The In Lap: Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Another (and the final) sprint weekend has gone by, and man was this GP unique. I always (rightfully) expect big things from Interlagos, but this weekend proves exactly why the world needs the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Now you might be thinking: "Graham, what? The entire race was boring." And to that I somewhat agree, but it's easy to forget what happened on both Friday AND Saturday that made this weekend so great.

Qualifying on Friday was almost an exact repeat from last year in terms of weather. Cloudy Q1 and Q2, and everyone dashing to get a lap in before the downpour in the beginning of Q3. It was also an exact repeat for McLaren who were busy doing f*ck all instead of sending the boys out on track, leading to a very lackluster P7 and P10 for Lando and Oscar. This was a big hit, because the McLarens had looked exceptionally quick in Free Practice earlier that day. The big winners from qualifying (aside from Max) were surprisingly the Aston Martins after a flawlessly timed release from the pit lane and a car that could make it happen when it mattered. 

But wait, this was just because of the rain right? The Aston can't just magically be quick again... right???

"Right" we all said after a Sprint Shootout that left the two green cars in the bottom quarter of the grid. Alonso made it into SQ2 unlike his teammate Stroll, but was unable to complete a single lap because of a collision from Ocon in SQ1.

**Quick intermission to briefly touch on the Ocon & Alonso collision**

Let's make this quick: Ocon lost the car. He was completely in denial in the post-qualifying interview and it is hilarious. Alonso was NOT on the racing line and if Esteban hadn't lost the car there would be no collision. HOWEVER, Alonso could have been farther to the right than he was as he was in the midst of turning left into the middle of the track. 95% Ocon's fault.

Anyways, the Sprint Shootout was a solid turnaround for McLaren, or more specifically Lando Norris, as he snagged the second 'pole' (is it really a pole?) of his career beating Max Verstappen by 6/100 of a second. Norris was quoted as being surprised on the radio after finding out he got pole as his lap was 'far from perfect,' but nevertheless the team in papaya were once again at the very front of the grid.

Controversially, I thought that the sprint race was fantastic. Sure, Max did his thing, but Lando kept quite solid pace towards the Red Bull. But that's not why it was great. The battles in the midfield were tremendous with overtakes seemingly every ten seconds. It was very interesting comparing the pace between cars, and with Yuki Tsunoda bagging much-needed points for AlphaTauri as he closed in on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the sprint did exactly what it was supposed to do. Entertain. It must be mentioned though that Daniel was SO close to catching Carlos Sainz at the end to snag the last sprint point and it really cements the idea that he's more comfortable than ever in that car.

As for the race on Sunday, the seemingly figured-out pace of each car was turned on its head in several ways. Before the race even started, we got a classic Ferrari disasterclass with Charles Leclerc suffering a hydraulic failure on the formation lap. This sent him into the wall near turn 6, and he would be forced to retire the car despite qualifying P2. 

With a gap where Charles's Ferrari should have been, it opened the door for the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and none other than Lando Norris who had been promoted to P6 after George Russell recieved a 2-place grid penalty for impeding in qualifying. Norris flew straight to the inside line and past Alonso into turn 1, and just as he fended off Lewis Hamilton on the outside line the race was put on hold due to a sloppy crash between Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon. Initially caused by Nico Hulkenberg, Alex's Williams was sent straight into Magnussen's right sidepod sending them both spinning into the outside wall at turn 1. Notably, Daniel Ricciardo suffered major rear wing damage from a flying tyre, and Oscar Piastri had a seemingly random engine problem that required him to head back to the garage alongside Daniel. The race was then red-flagged after two laps under safety car, and after the debris was clean we got what felt like the proper start to the Grand Prix.

Verstappen showed no mercy off the line and got away quickly, but Lando once again had to fend off a quick (but locked up on his front right tyre) Lewis Hamilton on the outside. Lando and Max then took off into a league of their own, leaving P3 as the highest position realistically up for grabs.

Now this is where things got boring (unless you're a die-hard Mercedes hater). The two silver-arrows drivers had a very surprising lack of pace, especially on the medium tyre. They were both passed by Alonso, then Perez, then Sainz, then Gasly. Russell ended up retiring on lap 59, but the highest he could have scored would have been P10 if he was lucky, so it was probably in his best interest to end the day early. 

At the front of the field, Lando would show occasional glimpses of speed against Verstappen, but it always came with a strong and harsh retaliation from the 3-time World Champion. As for the final podium position though, man we did not know what we were in for.

Remember when I made sure the Aston wasn't magically quick again a couple paragraphs back? Yeah, so about that...

Alonso put up an absolute MASTERCLASS of defensive driving against the so-called minister of defense himself, Checo Perez. Don't get me wrong, Checo still had a fantastic race, but Fernando Alonso is NOT the guy you want stuck in front of you fighting for P3, especially when his car can handle it. It ultimately came down to a last-lap showdown between the two, with Alonso triumphantly hanging on by a mere .053 seconds at the line. However it wasn't just Alonso who was driving the wheels off of the Aston today. Lance Stroll managed a P5 finish behind Checo, and I'd say that's his real best finish of the season. (Australia doesn't count in my book, too much based on luck rather than actual driving.) 

The rest of the field came home in relatively unsurprising positions, with the remainder of the top ten coming home as follows: SAI, GAS, HAM, TSU, OCO. Just behind them, Logan Sargeant narrowly missed out on another points finish despite his strategy being one of the worst in the field, so fair credit is due to the young American for really finding pace in that Williams car. I honestly expect (and hope) that he will sign his contract for 2024 sooner than later because the team seem to have a lot of faith in him, and whether or not you'll admit it, he's improved vastly over the last 3 races. 

