After two thrilling races in Texas and Mexico, the F1 area reconvened in Brazil for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó delivers the very important stats, trivia and details forward of the Sao Paulo F1 spherical.
Lengthy historical past – Right this moment’s race would be the 52nd System One race to be held in Brazil and the fourth ever to be named Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Of the 51 F1 races held in Brazil thus far, 40 grands prix occurred at Interlagos. The opposite eleven have been staged at Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepagua circuit in two stints (1978 and 1981-1989).
The inaugural race – The System One World Championship first visited Brazil again in 1973 with a non-championship occasion held within the earlier yr. The inaugural race was staged on the Interlagos circuit which was designed and developed by an Englishman, Loius S. Sanson, and opened its gates in 1940.
The significance of the primary row – The poleman has solely gained right here at Interlagos a complete of 18 instances out of 40 begins. Contemplating the statistics from the previous six years, the significance of beginning the Brazil F1 race from the primary row has considerably grown. Within the hybrid period, six races have been gained by the poleman.
This sequence was solely damaged by Sebastian Vettel who gained at Interlagos in 2017 after ranging from the second place. In contradiction to it, Hamilton gained from P10 in 2021.
Mercedes stronghold– For the reason that hybrid energy models have been launched in System One, the Mercedes squad has gained each race however 4.
In 2014 and 2015, it was Nico Rosberg who got here out on prime on the finish of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The following yr noticed his then-teammate Lewis Hamilton securing the victory, which the Briton repeated in 2018 and 2021. The 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix marked George Russell’s first F1 victory.
One of many three non-Mercedes triumphs got here in 2017 when Sebastian Vettel put in a heroic efficiency to fend off the quicker Mercedes vehicles to safe his third Brazilian Grand Prix victory.
The opposite event when Mercedes was defeated in Brazil was in 2019 with Max Verstappen crossing the end line first, and the Dutch driver secured his second victory at Sao Paulo final yr.
The French driver – Alain Prost holds the file for many wins in Brazil with six. Michael Schumacher is the second most profitable driver within the historical past of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The German gained on 4 events, of which he took two victories for Benetton whereas he was victorious with Ferrari twice.
Carlos Reutemann, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and Sebastian Vettel share the third place on this record with three wins apiece.
Pole place – Ayrton Senna holds the file for many pole positions in Brazil with six – three at Jacarepagua and three at Sao Paulo. Lewis Hamilton has essentially the most pole positions of any present F1 driver.
So far as very important pole positions are involved, Kevin Magnussen scored his first, and so far, solely F1 pole place in Sao Paulo in 2022, claiming the primary beginning place for Saturday’s Dash.
4 different present drivers have pole positions right here: Fernando Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, and Max Verstappen.

The Brazilian stars – House heros Felipe Massa, Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Nelson Piquet all have two victories on their dwelling turf.
A brief one – The Autodromo José Carlos Tempo is likely one of the shortest tracks on the present Grand Prix calendar. Drivers might want to full 71 laps in whole on the 4.309km race circuit to cowl the whole race distance of 305.909km.
Overtaking – There’s loads of scope for overtaking: the long term uphill, by way of a left kink and over the start-finish line, leads into an excellent overtaking spot proper at Flip 1. One other lengthy straight follows the spectacular part of Turns 1-3 that’s known as Senna Esses, offering one other overtaking alternative as drivers must brake exhausting into Flip 4.
The essential numbers – As widespread, drivers have to stick to a pace restrict of 80kph within the race whereas driving by way of the pit lane. The beginning and the end line will not be similar, with an offset of 30m mendacity between them.
The Finnish record-keeper – Valtteri Bottas holds the file for the fastest-ever race lap at Interlagos. The Finn recorded a 1m10.540 in 2018 to set a brand new lap file across the undulating, twisting circuit. Nevertheless, the fastest-ever lap belongs to his present teammate Lewis Hamilton who set a lap time of 1m07.281 on his method to safe the pole place for the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Vital modifications – The monitor has been resurfaced from Flip 12 to Flip 1 and from Flip 3 to Flip 4. Grooving has been undertaken at Flip 2, from the pit exit to Flip 4, on the straight after Flip 5, on the straight between Turns 11 and Flip 12, and from grid place 21 all the best way to the beginning line.
The hatched zone between the pit exit street (on the right-hand facet) and the monitor edge has been eliminated.
The standard configuration – There shall be two DRS zones in at present’s race on the Autodromo Jose Carlos Tempo. The primary zone has a detection level on the apex of Flip 2 and activation 30m after Flip 3. The second zone has a detection level 30m after Flip 13 and activation 160m earlier than Flip 15.
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