Brazil GP

FINALLY.

NOT A RED BULL IN SIGHT <3

Race 21 Summary

November 13, 2022

To no surprise, Sao Paulo was the most exciting Grand Prix as a whole. It teased the promise of what the whole 2022 season could have been but wasn’t. You had Kevin Magnussen from Haas secure pole on Friday Qualifying. Then you had a great battle between George and Max for P1 in the sprint, with Carlos and Lewis also in a great battle for P2/P3. That’s 4 different teams fighting for P1 throughout the weekend. Haas didn’t really stand a chance with race pace, but their practice and qualifying pace was impressive the whole weekend. BUT STILL.

Anyways- George Russell finished P1 in the sprint ahead of Carlos Sainz in P2 and Lewis Hamilton in P3. Carlos Sainz took a 5-place grid penalty for an Internal Combustion Engine replacement, which meant he was dropping down the grid. This meant that for the first time this season, Mercedes was starting a race from P1 and P2.

George got off to a great start, with Lewis just behind him. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who started in P3 and P4 respectively, followed quickly behind. On the opening lap, Daniel Ricciardo attempted to send it up the inside of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas; however, he tapped the rear of the Haas car, which caused Magnussen to spin and slide back into Daniel Ricciardo- ending both of their races early. A full safety car was discharged to help clear the incident. On lap 7, the safety car returned to the pits and they were off to the races! George had a great restart, which inherently left his teammate a little vulnerable to the straight-line speed of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. In a classic Max Verstappen move, he braked extremely late, carrying way too much pace into the first corner and edging a nose ahead of Lewis. When he inevitably needed to slow down slightly to attempt to make the turn, Lewis was able to get ahead, only to be hit by Max Verstappen, who still had too much momentum in the first chicane to actually make the turn with Lewis beside him. Max wasted no time expressing his frustration over the radio, claiming Lewis left him “no room” and rhetorically asking “Where did he expect me to go”- oh I don’t know… you could plow into Hamilton, run wide off track, or I guess… Yield?! It’s yet another example of how dangerous of a driver Max Verstappen is, especially when he’s racing Sir Lewis Hamilton. After the contact, the two fell down to around P8/P9 before Max ended up pitting. Later in the SAME opening lap after the safety car, Lando Norris hit Charles Leclerc, sending him into the barriers. The wreck looked like the end to the Ferrari’s race, but before I knew it, the track went green, as Leclerc limped his Ferrari back to the pits. The Stewards had enough, and penalized Ricciardo 3 places for the next race (and his final one in F1 for at least a year), and handed Max and Lando 5-second penalties each for their collisions with Lewis and Charles respectively.

THE END OF THE RACE

On lap 53, Lando Norris had an electrical issue which caused him to pull off the side of the track and retire.  It initially appeared that a Virtual Safety Car would be enough to allow the marshals to clear the car, but the car proved more difficult to move and required a full safety car, which was called out on lap 55.  On lap 60/71, the safety car came in, and drivers went racing again.  Notably, Russell and Hamilton were both on used soft tires, along with the 2 Ferrari drivers.  Perez was on mediums, as he didn’t have any new soft tire s left, which put him at a major pace disadvantage for the final few laps.  Perez had been running in P3, but was immediately under pressure from both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc (who had a stellar recovery drive!). Both Ferraris were able to overtake Perez- Carlos on lap 62 and Charles on lap 64, dropping Perez to P5. On lap 65, Fernando Alonso was able to breeze past Perez, leaving no one between Perez in P6 and teammate Max Verstappen in P7

Max Verstappen, who I believe was on his 2nd set of new soft tires (but regardless he still had the pace advantage), was allowed to overtake his teammate for P6 in order to go chase down Leclerc in P4.  This switch happened on lap 67/71, which didn’t leave much time for Verstappen to catch and pass 2 drivers, even in his rocket ship of a car.  Alonso was flying too, so Verstappen could only manage to get within a second of him on the final lap, and was instructed to give his place back to Checo.  Max and Red Bull have already clinched their championships, but Checo is in a tight battle with Charles Leclerc for P2 in the Drivers Championship.  Max Verstappen hit the checkered flag still ahead of his teammate.  When he was asked what happened by his race engineer, he said this.

