The weather forecast for the Brazilian Grand Prix could make interesting reading for Red Bull. Here are the talking points for this weekend’s sprint event at Interlagos.
Cloudy with a chance of championship drama?
Last year’s rain-hit race was the moment Max Verstappen put his fourth world championship victory beyond reasonable doubt. It all seemed to be going against him when he collected a penalty in a Virtual Safety Car period in the sprint race, dropped out in Q1 for the grand prix and missed the chance to take fresh tyres under another VSC period in the grand prix.
But that final development turned out to be a blessing in disguise: the race was red-flagged soon afterwards and Verstappen was able to take fresh tyres and romp to victory while Lando Norris flailed behind him.
A well-timed dose of rain this weekend could be just the tonic Verstappen’s championship hopes need. It’s still early days, but the weather gods appear to be obliging: 70% chance of rain during the sprint race, 43% during the grand prix says one.
Who has the momentum?
“You’ve been on such a run, so much momentum,” Formula 1 presenter James Hinchcliffe told Lando Norris after his Mexican Grand Prix victory. That’s a debatable description of the driver who’d just scored his first win in seven races (including sprint races), particularly as he was standing a short distance from a rival who’s won four of the last six and hasn’t been off the podium since the summer break.
Who really has the momentum in the title fight? It certainly isn’t Oscar Piastri, who has looked out of sorts in the McLaren since his dire weekend in Baku.
Norris has the momentum within McLaren, having out-scored his team mate every time since his car broke down at Zandvoort. But both McLaren drivers cannot afford to take their eyes off Verstappen. Had it not been for that unhelpfully-timed Virtual Safety Car on the penultimate lap in Mexico, he likely would be arriving in Brazil within striking distance of the points lead.
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Bortoleto comes home
Gabriel Bortoleto has been nothing less than a revelation alongside Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber. He’s shown superb pace over a single lap and regularly converted his strong starting positions into points.
His scoring rate slackened slightly heading into Mexico, where he produced a well-timed run into the points ahead of his return home. He will make the first home appearance for a Brazilian driver since Felipe Massa in 2017, and a points finish would surely get a rapturous reception.
Turn one is optional?
One-quarter of the field opted to bypass turn two on the first lap in Mexico to the intense frustration of their rivals. Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and George Russell all complained about race control’s failure to take action. Are they content to let the matter drop, or eager for race control to make changes for the future?
Moreover, what must Piastri think of his approach to turn one in retrospect? He was the only driver who went wide at turn one yet opted to rejoin the track before turn two, a decision which compromised him badly. Surely he regrets not following the likes of Charles Leclerc and rejoining the track ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who delayed his progress for several laps?
Regardless, it would be a surprise if many drivers choose to repeat those tactics this weekend. Cutting the first corner at Interlagos offers much less of an advantage due to the higher corner speeds and is trickier to pull off because the sequence is so steep.
Haas’s late surge
Haas became one of the last teams to introduce an upgrade to their car at their home race in Austin and it paid dividends in Mexico. Oliver Bearman’s fourth place finish matched their best-ever result.
There could be a valuable pay-off if they continue this form. They passed Sauber for eighth place in the constructors’ championship in Mexico and head into the final four rounds within 10 of Racing Bulls and Aston Martin.
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Pirelli goes hard
If the weather turns out to be dry for the race, drivers will have to contend with another change in the tyre allocations for this weekend. Pirelli has nominated the C2, C3 and C4 tyre compounds: there’s no ‘step’ between them as there was in Mexico and Austin, but they are one stage harder than last year. Soft tyres for everyone in the sprint race, then?
Are you going to the Brazilian Grand Prix?
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Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Brazilian Grand Prix? Have your say below.
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