2023 São Paulo Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 São Paulo Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023**) was the twentieth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace on the weekend of November 3 to November 5, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen (having secured the title at the Qatar Grand Prix) leads the World Drivers' Championship with 491 points, 251 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 271 from Lewis Hamilton in third. Red Bull Racing, with 731 points, lead the Constructors' Championship (having secured the title at the Japanese Grand Prix) from Mercedes by 360 points and Ferrari by 384 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception of Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri starting at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3 and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 3 November 2023, and was scheduled for 15:00 local time (UTC−3), but was delayed by 15 minutes due to debris on track from a Porsche Carrera Cup Brazil session which took place immediately prior to qualifying. The session determined the starting order for the main race.

Max Verstappen took pole position after intense rain 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 teammate Fernando Alonso, who also improved after numerous struggles in the latter half of the season. This is Stroll's highest starting position since the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix where he took pole position. 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 forced Sergio Pérez to slow, resulting in them starting tenth and ninth respectively.

Penalties were awarded to George Russell, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly for blocking the pit exit in Q1, each driver dropping two places. The intense rain caused a grandstand to collapse. No major injuries were reported.

## Sprint Shootout

### Sprint Shootout Report

The sprint shootout was held on 4 November 2023, at 11:00 local time (UTC−3) and determined the starting grid for the sprint.

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 into Fernando Alonso, sending Ocon's Alpine A523 straight into the wall and breaking Alonso's front left suspension. Alonso was unable to return for the rest of the shootout despite Aston Martin's efforts to fix his car in time for SQ2.

## Sprint

### Sprint Report

The sprint was held on 4 November 2023, at 15:30 local time (UTC−3) and was run for 24 laps.

After overtaking sprint polesitter Lando 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 the Italian Grand Prix.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 5 November 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC−3), and was run for 71 laps.

Charles Leclerc crashed out of the race during the formation lap due to a hydraulics problem. Lando Norris moved up to second behind Max Verstappen at the start, while Kevin Magnussen hit Alex 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 and Daniel 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.

Off of the standing restart, Verstappen kept his first place ahead of Norris and, after a few more laps, pulled further ahead. Sergio Pérez overtook Lewis Hamilton, who was struggling with his tyres. Both Alfa Romeo drivers retired due to car problems: Zhou Guanyu on lap 24 and Valtteri 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.

Sergio Pérez and Fernando 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 the Dutch Grand Prix, ahead of Pérez by 0.053 seconds. This was his ninth podium at Interlagos without ever winning and his first since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen won the race by eight seconds, ahead of Norris. In doing so, Verstappen claimed the highest percentage of race wins per season record from Alberto Ascari, a record held since the 1952 season; he also achieved his nineteenth podium of the season, breaking his own record from 2021. Verstappen also overtook Alain Prost in total race wins by reaching his 52nd win.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 George Russell, Esteban Ocon, and Pierre Gasly each received two-place grid penalties for impeding other drivers at the pit exit in Q1.
2. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
3. ↑ Charles Leclerc did not start the race due to a hydraulics failure resulting in a crash during the formation lap. His place on the grid was left vacant.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Already have won the 2023 World Championship.