F1 Brazilian Grand Prix Preview

The Formula One season heads toward the third-to-last race of 2023 this weekend at the Interlagos Circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil this weekend.

Last Sunday, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his 16th win of the season at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton finished 13.8 seconds behind Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium.

Verstappen started from third but made quick work of the all-Ferrari front row of Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz on the first lap to take the lead.

The first lap was also notable for the Turn 1 accident between Leclerc and Mexico’s own Sergio Perez. The contact between the two would end Perez’s race almost immediately and put the Guadalajara native in danger of losing 2nd in the driver’s standings.

Other noteworthy performances included AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo placing seventh after a second-row starting spot and McLaren’s Lando Norris coming home in fifth after starting 17th. Norris would also win the Driver of the Day fan vote for his efforts.

With 19 rounds of the championship completed, Brazil’s Interlagos Circuit is next on the slate for the 20 drivers to navigate.

The South American race has always been a fan favorite, and even in a year of dominance and little parity, fans can expect a ton of action throughout the 71-lap event.

Last year, Kevin Magnussen grabbed the first pole in team history for Haas F1, and Mercedes notched their only win of the season with a 1-2 finish and the first career victory for then-first-year Merc driver George Russell.

The race was also infused with in-team controversy as Max Verstappen refused to comply with team orders and let teammate Sergio Perez overtake him for sixth on the final lap.

Verstappen’s decision was made even more perplexing by the fact that he had already locked up the championship while Perez was still fighting with Charles Leclerc for second in the standings. This brought about a lot of questions and concerns regarding the dynamics and relationships within the Red Bull team.

While Verstappen secured his third F1 title in Qatar and Red Bull has almost 400 constructor points over their closest competitor, the battles for positions below the top make this race crucial for many teams and drivers.

Regarding the constructor’s championship, Mercedes leads Ferrari by only 22 points for second place. AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas are fighting for eighth in the teams’ standings, with only four points separating the three outfits.

In the driver standings, Lewis Hamilton sits only 20 points behind Sergio Perez in second place. Fourth place sees a Spanish standoff between Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso as both drivers are even at 183 points a piece.

This weekend includes a sprint race in addition to Sunday’s main event. Therefore, a driver can earn a maximum of 33 points, and a team, up to 58 points between the two races.

With the unpredictability of Interlagos in comparison to other F1 circuits, this may be some teams’ last chance to get valuable points over their competition.

The sprint race runs on Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2:30 p.m. EST, with the green flag for Sunday’s Sao Paulo GP flying at 12 p.m. EST.

Jack Rachinsky is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jjr6682@psu.edu