TEAM CHECK-INS

Red Bull

I'm sure the team from Milton Keynes is already all-in on developing next year's car. Why wouldn't they be? They've found themselves with the most dominant F1 car in history. Point is, I think that the reason Lando was so close today is that they aren't prioritizing race wins and success as much as they were earlier in the season. They have no reason to anyways, both championships are locked up in their favor. As for Checo, this was a much-needed comeback drive to (almost definitely) solidify his spot in second place in the WDC, and I'm glad (not really, like I said I'm here for the drama) that he found his footing this weekend.

Mercedes

Wow. What a weekend to forget. All-around horrible pace from the jump, and you guys are the laughingstock of the grid for the next 2 weeks. The drivers tried their best, but who wouldn't be angry at such an embarrassingly slow car? Hopefully Mercedes can work on their low-downforce setup for Vegas, because lord they're gonna need it if Lewis wants even a sniff at P2 in the championship.

Ferrari

Also a weekend to forget, can't lie. Leclerc crashed before the race even started, and Sainz was getting pressure from an Alpine in the race. Not a good look for the team in red, and I'm sure Leclerc was furious regarding the hydraulic failure. However, I think they're due for a strong comeback at a Vegas track that will likely suit their strengths well.

McLaren

What a weekend of ups and downs. But above all, an INCREDIBLE performance from Lando Norris showing his true capabilities when put in a car that can compete. It's kind of a shame that this insane drive was overshadowed by Alonso's (which was also incredible), because I feel like he isn't getting enough credit for keeping Max on his toes all race. The first win is coming, Lando, and we all can't wait. Oscar kind of flew under the radar all weekend, but not low enough to start reconsidering his talent whatsoever. Excited to see how things pan out for this team in Vegas, and hopefully they can push for a race win considering this bumpy track seems to be one of the very few achilles-heels of the RB19.

Aston Martin

What a weekend. Last week I said that this team was headed downwards fast, but I couldn't have been proved more wrong by this weekend's performance. Alonso outpacing Sergio Perez on sheer racecraft alone was one of the most exciting things we've seen all year, and Stroll seemed to finally carry his weight putting himself back into the top 10 of the championship. Can they hang onto this momentum? Honestly, with Vegas being so reliant on straightline speed, I don't think so. But, this is still a huge (and much-needed) boost in morale for a team that's been down in the dumps in this leg of the season.

Alpine

The cars of Gasly and Ocon were set up differently this weekend with Gasly opting for a more low-downforce setup, and it seems that he made the right call. Ocon barely squeezed into the top 10, but nevertheless this allows for a double-points finish for the French team. They're sitting in no-mans-land in the Constructors' Championship with the neighboring teams 80 points ahead and 80 points behind, but Gasly could shape up to take P10 in the Drivers' Championship back from Lance Stroll if he's lucky. Ocon, you never fail to make a f*cking fool of yourself on AND off track, so I hope you forget about qualifying as quickly as you can for your own sake. Once again a strong contender for Clown of the Week for that incident (and how you handled it) alone.

Williams

Not much you can say when your #1 driver crashes before he can even turn the steering wheel, but Logan Sargeant made the best of a seemingly lacking car in the race. Now I know there were a lot of DNFs, but it was still a quality drive considering the strategy calls. I believe they'll retain 7th in the WCC from AlphaTauri after a strong showing in Vegas, but who knows?

AlphaTauri

Officially pushing themselves clear of Alfa Romeo in the standings, this was all around a good weekend for AlphaTauri. Tsunoda redeemed himself from his blunders in Mexico, and Ricciardo put in some great pace despite starting a lap down. Also, as I said in the recap, Daniel was incredibly close to snagging another point in the sprint race, so despite me no longer thinking he's getting the RB seat for 2024, he's pulling his weight and I'm happy to see it.

Alfa Romeo

It doesn't get worse than a point-less weekend, and to cap it off with a double DNF in the race is quite something. If I were anyone in this team, I'd be counting down the days until it turns into Audi. The only problem is that won't happen for 3 more offseasons. Hang in there boys, or don't. It very well might not be worth it.

Haas

Extremely dumb driving from Hulkenberg indirectly took his teammate out of the race, and he made up for it in no way at all. Poor Magnussen though man, two crashes in a row's gotta suck. Guenther's gotta phone Gene about that one. Anyways, Haas will likely not see a point for the rest of the season, so I really hope they're all in on their 2024 car by now.

RACE RATING & AWARDS

This weekend as a whole was certainly one for the books, but we can't ignore the fact that 90% of the race was a total snoozefest. BUT the parts that weren't extremely boring were a blast to watch, and the battle between Perez and Alonso bumps the rating up at least two points alone.

7/10

Sigma Male Award: Fernando Alonso AND Lando Norris

Clown of the Week Award: Esteban Ocon (especially in his interview)

Juiced Up Team Award: Aston Martin

Change Your F*cking Car Award: Alfa Romeo AND Mercedes

WHAT A STUPID ACTION Award: McLaren bottling the pit release in Q3

[Everyone liked that] Award: George Russell retiring after crying on the radio for 20 laps

*also for anyone who didn't already know, my apologies for missing the out lap this week. i was planning on writing it friday because i didn't realize it was a sprint weekend, and by the time qualifying was over i figured there wasn't really any point. thanks everyone :)