GRAPHIC: Brazil grid after Russell and Alpine riders penalized + possible strategies

Start of the race in Brazil
| photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Max will start the race from the front row Verstappen before Charles Leclercbehind them both occupy the second row Aston Martins. The last part of qualifying was ended early on Friday, some of them did not have time to set fast times in it and are a little out of order – for example, the McLarens (Lando Norris in Q2 he even performed the absolute fastest lap of 1:10.021 min).

Penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly and violating the instructions of the race director, three pilots were immediately punished: George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. They will all drop 2 places back, thanks to which Norris and Carlos Sainz will improve in the top ten.

Strategy

According to the simulations, a two-stop strategy using a soft (C4) and a medium-hard (C3) compound is the fastest for the Brazilian Grand Prix, but both go away quickly.

Therefore, a three-stop strategy also comes into consideration for those who suffer from worse degradation or will want to push it more without having to save too much on the tires. A one-stop strategy is much slower on paper.

Due to the sprint format of the weekend, teams don’t have as much data as they would with three practice sessions. They learned more on Saturday during the sprint, but they can no longer change the settings of the cars.

Overtaking is possible on the Interlagos circuit in several places, undercutting is very effective on it.