F1 Brazil GP live commentary and updates: race day
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BOM DIA AND WELCOME TO SAO PAULO RACE DAY
Would you believe it, rain is a factor today. It's been "mizzling" (quoth Jake Boxall-Legge) throughout the morning at Interlagos and, lo, the mizzling has continued on and off in the hour or two before race start.
Well the driver parade took in some typically eccentric machinery.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
THE DEVIL MAKES WORK FOR IDOL HANDS
Word reaches us that new wave legend Billy Idol is a VIP guest at the grand prix this weekend. Will he be crying "more, more, more" or will he declaim it as a waste of Mony Mony?
TYRED AND EMOTIONAL
As ever, the Pirelli 'possible race strategies infographic is giving us a bit of a giggle. Will anyone be doing a one-stopper in which they move from soft or mediums to hards today? What are the chances? About the same as Elvis landing in our new office.
One-stopper soft-medium, pit window laps 24-30, sounds more likely.
Alternative is a two-stopper, soft-medium-medium or soft-medium-soft. That'll suit Max Verstappen, who has two new sets of mediums and three news sets of softs after his early exit from qualifying.
The McLaren drivers, meanwhile, have new mediums at their disposal (two sets for Norris) but their softs have all done time of some sort. Charles Leclerc is in the same boat, as are the Mercedes drivers – technically Russell has no new mediums available but one set is essentially just scrubbed.
Let's have another daft driver-parade image while we're waiting. Yuki Tsunoda here failing to heed the advice of Tom Jones – you can keep your hat on, Yuki...
Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
NEW PU FOR MAX
A gentle reminder for those just arriving that Max Verstappen will be starting from the pitlane after fitting an entirely new power unit setup. Red Bull deemed it worth taking the penalty to get a new power unit into the pool – Max was eliminated in Q1 yesterday.
So the way things stand, neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri can sew up the drivers' championship today, but they can make it a lot harder for Max Verstappen to catch up – provided they can stay on the circuit and not hit each other.
Which, let's face it, is by no means a given...
Lando Norris leads the drivers' championship by 365 points to Oscar Piastri's 356, a lead extended by his sprint race win yesterday while Piastri failed to finish. Max Verstappen sits third on 326 points.
And it's a mix of tyres for the start of the race. Norris starting on new mediums, Antonelli starting from second on used softs. On the row behind, Leclerc and Piastri are on new mediums.
Hadjar in fifth is on used softs, Russell in sixth on (probably not very) used mediums. Then it's used softs down to Hulkenberg on new mediums.
Fernando Alonso starting on hards according to our tyre graphic, as are Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen. Good luck!
Let's see if Antonelli can make a nuisance of himself at the start on those softs...
AND WE'RE OFF
Lando Norris gets a good start and leads into Turn 1. Antonelli making a surprisingly muted getaway but he secures P2 ahead of Leclerc. Oscar Piastri is occupied defending from Hadjar!
Contact between Hulkenberg and Alonso on the opening lap. Contact also between Gabriel Bortoleto and the barriers at Turn 10, via a tap from Lance Stroll.
We're on a full-course yellow while Bortoleto's car is recovered. Start replays show Lewis Hamilton getting a decent getaway, looking to track around the outside line, but having to check up to avoid hitting Alonso's Aston Martin – he then got tapped by Carlos Sainz's Williams in the Turn 1 squeeze.
"He just turned in to the corner like I wasn't there" complains Bortoleto of Stroll's manoeuvre. Well, Lance has form in not known what's going on around him – see Monaco...
Hamilton in the pits for a new nose.
Max Verstappen currently P16, by the way.
On-board replay from Sainz's car shows how Turn 1 played out. He ended up with nowhere to go as Hamilton turned in, and his front-right wheel met the Ferrari's rear-left. You could argue that a driver of his experience should probably have been a bit more prudent there, to quote the words of McLaren team boss Andrea Stella.
"I've lost a lot of downforce. Rears not stable." says Hamilton of the damge to his car's floor.
Yuki Tsunoda has visited the pits to bin off those hards for mediums.
AND IT'S HAPPENED IMMEDIATELY
Carambolage at the restart! Antonelli didn't quite react quickly enough as Norris went for it. Piastri dived for the inside into Turn 1, locked his front-left wheel, there was contact, and the Mercedes bounced into Leclerc's Ferrari, taking off its front wing.
Leclerc is now out of the the car – he's parked on the run to Turn 4.
Charles was looking for the outside line and an innocent bystander in that contact.
"He left me no space" says Piastri over the team radio.
We'll see what position the stewards take – that lunge up the inside looked optimistic at best.
VERSTAPPEN INTO THE PITS
Max Verstappen had a very strong restart and picked up another couple of places, but he also picked up a front-left puncture. So, having risen to P13, he is now P18 having pitted for new mediums.
Lap 9 and the brief Virtual Safety Car period is declared over. Norris resumes, now ahead of team-mate Piastri.
Antonelli is told over the radio that the pitwall believes his car is fine. F1 cars have hundreds of sensors monitoring aerodynamic performance, tyre temperatures etc, so they would have a good idea of any damage.
Race control noting incidents involving Stroll and Tsunoda. No word on potential examination of Piastri yet.
Verstappen up to P16 already – but ahead of him is Lewis Hamilton, who is wrestling with his steering wheel as he tries to pass Franco Colapinto's Alpine.
Now race control flags up that Piastri is under investigation.
Lap 12 and Russell relieves Hadjar of fourth place into Turn 4.
Verstappen now on Hamilton's tail and he'll make short work of the Ferrari, which is yawing like crazy mid-corner. There he goes!
10-second penalty for Tsunoda, "causing a collision" – aka biffing Lance Stroll into a spin.
Verstappen passes Colapinto for P14.
Sainz now "noted" for that Turn 1 incident. Busy day for race control.
Lap 15 and Norris now leads by 2.2s from Piastri, who is 1.9s ahead of Antonelli. Russell now 2.5s off his team-mate.
Hamilton into the pits for a set of softs. He's saying on the radio that his car is so unstable, he's constantly on the verge of a big accident.
Verstappen has passed Tsunoda, now P13.
Piastri now formally under investigation for causing a collision.
10-second penalty for Piastri – that didn't take long.
Start of lap 17 and Verstappen dives up the inside of Hulkenberg into Turn 1 for 12th place. Alonso next...
Behind Hadjar in P5 there's a cluster developing – Bearman, Lawson, Gasly, Albon, all within a second or so of each other.
We typed too soon – Bearman and Sainz into the pits at the end of lap 17.
Verstappen passes Alonso. So Max is now P9 on the road.
By: Stuart Codling