The Silver Arrows were leading the charge out front. George got off to another good restart, but Lewis was right on his heels. Despite his best efforts, and both drivers being on the same compound of tires, Lewis just could quite catch George for an opportunity for P1. Hamilton would finish about 1.5 seconds behind his teammate. George Russell, who could have won when he filled in for Lewis Hamilton in 2020 when he had COVID, finally won his first F1 race, and gave Merc their first (and potentially only win) this season. Sao Paulo sure is special…

FAVE CREATORS

Quick Stop F1: Sao Paulo GP Review. “This week, Nyasha and Thandie are joined by everyone's favourite guest TOMImusic to break down an enthralling Sao Paulo GP in Brazil! We discuss Daniel Ricciardo's fall of and impending exit and absolutely nothing else. Only joking, obviously there's a deep dive into the psyche of Max Verstappen, his family, his teammate Sergio Perez and pretty much everything he did wrong this weekend.”

On the Chicane: 2022 Brazil GP Race Review. “Paris and Marium break down the Brazillian GP at Interlagos in Sao Paulo. A spectacular race weekend, where Russel flew and Verstappen fell. We're still not sold on Sprints (unless they are at Brazil!).”

>SILVER ARROW POINTS

>Hallelujah!

>We weren’t sure if Mercedes would even win a race this year, so to have a 1-2 finish this season is truly a testament to the hard work of ENTIRE team.

>I’m just so happy, here are a few pics to commemorate the race:

THE CONTROVERSY

As I mentioned above, there was some definite tension between Max and Checo at the end of the race. In Max’s radio message, he alluded to “reasons” for not wanting to help his teammate. Red Bull is choosing not to clarify what those reasons are (which I understand), so many fans and commentators are speculating that it has to do with Monaco Qualifying from earlier this year.

With around 30 seconds to go in Q3 of qualifying, Max and Charles were improving their times, but Checo lost the rear, hitting the wall before the tunnel.  Due to the tight nature of the circuit, Sainz was unable to see the yellow flags before it was too late, causing him to run into Perez.  With only seconds to go, the Red Flag ended qualifying- putting Charles on pole, Carlos P2, Checo P3, and Max P4.

Brad Philpot did a great breakdown of what the data revealed from the crash during qualifying, and I highly recommend watching his video.

Now, I didn’t initially believe the conspiracy, but the data is pretty damning. However, there are still a few things that don’t add up for me, and I’ll explain why that doesn’t even matter.

I still don’t understand why this is just now an issue with Max… After Monaco, Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, wrote a blog post on Max’s website criticizing Red Bull and Checo for the weekend, but Max never really addressed it. In fact, after qualifying, Max seemed like he was in good spirits considering he missed out on a crucial pole for Monaco. The rumor is that Checo admitted to the intentional crash, which I just can’t imagine would happen. Even if the team bosses were aware of Checo’s sabotage, why on Earth would Red Bull, the team who doesn’t believe in second chances, let him continue to drive without consequence? I just find the whole situation odd considering just how much that organization worships Max, which leads me to my next point.

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF CHECO INTENTIONALLY CRASHED OR NOT. (okay, let me clarify that if it is true, that’s obviously extremely unsafe, and should be looked into). But, for Max’s purposes during the Brazil GP, it didn’t matter what Checo had or hadn’t done. It was on Max to be the bigger man, and do as his team instructed to help his teammate. Instead, he demand he never be asked that again, and reminded the team that he had his reasons. The team seemed frustrated with Max after the race, but have quickly taken his side- fully agreeing with his reasons. It’s not on your driver to make the situation right. If there was an issue between the two that you were aware of, you better be trying everything to ensure it doesn’t spill over onto the track. Because now what happens? Max feels satisfied with his retribution, but what about Checo? What if he loses out to Leclerc for P2 in the Drivers Championship… do you really think he’s gonna have the team spirit next year? An eye for an eye, right? If Red Bull doesn’t sort this out quickly, they could have a tense 2023 on their hands.

My final word on the matter- Max’s job is to be the leader the media tries to paint him to be. Pundits spent the whole year claiming he has “matured” this season, only for him to throw any semblance of maturity out the window at Brazil (but to be clear… I knew he was mature.) Any “punishment” for Checo should be delivered by Red Bull or the FIA, not on track by a teammate. Period.

Looking ahead…

We have one more race to go, and it’s a return to the scene of the crime. Friendly reminder that Abu Dhabi 2021 was a sham, and Lewis Hamilton was robbed of his 8th title.

As far as 2022 goes, Lewis has one more shot at victory. Hoping for a miracle in Abu Dhabi…