The 2023 Brazil Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 21st round of the 2023 season taking place in Sao Paulo between the 3rd and 5th of November.

The event timetable for the Brazil Grand Prix.

Friday
Practice 11:30 local time - 14:30 GMT
Qual 15:00 local time - 18:00 GMT

Saturday
Sprint Qual 11:00 local time - 14:00 GMT
Sprint Race 15:30 local time - 18:30 GMT

Sunday
Race 14:00 local time - 17:00 GMT

[cmlean]

Practice

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:11.732	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
2	1:11.840	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
3	1:11.865	George Russell	  Mercedes
4	1:11.928	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
5	1:12.044	Alexander Albon	  Williams
6	1:12.136	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
7	1:12.184	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
8	1:12.481	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
9	1:12.579	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
10	1:12.592	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
11	1:12.615	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
12	1:12.638	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
13	1:12.714	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
14	1:12.778	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
15	1:12.779	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
16	1:12.793	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
17	1:13.012	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
18	1:13.056	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
19	1:13.629	Lando Norris	  McLaren
20	1:13.838	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren

[cmlean]

Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:10.727	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:11.021	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
3	1:11.344	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
4	1:11.387	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
5	1:11.469	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
6	1:11.590	George Russell	  Mercedes
7	1:11.987	Lando Norris	  McLaren
8	1:11.989	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
9	1:12.321	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
10	No Time		Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
_________________________________________________________
11	1:10.547	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
12	1:10.562	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
13	1:10.567	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
14	1:10.723	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
15	1:10.840	Alexander Albon	  Williams
_________________________________________________________
16	1:10.837	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
17	1:10.843	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
18	1:10.955	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
19	1:11.035	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
20	1:11.275	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo

[cmlean]

Well, what a qualifying session in which we saw it all.
Q1 and it was a catastrophe for the AlphaTauri duo. Both looked good in practice however didn't deliver when it mattered.
Q2 and the dreaded track limits came back to bite Alex Albon at turn 4.
Q3 was the weathers turn and Max, in his Red Bull, did everything right. Early onto the track and set the benchmark for all to chase.
The team that got it wrong was McLaren who left the pits late and, in Oscar Piastri's case, found the rain in turn 12 and had an off. This also caught out Sergio Perez as he was the next and final car into the sector.

[cmlean]

Sprint Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:10.622	Lando Norris	  McLaren
2	1:10.683	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	1:10.756	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
4	1:10.857	George Russell	  Mercedes
5	1:10.940	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
6	1:11.019	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
7	1:11.077	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
8	1:11.122	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
9	1:11.126	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
10	1:11.189	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
11	1:11.727	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
12	1:11.752	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
13	1:11.822	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
14	1:11.872	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
15	No Time		Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
16	1:12.388	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
17	1:12.482	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
18	1:12.497	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
19	1:12.525	Alexander Albon	  Williams
20	1:12.615	Logan Sargeant	  Williams

[cmlean]

Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso collided coming out of turn 2 at the end of the first session. The Alpine had a moment while on his hot lap and the space left to him became inadequate. Ocon's Alpine ended in the barriers Alonso's Aston Martin couldn't be repaired for the second session.

[cmlean]

Sprint Results

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Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
4	George Russell	  Mercedes
5	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
6	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
7	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
8	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
9	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
10	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
11	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
12	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
13	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
14	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
15	Alexander Albon	  Williams
16	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
17	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
18	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
19	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
20	Logan Sargeant	  Williams

[cmlean]

Race

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Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
4	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
5	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
6	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
7	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
8	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
9	Yuki Tsunoda	  AlphaTauri
10	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
11	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
12	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
13	Daniel Ricciardo  AlphaTauri
14	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
DNF	George Russell	  Mercedes
DNF	Valtteri Bottas	  Alfa Romeo
DNF	Zhou Guanyu	  Alfa Romeo
DNF	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
DNF	Alexander Albon	  Williams
DNS	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari

Next: Round of Las Vegas '23
Date: November 16th-18th

[cmlean]

Unluckiest driver would have to have been Charles Leclerc who had a hydraulics failure on the warm up lap and ended up in the barriers.
Closely following would have to be the Aussie duo. Oscar Piastri was hit in the rear of his McLaren in the melee entering turn 1. The damage enough to initially retire his car only to be given a reprieve, abet one lap down, to rejoin the race after repairs were completed. Daniel Ricciardo also thought he had cleared the incident only to have his rear wing be hit by a tyre carcass and the wing was destroyed. He also retired the car but, after repairs were completed, also rejoined the race one lap down following the red flag to clear the debris off the circuit.