Formula 1 Heineken Sao Paulo GP 2021 Preview – #F1 #SaoPauloGP #BrazilianGP
Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio Dos Brasil 2019 Race Start, Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos), Sao Paulo, Brazil. Image credit to Reuters. Sao Paulo GP Preview, 2021 Brazilian GP Preview.
After Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory at the Mexican Grand Prix to extend his championship-lead over Lewis Hamilton, round 19 of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the popular Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Formula 1 Grande Premio Heineken De Sao Paulo 2021. This marks the 48th running as a round of the world championship since its inception in 1950 and the 37th event to be held at Interlagos. This is also the second-race of the final triple-header in the 2021 schedule and the final Grand Prix that will feature the Sprint Format this season.
2021 Sao Paulo 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.
2021 Sao Paulo 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 2019 event by Max Verstappen in his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda RB15, with the Dutchman posting a solid 1:07.508. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9bMGzQZ00g
2021 Sao Paulo GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2020: Not Held. 2019: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.
2021 Sao Paulo GP Preview – Tyres
Sole-tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to Brazil the C2 white side-walled Hard rubber, the yellow-marked C3 P-Zero Medium tyres and the C4 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 C2 Hards, four C3 Mediums and six sets of C4 Soft tyres for all drivers.
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.
Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen extends title-lead with dominant Mexican GP victory
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant victory at the Mexican GP extending his Driver’s Championship lead over Lewis Hamilton who came home second after the Dutchman placed a solid first corner move over the Mercedes, and it all went wrong for pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas.
Sergio Perez brought his Red Bull third after Hamilton fended off the Mexican’s two stints with a tyre-life advantage over the Silver Arrows.
When the 71-lap Mexican GP began, Hamilton got a great launch off the line to get alongside Bottas on the inside rundown to the right-hand first corner, whilst Verstappen closed in with the slipstream and swept around the outside of both Mercedes to take the lead.
As Verstappen lead Hamilton into the second corner, drama unfolded behind them as Bottas was tapped into a spin by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered a heavy lock-up into turn one.
As the Mercedes spun around, Perez cut across the inside to Bottas’s left, with the track limits infringement rule that Hamilton was in breach of in FP1 was suspended for the opening tour following a late order from F1 Race Director Michael Masi, with the rest of the field getting their way around.
In the opening lap chaos, Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon was sandwiched between AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher – the damage put Tsunoda out of the race at turn two and left the Haas spotted just past the third corner exit leading onto the second straight.
The safety car was deployed so the wreckage could be removed, with Bottas stopping at the back of the pack to switch the C3 yellow-marked medium compounds for a set of hards.
Just before the restart, Verstappen dropped Hamilton as he sped through the final sequence of stadium section and already had a 0.9 second gap as the race fully resumed on the fifth lap.
From there, the Red Bull driver pulled clear of his championship rival, lapping in the mid 1:21’s as Hamilton began his initial stint lapping in the low 1:22’s, and continuing to pick up his pace – momentarily breaking into the high 1:20’s – with a string of fastest laps in the 10 tours that followed the safety car being brought in.
By the 15th lap, Verstappen was 5.4 seconds clear, which he extended to almost ten seconds – with no pressure from behind – by the time the Dutchman pitted on the 33rd tour.
As Verstappen moved off into the distance, Hamilton was soon under pressure to keep a gap from Perez, who remained two seconds behind the Briton throughout the initial stint, despite being urged by his race engineer to close up to the Mercedes.
Hamilton was the first of the leader to pit for harder tyres, four tours before Verstappen – just as Perez cut the gap to 1.5 seconds behind.
Whilst Red Bull left Verstappen out a little longer, it left Perez out 11 tours longer than Hamilton’s stop – setting up a better tyre-life off-set advantage for the second stage of the Grand Prix.
At the beginning of the 42nd tour, Perez’s out lap, Verstappen lead Hamilton by 9.8 seconds, with Perez facing a 9.5 second gap to chase the Mercedes down over the rest of proceedings.
Verstappen, completely trouble-free in the lead, stably pulled clear from Hamilton over the second stint to take a solid Mexican GP victory by 16.555 seconds.
The main focus remained on Perez’s attempts to catch Hamilton, which the home favourite did so solidly during the first phase after stopping – the gap between them down to 5.7 seconds at the end of the 50th tour as the Red Bull driver regularly lapped in the 1:19’s to Hamilton’s low 1:20’s.
Mercedes believed the second Red Bull would be close enough to make an overtake on the last tour, but Perez’s pace was so solid he closed within DRS range on the 61st lap.
At this phase, Hamilton was running behind the lapped McLaren of Lando Norris, who had enough pace to remain out of blue flag range for a few tours, which helped Perez’s pursuit.
But when the McLaren moved aside on the 62nd lap, Perez fell out of DRS range behind Hamilton, who was displaying solid straight-line speed – as Mercedes had all weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
This halted Perez’s charge and the Mexican fell back again as the duo made their way through backmarkers – including Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso and the twice-lapped Williams of George Russell (16th at the end of the Grand Prix).
Perez closed in again on Hamilton again to run within a second of the Briton on the final tour, but his look up the inside of the fourth corner was never really close enough to threaten Hamilton’s position and the Mexican came home in third place and 1.1 seconds behind.
Verstappen’s gap had been a high as 20 seconds, but when Mercedes called Bottas in for a third time to snatch the fastest lap bonus point from the Dutchman, the pairing were suddenly close on track and momentarily held each other up.
Bottas two laps down having chased Ricciardo on the outside of the top ten in the initial phase of the Grand Prix, losing further ground with a second slower stop to put back on the medium rubber at the halfway point.
He took one lap back by-passing Verstappen, who then lapped Bottas again – with Mercedes then deciding to stop Bottas again for a fourth time to grab the fastest lap on the final lap, which Bottas, in 15th place, clinched with a 1:17.774 – although no point would be awarded due to the Finn finishing outside the top ten.
Behind the leaders, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took a solid fourth place – running a quiet race ahead of the two Ferrari’s.
Charles Leclerc was lead driver for the Scuderia taking fifth – after being allowed back past team-mate Carlos Sainz later on, as the duo had already swapped to allow the Spaniard the opportunity to close in on Gasly after he completed a lengthy initial stint.
But when that did not work out, Leclerc who gained ground in the opening corner sequence – where both Ferrari’s were off the track at one point – was given back the place ahead of the finish as the last driver to finish on the lead lap.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel came seventh in-front of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen, with Alonso ninth and Norris rounding out the top ten.
The other Alfa C41 entry of Antonio Giovinazzi finished in 11th and ahead of McLaren’s Ricciardo who was 12th, Alpine’s Ocon who took 13th and the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in 14th place.
The aforementioned Bottas came a low 15th in-front of Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi who were 16th and 17th respectively as Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin brought up the rear and 3 laps down from the lead.
Sao Paulo GP Preview – The Situation
Max Verstappen returns to Brazil on top of World Driver’s Championship with 312.5 points and a 19-point lead over title-rival Lewis Hamilton who is second on 293.5 points while Valtteri Bottas is a further 127.5 behind the Briton in third on 185 points.
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team comes to Sao Paulo sitting on top of the World Constructors Championship with 478.5 points and a one-point advantage over nearest rivals Red Bull Racing who are second on 477.5 points whilst Ferrari are third and a further 210 behind the Silver Arrows on 268.5 points.
Click here for the 2021 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio De Sao Paulo 2021 weekend begins Friday November 12 with Free Practice 1 and Qualifying, followed by Free Practice 2 and the Qualifying Sprint Race Saturday November 13 and the 71 lap Race Sunday November 14.
