2023 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix highlights

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Introduction

Max Verstappen put in an assured drive to take a dominant victory in the 2023 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix, making it a record-breaking 17th win for the world champion in 2023.

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There was drama even before the race had got underway when Charles Leclerc went off on the formation lap after losing the hydraulics, forcing him to retire. When the lights went out, Verstappen made a clean start into the lead, but a heavy collision between Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen behind resulted in the red flags being thrown.

It was another strong getaway from Verstappen at the restart, who resisted a challenge from Norris to hold P1 before clinching his second win of the weekend after coming out on top in Saturday’s Sprint. Norris claimed a solid second place, while Alonso completed the podium after holding off Sergio Perez in a thrilling battle to the line.

Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s tally by taking fifth, ahead of the sole Ferrari runner, Carlos Sainz, in sixth. Pierre Gasly led Alpine in seventh, while Lewis Hamilton ended a tough day for Mercedes in P8. Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.

Logan Sargeant missed points in P11, and Nico Hulkenberg ended up in 12th, with both drivers running solo for their respective teams.

Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri were the last to cross the line in P13 and P14. The Australian pair had each suffered damage in the first-corner incident but were able to have their cars repaired during the red flag period.

There were several retirements from the race, with George Russell forced to pit owing to an oil temperature issue after a challenging afternoon. At the same time, the Alfa Romeo duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu recorded a DNF due to technical problems.

Magnussen and Albon were out following their first lap crash, while Leclerc recorded a DNF due to his formation lap exit.

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

It was an action-packed race, even before the start! Ultimately, the dominant force this season, Max Verstappen, took the win, but there was plenty of excitement, and how! Norris played his part, showing great pace so that he finished not that far behind the Red Bull driver and then Alonso and Perez had the crowd going wild with their duel in the closing stages. At the same time, there were also plenty of other exciting battles throughout the race. All this on a track that is very hard on tyres, with significant degradation, so that the drivers had to work hard to manage them, but it certainly didn’t stop them from overtaking their rivals even towards the end of the stints.

Strategy and tyre usage confirmed our predictions going into the race. The two-stop was the preferred choice of most drivers, while the Soft was the tyre that saw the most use. In very similar weather to what we had in yesterday’s Sprint, the C4, although requiring careful management, proved that, overall, it performed better than the C3, mainly because it ensured better grip and slid less. Almost everyone used the Medium in the middle stint, with lap numbers similar to those on the Softs.

How the race was won from the tyre point of view:

For the start, 19 drivers had chosen the Soft, with seven of them going for a new set of C4. Sargeant was the only driver to start on the Medium. For the restart, after the first lap accident, which involved Albon, Magnussen, Piastri, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, two drivers decided to change their approach to the race: Piastri went from Soft to Medium while Sargeant went in the opposite direction.

Of the 17 drivers lined up for the second start, only Ocon made three stops, using three sets of C4 and one of C3. Everyone else went for the two-stop, with 15 drivers following the sequence C4-C3-C4, while Piastri used two sets of Soft after his first stint on the Medium.

Norris did the longest stint on the Medium (32 laps), and Piastri extended a Soft term the most, going for 28 laps.

One interesting fact: the red flag on lap three allowed two drivers – Sargeant and Hulkenberg – to complete the entire race using only the Soft compound.

What’s next?

After a break of 41 years, Formula 1 returns to Las Vegas and a brand new track. From 16 to November 18, the cars will tackle the 6.201-kilometre street circuit that passes some of the most iconic landmarks on the famous Strip. For the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the compound selection is as follows: C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as P Zero Red soft.

2023 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix Race Results

2023 Constructor Standings

Here are the team-by-team highlights: