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Formula 1: São Paulo Grand Prix 2023 Recap

lilygilbey
Image shows a Formula 1 car n race track.

Lily Gilbey

Max Verstappen was crowned the winner of the São Paulo Grand Prix, taking home his 17th win of the season.

The Red Bull driver continues to break records, becoming the first driver to ever score over 500 points in just one season. Here is a round-up of the weekend’s exciting action.

Q3 is Abandoned

The weather took a turn for the worse not long into Q3 — with dark, grey clouds beginning to form in the distance. At just 4pm, darkness covered Interlagos.

Verstappen was out first, closely followed by George Russell, attempting to quickly get their times in before the bad weather hit. Verstappen managed to set the fastest time of 1.10.727, securing his 11th pole position.

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Unfortunately, Oscar Piastri — who was second-last out of the pits — spun out as the rain began to fall, resulting in him being placed in 10th for Sunday’s race. Race control then called for a red flag, abandoning the rest of the session. As a result, the top three drivers were: Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Lance Stroll.

Leclerc’s Devastation

The next day started off with heartbreak when Leclerc crashed during the formation lap, after a hydraulics issue with his car. After his crash with Sergio Perez in Mexico the week before, this lap really impacted the Ferrari driver. “I lost the hydraulics,” he explained after the crash. “Why the f*** am I so unlucky?” This is not the first time Leclerc has experienced a technical or mechanical failure this season and as a result, retired from the race.

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A Red Flag

On Sunday, as the big race began, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon collided meters away from the start line, red-flagging the race immediately. As a result of the collision, McLaren’s Piastri suffered rear wing damage and Alpha Tauri’s Daniel Riccardo narrowly missed a tyre to his head. Three cars were pulled of the race before it was fully underway. Luckily for Piastri, he was able to get a new front wing while the safety car was out and was able to re-join the race.

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A Pitiable Drive from Mercedes

Mercedes were the favourites this week, following on from the impeccable drives of Hamilton and Russell in Mexico. In true Mercedes spirit, the weekend started with complaints of problems with the cars underperforming, with Hamilton noting in qualifying that his tyres were “worn to zero”. The British driver managed to grab fifth place, with Russell in eighth, after obtaining a two place grid penalty for impeding.

“I can only feel for the two driving, such a miserable thing.”

Unfortunately, the race on Sunday was just as miserable for the pair. Russell was retired on lap 62 due to the rising temperature of oil becoming a worrying concern, with Hamilton finishing in eighth place — a massive contrast to his second spot in Mexico. Hamilton later described the race as “one to forget”.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principle, expressed his empathy for the two Mercedes drivers, saying: “I can only feel for the two driving, such a miserable thing. It shows how difficult the car is. It’s on a knives edge, we’ve got to develop that better for next year.”

Alonso’s Masterclass

After starting the season strong and then falling off massively, Fernando Alonso gave his all in the São Paulo Grand Prix. With Perez pursuing Alonso from lap 19, he really had to push in order to get the podium finish.

“This is a phenomenal result for the team.”

Eager fans watched as the two battled for third. Alonso held Perez off until lap 70, where Perez finally managed to overtake with DRS. However, a dramatic last lap saw Alonso take back his position and finish 0.053 seconds in front — an incredible drive from both.

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“For me it was like 30 laps when I had the pressure from Checo!” said Alonso on his thrilling finish. “This is a phenomenal result for the team. We have been struggling for a couple of months, especially the last two events with two retirements. So this podium is for them and the whole factory. We keep fighting until the last lap.”

Lando Norris Takes Second

McLaren displayed their dominance throughout the weekend through talented driver Lando Norris. The Brit took second in both the sprint and Sunday’s race. As a result, he was able to surpass Sainz, ranking fifth in the Driver’s Championship with 195 points overall. Norris’ consistency over the last few weeks has shown his skill and determination, ready for the 2024 season.

https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/1721241196830376103

After the race, Norris said: “Very good, couldn’t have gone much better. Good pace, similar to yesterday, which is the main thing, and a much better start to get from sixth to second.”

“It all looked quite good, but with the high deg around here you were constantly correcting the car, so your focus always needed to be there, but luckily it worked out great today,” said Verstappen, this year’s São Paulo Grand Prix winner.

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Featured image courtesy of Joe McGowan via Flickr. No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.

Hi, I'm Lily, and i'm currently studying my Masters Degree in Visual Journalism. My passion for motorsport encouraged me to pursue my journalism career further through my writing.

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