November 15, 2022
FP1: November 11, 2022
Due to the Sprint format this weekend, there were only two practice sessions. FP1 was used to find the perfect set-up since cars would be put in Parc Ferme conditions at the end of the session.
The Red Bulls and Ferraris covered the top four positions with Sergio Perez going fastest.
The Mercedes duo followed behind as Lewis Hamilton went P5 and George Russell went P6. Hamilton reported that he couldn’t control the rear of his car and locked up on the soft tires a couple of times.
The Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon went P11 and P13, respectively. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo went P15 and P20 in the McLaren. Even though both teams were out of the Top 10, this weekend isn’t looking too good for my McLarens.
Qualifying: November 11, 2022
Qualifying on a Sprint weekend determines the starting grid for the Sprint Race on Saturday.
Q1:
The session started with a damp track and every driver was on intermediate tires. The weather radars showed a threat of rain so all drivers went out early to set lap times before the track became too wet.
Pierre Gasly was the first driver to switch to slick tires and proved that softs were the way to go when he went fastest overall.
In the end, Lando Norris went fastest with a 1m 13.106s lap time.
Eliminated: Latifi (P16), Zhou (P17), Bottas (P18), Tsunoda (P19), Schumacher (P20)
Ricciardo’s last ditch effort got him into Q2, pushing Latifi into the elimination zone.
Q2:
The threat of rain wasn’t completely gone, but the stewards enabled DRS for Q2.
Max Verstappen went out early and set a pace that wasn’t beaten.
With six minutes left of the session, reports of drizzles at certain parts of the track emerged. This didn’t matter though; all drivers stayed on slicks and many even improved their lap times.
Carlos Sainz took P2, 0.009s off of Verstappen’s pace. Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc went P3.
Kevin Magnussen made Haas very happy when he took P7 and got to Q3.
Eliminated: Albon (P11), Gasly (P12), Vettel (P13), Ricciardo (P14), Stroll (P15)
Ricciardo locked up on his final flying lap and had to back out.
Q3:
The weather radars showed that a downpour was imminent, so the ten drivers of Q3 all lined up at the end of the pit lane just before the final part of Qualifying began.
Charles Leclerc quickly found out that he was the only driver on intermediate tires (Ferrari were really clowning around with this call). Leclerc tried to do one lap on these tires but couldn’t find enough grip. He ended up aborting that lap and pitting for slicks.
Perez’s lap was jeopardized when he got stuck behind Leclerc’s Ferrari as it slid around the track.
Just as Leclerc had pitted, Russell beached his car at Turn 5 and brought out a Red Flag. At the moment, Kevin Magnussen held provisional pole while Leclerc didn’t have a lap time.
During the Red Flag, the rain started falling and it was coming down hard. Perez tried to go out on inters when the Red Flag ended but he struggled throughout the lap and most of the drivers took it as a sign that Qualifying was over.
With Quali over, KMag took his career first pole position and Haas’ first team pole! The celebrations in the Haas garage were a sight to see.
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Magnussen celebrating his first career pole position |
Verstappen was P2 and Russell, even though he had caused the Red Flag, kept his position in P3.
Sainz was P5 and an angry Charles Leclerc was P10 after failing to set a time.
FP2: November 12, 2022
The second, and final, practice session of the weekend was mainly dedicated to testing tire compounds so that teams could determine strategy for the Sprint and Grand Prix.
Shockingly, Ocon went fastest and his teammate Fernando Alonso was P4. Perez took P2 and Verstappen was P5. An Alpine might have set the pace because most teams were testing for tire life, rather than speed.
The Ferraris were far off from the front with Sainz P11 and Leclerc P13. The Haas cars were ahead of them when Mick Schumacher went P8 and KMag went P9.
Nicholas Latifi went into the grass at Turn 12 and finished P16. Logan Sargeant drove the other Williams of Alex Albon and took P20. While it wasn’t a great performance, he got an extra point to his Super License because he drove 28 laps in the F1 car. This makes him one step closer to driving for Williams next year!
Sprint Race: November 12, 2022
The Sprint starts with the grid created by Friday’s Qualifying. The results of the Sprint shape the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Everyone except for Verstappen and Latifi started on soft compound tires. The Red Bull and Williams started on mediums instead.
Magnussen got a good start and held his lead against Verstappen. Russell, in P3, also had a great start and threatened Verstappen’s P2. By Lap 4, KMag lost his lead. If I’m being honest, Haas held the lead for a lot longer than I had anticipated, so I was happy with Magnussen’s performance. Verstappen now led Russell and Sainz, and KMag was P7 by the end of Lap 5. Russell started to have a go at Verstappen for the lead as he got within DRS range. His soft compound tires had more pace than Verstappen’s mediums and by Lap 15, Russell took the lead. Sainz took P2 off of Verstappen on Lap 19 but when the Red Bull tried to fight for the position, the back of the Ferrari made contact with his front wing and caused damage. Verstappen’s pace started to drop significantly and he was set back to P4. Russell kept his head down for the remainder of the race to win his first F1 race (even though it was just a Sprint)! Sainz faced tire degradation but managed to keep himself ahead of Hamilton. Although he finished the Sprint in P2, Sainz will start Sunday’s Grand Prix from P7 after receiving a five-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine. This promotes Hamilton, who finished in third, to the second grid slot for a Mercedes front row lockout.
The Alpine teammates, Ocon and Alonso, went wheel-to-wheel and made contact at Turn 4 of Lap 1. Both drivers dropped down the grid due to damage they picked up in the incident. At the end of the race, Alonso got a five-second penalty for causing a collision, putting him in P18 for the start of the Grand Prix. Ocon will start just ahead of him, in P17.
Another clash between teammates occurred on Lap 9 when Lance Stroll pushed his Aston Martin teammate,Sebastian Vettel, onto the grass. Stroll was given a ten-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.
Haas had a great race. Although Magnussen started on pole and lost out on a win, he still scored a point of P8 and put Haas two points ahead of AlphaTauri in the Championship. Schumacher made it up to P12 after starting last, making up more positions than anyone else in the race. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc also recovered from his poor qualifying, and finished in P6.
Alex Albon unfortunately retired from the race on Lap 13 after picking up debris. His car became undriveable and he had to pull over to the side of the track.
Hamilton, Ricciardo, and Zhou Guanyu were set to be investigated after the race for potential starting grid infringements but the investigation didn’t result in any penalties.
Race: November 13, 2022
Yuki Tsunoda started from the pit lane because AlphaTauri made changes to his car when it was already under Parc Ferme conditions.
George Russell got away well as Hamilton and Verstappen maintained their positions. Perez, Norris and Leclerc battled for P4 into Turn 1. This action didn’t last very long though, because a Safety Car was soon brought for an incident at Turn 8. Ricciardo made contact with Magnussen and sent him spinning backwards. The Haas hit the McLaren and both cars went into the barriers. Their races were over before Lap 1 even ended. This was sad because KMag has had an amazing weekend and a DNF is not something McLaren needed in their championship fight against Alpine.
The Safety Car came in on Lap 6, and Russell led the restart. Hamilton and Verstappen, P2 and P3 respectively, were side-by-side on the run down to Turn 1. They made contact at Turn 2 when both drivers refused to back out of the corner, resulting in front wing damage for the Red Bull and a loss of position of the Mercedes. Just after this, Norris hit Leclerc, sending the Ferrari head on into the barriers at Turn 7. Luckily, Leclerc managed to recover his car and limp back to the pits. Verstappen and Leclerc both pitted for mediums and a new front wing, coming back into the race as backmarkers. After reviewing the incidents, the stewards gave Verstappen and Norris five-second time penalties for causing the collisions.
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The collision between Verstappen and Hamilton |
As the pit window opened, Russell told his team to extend his first stint as long as possible. Leclerc pitted for second time on Lap 23, opting for softs this time, and ended up dropping back down to P17. Perez was the first of the top three to pit, and came out behind Bottas in P6. Russell pitted soon after to cover off Perez and although the stop was slow, he was still ahead of the Red Bull. Hamilton finally pitted on Lap 30 and rejoined in P4.
By the time half of the race was over, Russell had a five second lead on Perez and Sainz. Hamilton was closing in for P3. Leclerc was P13 and making his way through the pack while Verstappen was P15 after serving his penalty.
On Lap 52, Norris stopped on the track with a loss of power and sadly, McLaren had a double DNF. At first a Virtual Safety Car was called but when moving the car was proving to be a very difficult task, a Safety Car was brought out. Right before the incident, Hamilton had taken P2 off of Sainz and Mercedes gave its drivers the ok to race each other on the restart. Meanwhile, Alpine was ordering its drivers not to fight under any circumstances. After the collision in the Sprint, I think Alpine was making sure they didn’t lose points again.
The race restarted on Lap 60 and Russell brilliantly defended Hamilton. Perez tried to defend against a threatening Sainz, but by Lap 63 he lost third place and Leclerc quickly took fourth too. Oh yeah (by the way), in all of the chaos at the front of the field, Leclerc managed to come back up to the top five. Alonso also managed to overtake Perez and took P5.
Perez was now P6 and his teammate was behind in P7. Red Bull had the two swap positions so that Verstappen was ahead, giving him a chance to overtake Leclerc and take some points away from the Ferrari. Ideally, this would put Perez in a good position for his championship fight. However, Verstappen wasn’t even able to make it past Alonso and on the last lap, Red Bull told him to switch back with Perez. Verstappen refused. He said he had his reasons, that he had previously outlined them for the team, and would not give up the position. Verstappen ended up finishing P6 and a very confused Sergio Perez was relegated to P7.
While Verstappen refused to switch positions, Leclerc was practically begging Ferrari to swap him and Sainz. This would give Leclerc more points in his championship battle with Perez. Ferrari deemed the switch “too risky” and left Sainz to grab another podium. As a result, Leclerc and Perez are now equal on points for the final race of the season. Whoever finishes ahead in Abu Dhabi will take the title of vice champion.
The commotion throughout the pack didn’t seem to bother George Russell as he passed the checkered flag and got his first career Grand Prix win! I said at the beginning of the week that it would be amazing if Russell won (I like to believe that I played some role in manifesting this), and even though I hoped it wouldn’t happen this weekend because Ferrari needed to maintain its lead in the Constructors Championship, I’m still really happy for GEORGEEEEEEE. Lewis Hamilton also finished in second, bringing Mercedes its first one-two finish of the season.
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George Russell was very emotional after winning his first F1 Grand Prix |
Sebastian Vettel had a great race and even ran in fifth at one point. Unfortunately his pit strategy was not good and he dropped out of points contention, finishing P11.
Honorable Mentions:
Mick Schumacher failed to score points this weekend. If there was even a slight chance of him redeeming himself and clinching that spot at Haas next season, it’s gone now. I love him, but I don’t really have faith that Schumacher will be on the grid next season. Haas is supposed to confirm its 2023 driver lineup at some point this week, so we'll just have to wait to see what happens.
Gasly got a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. All he had to do was not make a penalty-worthy mistake for ONE weekend. I’m starting to think that the FIA is targeting him. It honestly doesn’t make sense that Gasly is making all of these mistakes and no one else is. If Gasly makes another mistake and gets another penalty point, he will be hit with a one-race ban. That man needs to be careful.
This race was really good. There were twists and turns and LOTS of drama. I was incredibly happy to see GEORGEEEEEE get his first F1 win and to see KMag get his first pole! I guess Brazil just wanted to be magical this weekend.
I may or may not be back to get you guys ready for the final race of the season. I’m not sure if there will be a preview, but there will definitely be a recap.
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1137/brazil/practice-1.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1137/brazil/qualifying.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1137/brazil/practice-2.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1137/brazil/sprint-results.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1137/brazil/race-result.html
Pictures: