Everything you need to know about the coming 2023 Brazilian F1 GP

The 2023 Formula 1 season is getting closer to its end and one of the chapters that we will be closing in the upcoming weekend will be the Sprint format, which says goodbye to the 2023 campaign with the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Will Mercedes pull it of again?

The race at Interlagos will be the sixth and final weekend with the Sprint format in the 2023 F1 season and it could be a weekend with lots of entertainment and perhaps a different pecking order than we've seen throughout the season.

Red Bull's dominance has allowed Max Verstappen, the Drivers' champion, to have 16 victories already this season, in only 19 Grands Prix. With a victory in Brazil, Verstappen will have 32 in the last two seasons, which matches Fernando Alonso's tally for his entire F1 career.

Red Bull and the Dutchman have already sealed the two titles, but there are still some fights throughout the grid, mainly with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton (220 points) looking to take Red Bull's Sergio Pérez's second place in the standings. Although Mercedes has had arguably the fourth-best car throughout the season, Hamilton is only 20 points behind the Mexican racer.

Another driver who's been climbing in the standings as of late is McLaren's Lando Norris, who has taken advantage of the team's resurgence since Austria and is currently sixth in the WDC, only 14 points behind Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin). In Sainz's case, he's been consistent in the second half of the season and tied Alonso's tally in the last race in Mexico.

In terms of teams, Red Bull is the undisputed champion, but Mercedes and Ferrari continue their struggle for second place. Ferrari is 22 points behind Mercedes but needs to quickly get close to the German brand, as the season's end is getting closer. McLaren, on its side, has definitely put Aston Martin away in the fight for P4 in the WCC, as a 20-point gap is certainly likely to increase by the year's finale.

Daniel Ricciardo's impeccable performance for AlphaTauri in Mexico meant that the team went up a couple of places in the WCC and is now eighth, leaving Haas in last place.

2023 Sao Paulo GP Facts & Figures

The 2023 edition will be the third of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the 50th Formula 1 World Championship race held in Brazil.

The first Formula 1 race in Brazil was won by Carlos Reutemann in 1972 for Brabham, but the event was not part of the World Championship.

The first Brazilian GP that was part of the Formula 1 World Championship calendar came in 1973, at Interlagos. Emerson Fittipaldi took two famous wins at home in 1973 and 1974, with Lotus and McLaren, respectively.

The GP was again won by a Brazilian in its third edition, with José Carlos Pace winning for Brabham at the track that is now named after him. Niki Lauda won in 1976 for Ferrari, while Reutemann won again in Brazil in 1977 and 1978, with the 1978 race celebrated at Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepaguá Circuit, giving three straight wins in the country to Ferrari.

The event returned to the criticized, bumpy Interlagos for 1979 and 1980, with Jacques Laffite and Rene Arnoux winning for Ligier and Renault, respectively.

The Brazilian Grand Prix moved from Sao Paulo to Rio for the events held between 1981 and 1989 due to safety concerns regarding the Interlagos asphalt, and the overall facilities. At Rio, Nelson Piquet’s home, the event was very popular, and it produced some controversial situations early.

Reutemann won in 1981 ahead of his teammate and reigning champion Alan Jones after ignoring team orders to let the Australian by. Then, Piquet won at home in 1982, but the Brazilian driver and second-placed finisher Keke Rosberg were disqualified due to the water-cooled brakes of their Brabham and Williams cars, respectively.

The disqualification came during a heated point of the war between the Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) and the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA). FISA was a subcommittee of the FIA that was the governing body of F1 and motor racing.

The events of the 1982 Brazilian GP led to the boycott of the FOCA teams of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, won by Ferrari driver Didier Pironi ahead of Gilles Villeneuve, which started another war that ended with unfortunate situations.

Prost was named the 1982 winner for Renault, and he won again in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988 at Jacarepaguá with McLaren. Nelson Piquet won with the Brabham BT52 at home in 1983 en route to his second F1 World Championship, and he repeated the GP success in 1986 for Honda.

The 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix was Ayrton Senna’s first race and first Pole Position for McLaren, but he was disqualified from the race due to a pre-race procedure in which he jumped into the spare car to start from the pits after the green flag was shown.

Nigel Mansell won for Ferrari in his debut race with the team in 1989, in what was the first victory of a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. The 1989 event was the final F1 race at Jacarepaguá before the circus returned to an updated, shortened Interlagos.

