| 2023 São Paulo Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 20 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
_track_map.svg) Layout of theAutódromo José Carlos Pace | |||||
| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | 5 November 2023 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 RolexGrande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023 | ||||
| Location | Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo, Brazil | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.309 km (2.677 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 71 laps, 305.879 km (190.064 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 267,000[2] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Time | 1:10.727 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:12.486 on lap 61 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Aston Martin-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2023 São Paulo Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023) was aFormula One motor race held on 5 November 2023 at theInterlagos Circuit inSão Paulo, Brazil. It was the twentieth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship and the sixth and final Grand Prix weekend of the season to utilise theFormula One sprint format.
Max Verstappen tookpole position for the main race during a weather-affected qualifying, whileLando Norris took the sprint pole position. Both the sprint and main race were won by Verstappen, setting a new Formula One record for highest percentage of wins in a single season. It wasRed Bull Racing's 19th win of the season, matchingMercedes's2016 season win record. Norris finished the race in second place, his 13th career podium, tyingNick Heidfeld for most podiums without a race win.Fernando Alonso finished third, after overtakingSergio Pérez on the final lap and beat him by 0.053 seconds. This was his ninth podium at Interlagos without ever winning and his first since the2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The event was held across the weekend of 3–5 November and was the twentieth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship. It was the 41st Formula One Grand Prix at this circuit, and the third held under the name of theSão Paulo Grand Prix, having previously been titled the Brazilian Grand Prix. It was also the sixth and final Grand Prix weekend of the 2023 season to utilise theFormula One sprint format.[1][3]
Coming into the weekend,Max Verstappen led theDrivers' Championship with 491 points. He led his teammateSergio Pérez by 251 points andLewis Hamilton by a further 20 points. Hamilton was ahead ofCarlos Sainz Jr. in fourth by 37 points, withFernando Alonso in fifth, tied for points with Sainz.Red Bull Racing led theConstructors' Championship with 731 points, 360 points ahead ofMercedes and a further 22 points ahead ofFerrari.McLaren, in fourth, was behind Ferrari by 93 points and ahead ofAston Martin, in fifth, by 20 points.[4]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception ofDaniel Ricciardo, who replacedNyck de Vries atAlphaTauri starting at theHungarian Grand Prix.[5][6]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C2, C3 and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[7]
The onlyfree practice session was held on 3 November 2023, at 11:30 local time (UTC−3).[1]Carlos Sainz Jr. ended the session first, while hisFerrari teammateCharles Leclerc finished second, withGeorge Russell third.[8][9]
Qualifying was held on 3 November 2023, and was scheduled for 15:00 local time (UTC−3),[10] but was delayed by 15 minutes due to debris on track from aPorsche Carrera Cup Brazil session which took place immediately prior to qualifying.[10][11][12][13] The session determined the starting order for the main race.[14]
Max Verstappen took pole position after intense rain and thunderstorms caused Q3 to be red-flagged and called off with four minutes remaining. After numerous tribulations throughout the past few races,Lance Stroll found himself in third ahead of his teammateFernando Alonso, who also improved after numerous struggles in the latter half of the season. This is Stroll's highest starting position since the2020 Turkish Grand Prix where he took pole position.[15]Oscar Piastri was unable to set a time, as his car slipped off into the grass as the weather began to deteriorate. This caused a yellow flag which forcedSergio Pérez to slow, resulting in them starting tenth and ninth respectively.[16]
Penalties were given toGeorge Russell,Esteban Ocon andPierre Gasly for blocking the pit exit in Q1, each driver dropping two places.[17][18][19] The intense rain caused a grandstand to collapse. No major injuries were reported.[20]
Notes
Thesprint shootout was held on 4 November 2023, at 11:00 local time (UTC−3), and determined the starting grid for the sprint.[1]
Lando Norris topped the timing sheets for the second and third segments, granting him a sprint pole position. In SQ1,Esteban Ocon seemingly lost control of his Alpine and drove intoFernando Alonso, sending Ocon'sAlpine A523 straight into the wall and breaking Alonso's front left suspension. Alonso was unable to return for the rest of the shootout despiteAston Martin's efforts to fix his car in time for SQ2.[23]
Thesprint was held on 4 November 2023, at 15:30 local time (UTC−3), and was run for 24 laps.[1][10]
After overtaking sprint polesitterLando Norris for the lead in the opening turn,Max Verstappen won the sprint.Sergio Pérez finished in third, his first podium of any kind since theItalian Grand Prix.[26][failed verification]
The race was held on 5 November 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC−3), and was run for 71 laps.[1]
Charles Leclerc crashed out of the race during the formation lap due to a hydraulics problem.[28]Lando Norris moved up to second behindMax Verstappen at the start, whileKevin Magnussen hitAlexander Albon before the first turn, taking both drivers out of the race. The amount of debris caused a safety car period; soon, the race was red-flagged.Oscar Piastri andDaniel Ricciardo both suffered damage to their cars due to hitting the debris from the crash, but had their cars fixed in time to restart from the pit lane, albeit one lap down.[29]
Off of the standing restart, Verstappen kept his first place ahead of Norris and, after a few more laps, pulled further ahead.Sergio Pérez overtookLewis Hamilton, who was struggling with his tyres. BothAlfa Romeo drivers retired due to car problems:Zhou Guanyu on lap 24 andValtteri Bottas on lap 39. On lap 57,George Russell retired due to overheating. With their cars continuing to struggle from the first-lap damage, Ricciardo and Piastri finished one and two laps down, respectively.[29]
Sergio Pérez andFernando Alonso dueled for third for many laps, with Alonso overtaking Pérez for the final time on the last lap and defending against the Red Bull Racing driver to take his first podium since theDutch Grand Prix, ahead of Pérez by 0.053 seconds. This was his ninth podium at Interlagos without ever winning and his first since the2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.[30][29][31]
Verstappen won the race by eight seconds, ahead of Norris. In doing so, Verstappen claimed the highest percentage of race wins per season record fromAlberto Ascari, a record held sincethe 1952 season; he also achieved his nineteenth podium of the season, breaking his own record from2021. Verstappen also overtookAlain Prost in total race wins by reaching his 52nd win.[30]
Notes
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix | São Paulo Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix |
