norris/Verstappen tangle
Sainz Mexican GP Victory – Carlos Sainz took a comfortable victory at the Mexican GP for Ferrari for the first time at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez since Alain Prost’s triumph in 1990 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris as Charles Leclerc rounded out the top three for the Scuderia.
The one-three finish for Ferrari brings them to second place in the World Constructor’s Championship standings and down to 29 points in the battle with McLaren as they head to Brazil next weekend.
Norris’s second-placed finish sees him 47 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen who came home sixth in his recovery drive following his two ten-second time penalties for his incidents with the Briton on the opening lap.
When the 71-lap Mexican GP began, pole-sitter Sainz got an equally good start with Verstappen as they ran wheel-to-wheel towards turn one and the latter was a nose ahead into the opening corner.
Sainz ran wide to avoid contact and over the grass to get ahead and then gave the place back to Verstappen.
Behind them both RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Alexander Albon were both in the barriers to bring out the safety car.
Replays showed Tsunoda streaming through as Albon was moving towards the left to avoid contact with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who was drifting left as the former hit Albon’s left wheels and spun into the barriers and down the wall into the opening corner.
Home favourite Sergio Perez was currently under investigation by the stewards for a false start.
The order sequence was Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Magnussen Hulkenberg, Gasly and Lawson in the top ten.
Replays showed that Perez did not jump the start but was rather sitting outside his grid box.
The Mexican was hit with a five-second time penalty for his false starting position on the grid.
When the safety car came in and the race resumed on lap seven, race leader Verstappen broke from the pack out of the turn 13 left-hander in the stadium section as they sling-shot out of the final corner and race down towards turn one.
Verstappen broke the tow, but Sainz’s incredible slip-stream caught up to the Dutchman before they reached the opening corner.
At beginning of the eighth tour, Verstappen’s lead was at 0.898 seconds over Sainz with Norris third, Leclerc fourth, Hamilton fifth as Russell completed the top six.
In the battle for the lead, Sainz a tour later with DRS assistance flew down the main straight and made a dive down the inside of Verstappen into turn one and tried to comeback into turns two and three, but Sainz still had DRS and remained in the lead.
Verstappen complained over the radio of his battery issues.
Behind them a lap later Norris made a move around the outside of Verstappen into the turn four left-hander, but the former had to cut wide across the grass after the Dutchman ran him wide. Norris emerged in the lead but gave the place back to Sainz and Verstappen.
After the close tangle between Verstappen and Norris through the Esses, Leclerc found his way into second place.
The race stewards noted the two separate incidents – one at turn four where Verstappen pushed Norris over the grass and the other at turn eight, where Norris felt he was ahead, but was run wide by Verstappen.
On the 13th tour, Sainz was leading from team-mate Leclerc with Verstappen holding third but with the investigation sitting on the Red Bull driver. Norris fourth followed by the Mercedes pairing of Russell and Hamilton.
Championship leader Verstappen was hit with the 10-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.
Verstappen was given the penalty for forcing Norris off-track at turn four – where the Dutchman forced the McLaren driver onto the grass, which is where Norris went into the lead and ceded to Sainz, but remained in-front of Verstappen, only then to be run wide by the Red Bull driver.
There was also another investigation where more penalties could be coming, and it was at turn eight where Leclerc snuck into second place.
Behind the leaders, Russell had just picked off Hamilton for fifth place.
On the 16th tour, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso retired from his 400th Grand Prix.
A lap later, Sainz held a 1.5 second lead from team-mate Leclerc with the team saying they are free to race. Norris was 1.3 seconds behind Verstappen in fourth. Further back MoneyGram Haas F1 Team Kevin Magnussen was chasing down Hamilton.
On the 19th lap, Perez made a move on RB’s Liam Lawson into turn four, gets ahead but the latter hung it out forced the Mexican wide. Both ran wheel-to-wheel all the way into turns five and six, with Perez running out of grip and squirrelled his way into Russell’s wake.
Perez said, “Is this guy, okay?”
The stewards hit Verstappen with another ten second time penalty for his incident with Norris at turn eight where the Dutchman left the track and gained an advantage.
Perez stopped on the 21st tour for some C4 mediums having sat five seconds, the Mexican came out 17th and last.
Further ahead McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was up into 12th place passing Williams’ Franco Colapinto.
Championship leader Verstappen was told of his penalties to which he responded: “that’s silly man”.