Prost won again at Brazil in the return to Sao Paulo in 1990, while Ayrton Senna took arguably his most emotional win in 1991. It was his first at home and Senna won that race after struggling with the gearbox in his car and holding Williams’ Riccardo Patrese off.

RIO DE JANEIRO - APRIL 7: Lotus driver Ayrton Senna of Brazil in action during the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix held on April 7, 1985 at the Jacarepagua circuit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Michael King/Getty Images)

Senna repeated in a wet 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, a year after Nigel Mansell dominated in 1992 at the wheel of the FW14B. Senna had a big fight with Michael Schumacher in 1994, but he spun in the late stages and the German won the race in what has been mentioned as the final battle between the two all-time greats, as Senna passed away two races later after his unfortunate crash in Imola.

Schumacher won again for Benetton in 1995, albeit after being excluded due to a fuel infraction and being reinstated later. Williams won in 1996 and 1997 with eventual champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

The Drivers’ Champion had won in Brazil since 1994, and Mika Hakkinen continued the streak in 1998 and 1999, while Schumacher repeated the feat in 2000.

David Coulthard broke that streak when he won for McLaren in 2001. A big overtake by Juan Pablo Montoya on Schumacher into Turn 1 had given the Colombian the lead, but he crashed out of the race after backmarker Jos Verstappen took him out.

Michael Schumacher won in 2002, while Giancarlo Fisichella won a crazy, rain-affected 2003 event. Montoya then won in his final race for Williams in 2004, as the event was moved towards the end or the actual end of the calendar.

From 2005 to 2009, the World Drivers’ Championship was decided at Brazil, whether the race was the final of the year or not. Fernando Alonso sealed his two titles in 2005 and 2006, with the 2006 event being the last of the year, and Michael Schumacher’s final race with Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen won Ferrari’s most recent WDC after winning the 2007 race, beating McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton won his first title in one of the most epic title-deciding races ever seen in F1 history. Felipe Massa won the race for Ferrari, and with Hamilton out of the needed places to win the title, the Brazilian was set to become a World Champion at his home GP. However, Hamilton, on wet-weather tyres, surpassed Timo Glock’s Toyota (equipped with dry tyres) into the last corner of the final lap of the final Grand Prix of the season.

Ultimately, Hamilton’s fifth place gave him a one-point edge over Massa and won McLaren’s most recent World Drivers’ title.

Jenson Button sealed his 2009 World Championship for Brawn GP in Brazil, with one race to spare.

The eventual champion won again in Brazil in 2010, with Sebastian Vettel winning for Red Bull. Mark Webber won in 2011 after Vettel’s car ran into mechanical trouble (gearbox) and the German allowed him through.

The 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix was another showdown for the World Drivers’ Championship. Sebastian Vettel entered the race with the lead over Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, but the German’s race was dramatic, with an early crash almost ending his race, but he then recovered in tough weather conditions to finish in the needed places to beat the Spaniard, to did what he needed (finish in the podium) to have a chance.

Sebastian Vettel wins his 9th GP in a row with the RB9 (2013)

Both were fighting to become a three-time World Champion, and it was Vettel who eventually did it for Red Bull, achieving his third consecutive title. Vettel won the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix to end his dominant 2013 campaign with his ninth consecutive win (an all-time record) and his then record-equalling 13th win of the year (equalling Michael Schumacher’s tally from 2004).

Mercedes dominated the event at the start of the hybrid era, with Nico Rosberg leading a couple of 1-2s in 2014 and 2015, and Hamilton doing so in 2016 on an extremely wet race which saw a great recovery by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull near the end to finish third.

Vettel won for Ferrari in 2017, while Lewis Hamilton won for Mercedes in 2018 after Max Verstappen’s crash with Esteban Ocon while the Dutchman was leading the race and the backmarker was trying to unlap himself on fresher tyres.

The Dutchman came back strong to win a crazy 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix from Pole Position for Red Bull-Honda, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz, and after a good battle with Lewis Hamilton in the race.

Hamilton won the inaugural Sao Paulo Grand Prix after starting the 2021 race in 10th place. The British legend had qualified on Pole Position on Friday, but he was disqualified due to a malfunction in the DRS of his car. Hamilton finished Saturday's Sprint in fifth place after a big recovery, but he had a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race due to exceeding engine parts.

Still, Hamilton fought the entire grid and went on to win the race ahead of his title rival Verstappen, who had pushed him off the track in a previous overtaking attempt, before the Englishman completed the move on lap 59. That win has been widely regarded as one of Hamilton's best, and probably the greatest of his career.

George Russell took his maiden victory and Mercedes' only win of the 2022 F1 campaign with a solid drive in Sao Paulo, ahead of his teammate Hamilton.

Among drivers, Alain Prost dominated in Brazil during his time, winning six races with Renault, McLaren, and Ferrari. Among teams, McLaren leads Ferrari 12 to 11 in terms of wins in Brazil.

Autódromo José Carlos Pace Track info

The Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix 39 times, and one non-championship race. Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro, hosted the race 10 times.

Initially, the track was named Autódromo de Interlagos, due to it being located between two lakes, the Represa de Guarapiranga and Represa Billings. In 1985, the circuit was named Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in honor of the former Brazilian Grand Prix winner, who died in an airplane accident in 1977.

The original Interlagos was 7.960 km long and hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix from 1972 to 1978. The track then had some minor changes, with the circuit having a whopping 26 corners and the length varying from 7.960 km to 7.873 km.

As Formula 1 went to Rio from 1981 to 1989 and returned to Sao Paulo in 1990, the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was updated and shortened to 4.325 km and 15 corners. Since 1990, it has had some minor changes, and the current layout remains 15-corner long and is 4.309 km long.

The 2023 race will be run over a distance of 305.879 km and will have 71 laps. For the third year in a row, the weekend will include a Sprint race.

The lap record at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was established by Valtteri Bottas, driving for Mercedes in 2018, with a 1:10.540 min lap in the 2018 race. Lewis Hamilton established the outright Fastest Lap in Qualifying for the 2018 race, with a 1:07.281 min lap in the Mercedes W09.

2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Tyres

The dry tyres for the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix will be the C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C4 as P Zero Red soft.

Pirelli's Head of Motorsport, Mario Isola, further explained Pirelli's view for the final Sprint weekend of the year: “The Interlagos circuit in the Brazilian city of São Paulo is well-known for providing thrilling races. The lap is only 4.309 kilometres long, making it one of the shortest of the year, with only Monaco and Mexico City being shorter. It’s also run anti-clockwise and situated on a hillside, which gives it a unique character.

The drivers face a steep downhill section after the first corner, followed by a long climb uphill with several winding turns, and then a long straight leading back to the finish line. The track has 15 corners – five right-handers and nine left-handers – with several direction changes. Interlagos has a bit of everything, featuring low as well as medium speed corners, and the cars running quite a high level of downforce.

The forces acting on the tyres are reasonably balanced between lateral and longitudinal. The asphalt itself has a high level of roughness: typical of permanent tracks with a long history behind them. Degradation is mainly thermal, so the C2, C3, and C4 compounds have been chosen. A two-stopper is the most likely strategy, while a one-stopper would require plenty of tyre management; affecting race pace.

The safety car has often featured during the grand prix, introducing another key variable, and we have also seen that weather conditions can vary rapidly and widely at this time of year as well. Interlagos will additionally host the final sprint round of the season, giving the teams and drivers another chance to assess tyre behaviour over long runs. Since sprint races came in for the 2021 season, Interlagos has always been one of them – a sure sign of how this track consistently delivers the sort of close racing that suits the sprint format.”

The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 23.0 PSI (front) and 21.0 PSI (rear).

2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Weather Forecast

Friday, Nov 3rd - FP & Qualifying
Conditions: A strong thunderstorm in spots; mostly cloudy and humid
Max. temperature: 30°C
Chance of rain: 40%

Saturday, Nov 4th - Sprint Shootout & Sprint Race
Conditions: Partly sunny and breezy
Max. temperature: 25°C
Chance of rain: 2%

Sunday, Nov 5th - Race
Conditions: Sunny and pleasant
Max. temperature: 23°C
Chance of rain: 1%

Who will be on the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix podium?

George Russell's first F1 victoryat the 2022 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix

Mercedes has won the last two editions of the Brazilian F1 round even when the team hasn't had the best car throughout the last two campaigns. It could well be the case in the upcoming event, as the Interlagos circuit is definitely favorable to the German cars and both Hamilton and Russell have shown to work well around the venue.

However, Mercedes' inconsistency in Qualifying could play a part in the team running into a tough weekend this time, and it could certainly be a year where Red Bull gets it right and controls a race from the front at Brazil. Moreover, McLaren is likely to be among the Top 2 forces again, and the Woking-based team could actually be the one to fight Red Bull for the top spot on the podium in the next Grand Prix.

The prediction for the Top 3 of the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lando Norris, 3. Lewis Hamilton.

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Víctor R. López M. / Sports Writer

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