On the 26th lap, Sainz’s lead was 4.823 seconds over Leclerc with Verstappen third, Norris within DRS range of the Red Bull in fourth, Russell fifth as Hamilton completed the top six.
On the 27th tour, Verstappen came into the pits and served his 20-second time penalty, putting on a fresh set of the C3 hards after serving his penalty and came out in 15th place behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
On the lap 29, Hamilton stopped from sixth for his fresh set of hards and emerged in 10th place behind Colapinto.
On the 30th tour, Sainz held a 7.687 second over team-mate Leclerc with Norris third, Russell fourth, Magnussen fifth as the Dane’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg came to pit.
Hulkenberg on a fresh set of hards, came out in 14th behind Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber.
A lap later Norris stopped from third for his fresh set of hards and came out in fourth place behind Russell who is yet-to-pit.
Behind the Briton, with DRS assistance Mercedes’ Hamilton made a move on the inside to pass Colapinto for seventh place.
On the 32nd lap, second-placed Leclerc pitted for his fresh set of hards and remained in second. Russell also stopped for a fresh set of the C3’s and came out in sixth place behind the yet-to-pit Lawson and Piastri.
Lap 33 saw race leader Sainz pit for his fresh set of hards and came out comfortably over nine seconds ahead of team-mate Leclerc.
Behind them Russell on his fresher rubber made short work of Piastri into turn one and then Lawson on the run down into the turn four left hander to swiftly move up into fourth.
Meanwhile in the fight for fifth on lap 35, Hamilton was right behind both Lawson and Piastri into turn one, the latter kept behind the Kiwi, then Piastri made his way past the RB into the turn four left hander and Hamilton followed making a lunge on the VCARB01 into the turn five right hander to grab fifth place.
Then on the main straight, Hamilton with DRS assistance breezed his way ahead of Piastri to jump into fifth.
On lap 37, Sainz’s lead over team-mate Leclerc was sitting at 7.778 seconds with Norris third, Russell fourth as Hamilton rounded out the top five.
On the 38th lap, Verstappen made his way quickly passed Colapinto and Lawson to move into seventh place.
On the 39th lap race leader Sainz said he felt a misfire out of turn three.
Colapinto reported: “Something is wrong with the steering” with the Argentine sitting in eighth meanwhile both Piastri and Lawson both pitted and emerged in 13th and at the rear respectively with the two drivers on the hard and mediums.
On the 41st tour, Sainz’s lead over team-mate Leclerc was 7.134 seconds with Norris third, Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth as Verstappen rounded out the top six.
The clouds were building as Verstappen reported: “It was getting darker” as further back Lawson overtook the Dutchman’s team-mate to move up into 16th.
Russell reported rain drops on his helmet at that time and further back Verstappen was complaining about grip.
On lap 44, in the fight for 11th, Piastri on his fresher rubber, made a move around the outside of Zhou into turn four to take the position off the Chinese driver as the McLaren driver continued his charge.
A tour later, Piastri made his way in-front of Gasly to move back into the points.
On lap 47, race leader Sainz’s lead over Leclerc was down to 6.271 seconds with Norris third and a further 4.505 seconds as the Briton posted the fastest lap of the race. Both Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton were fourth and fifth respectively as Verstappen completed the top six.
Behind them the fight for ninth was on as Piastri was right behind the Williams of Colapinto as the latter managed to keep the Australian behind.
On the 49th lap, the battle was short-lived as the Argentine pitted for his fresh set of C4 mediums and came out in 15th behind Lawson.
On lap 50, Sainz’s lead was 6.488 seconds over team-mate Leclerc with Norris third and a further 3.912 seconds behind the Monegasque with Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth as Verstappen rounded out the top six runners.
The battle for fourth was in full swing as Hamilton in the upgraded Silver Arrow was right on his team-mate Russell who is running the Silverstone-spec F1 W15.
Hamilton had a look on his team-mate in both turn one and later on the run down towards turn four, but Russell covered Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion is close with DRS – but Russell saved his battery and deployed it in defence. As the duo battled, Verstappen was too far back to be involved.
Colapinto pinched the fastest lap off Norris on his fresher tyres down in 15th.
The front runners were starting to catch tailenders on lap 53 as Sainz caught up to the Stroll-Lawson battle, Leclerc picked off Colapinto and Norris is now much closer to the Ferrari as well.
Sainz’s lead over team-mate Leclerc was at 5.2 seconds now as they were negotiating their way through traffic, Norris was a little bit closer to the Ferrari with the gap down to 2.7 seconds. Behind them Hamilton still could not find his way passed Russell.
Sainz’s lead out-front continued to grow and went back up to 7.8 seconds on lap 49, as Leclerc made his way in-front of Stroll and Norris with DRS assistance then overtook the Canadian to get within 1.5 seconds of the Monegasque driver.
Leclerc is told: “We need your best driving now, let’s go.”
Behind them in the battle for fourth, the intra-Mercedes battle was still on as Hamilton done the switch-back on Russell through turns four and five, but the latter kept the seven-time world champion behind once again.
With ten laps remaining, race leader Sainz was 7.417 seconds clear of team-mate Leclerc. Norris was finally in DRS range of the Ferrari with Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth as Verstappen completed the top six.
Norris was only half-a-second off as Leclerc makes an error out of the final corner as he ran wide after the SF-24 wobbled running close to the wall and allowed the McLaren to move into second place.
With six laps left, Sainz’s lead over Norris was 7.563 seconds with Leclerc down in third, Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth as Verstappen completed the top six.
Hamilton with DRS assistance on the main straight made the move around the outside of his team-mate into turn one and moved up into fourth place.
Behind them, in the battle for 12th, Colapinto out-brakes Lawson into turn one and tried to come around the outside. The two tangle and Lawson suffers damage to his front wing.
Lawson pitted for softs and a new front wing to emerge at the back.
With three laps left, Norris punched out another fastest lap at the gap was down to 6.051 seconds as Leclerc was told to pit for a fresh set of softs and go for the fastest lap bonus point.
Sainz crosses the line to take the victory by 4.075 seconds over Norris as Leclerc completed the top three and took the fastest lap bonus point on the final tour.
The two Mercedes followed as Hamilton lead Russell to the line in fourth and fifth respectively as championship leader Verstappen took sixth.
It was a double points haul for Haas as Magnussen and Hulkenberg reached the chequered flag in seventh and ninth respectively as Piastri split the duo in eighth place after an impressive recovery following his shock Q1 exit in qualifying yesterday.
Alpine’s Gasly completed the final points place in tenth as Aston Martin’s Stroll and Williams’ Albon finished in 11th and 12th respectively.
The other Alpine A524 entry of Ocon took 13th and in-front of Sauber pairing Bottas and Zhou came home in 14th and 15th respectively.
RB’s Lawson and home favourite Perez ended the Grand Prix in 16th and at the rear.
2024 Brazil GP Preview – The Situation
The sport’s Americas triple-header draws to a close with the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, as the Sprint gives McLaren’s Lando Norris a major chance to make up more ground on World Driver’s Championship leader Max Verstappen.
Norris re-ignited his title hopes by closing within 47 points of Verstappen after an action-packed and controversial Mexico City GP, in which the Dutchman was hit with two 10-second timed penalties for twice forcing his championship rival off the track.
With just four Grands Prix remaining, Norris must continue to make in-roads, but has two opportunities in Brazil, with the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace keeping it’s status as the only track to have hosted the F1 Sprint since the format was introduced in 2021.
The circuit remains the perfect place for the Sprint given the multiple overtaking opportunities provided, with sensational wheel-to-wheel racing almost guaranteed.
The fight between Verstappen and Norris is not just the plot line to follow, after back-to-back victories for Ferrari, which has brought the Scuderia to within McLaren of 29 points in the World Constructor’s Championship standings.
The F1 Sprint format means the competitive action begins on Friday as Sprint Qualifying takes place after the sole Free Practice session, before the F1 Sprint and Qualifying for the Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of the 71-lap Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.
Max Verstappen returns to Brazil on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 362 points and a 47-point lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris who is second on 315 points whilst Charles Leclerc is a further 71 behind the Dutchman in third on 291 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team comes to Sao Paulo on top of the World Constructors Championship with 566 points and a 29-point advantage over nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 537 points whilst Oracle Red Bull Racing are third and a further 54 behind the Woking based-outfit on 512 points.
Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Lenovo Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2024 weekend begins Friday November 1 with Free Practice 1 and Sprint Qualifying, followed by the 100km F1 Sprint Shootout and Qualifying Saturday November 2 and the 71 lap Race Sunday November 3.
