2024 Brazilian Grand Prix Weekend

[Mike Harte]

Don't know if Verstappen is sandbagging, or perhaps just sulking, but he is languishing down in 15th place at the end of first practice, even with his new ICE. Let's see how he goes during the sprint qualifying later this afternoon.

[E.B]

Max never did a full lap on soft rubber.... he started one and was set to go top 5 but aborted it at the last seconds

Great performance by Ollie Bearman who was called in by Haas to do P1 at short notice as KMag was unwell. Ollie came 3rd behind Lando and George, ahead of Piastri. Since the end of P1 KMag has been withdrawn from the Sprint qualifying through illness so Bearman will stay in the car for Sprint qualy. AFAIK that means he will have to drive in the Sprint race as Kevin would not be eligible as he didnt qualify the car. I guess his recovery will determine whether he jumps in the car for the main race qualifying and race or whether Bearman stays in for the weekend.

McLarens look good but its a bit early to predict things.

[chunterer]

Lawson was over half a second up on Yuki when RB first put the mediums on. Yuki got that down to 3 tenths by the end. They were some way clear of Max on that compound which was interesting...

[S griffin]

Great lap by Piastri for pole in the sprint race. He has said he will probably let Norris through though. Max a bit down. Gonna get worse with his grid penalty for the main event

Bearman continues to impress in his supersub role. Yet another bad one for Perez. Shock for Hamilton not making it out of Q2.

Love Interlagos circuit, always great to watch cars here and only one track limits penalty in quali. The final races in the middle east don't hold a candle to this great track.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I'm looking forward to this weekend's GP at Interlagos. It is one of my favourite tracks and has produced some great races.

I normally wouldn't watch the sprint race, however with 42 points separating Norris and Super Max, it will be worth watching just to see if Norris can further reduce the gap.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by S griffin

.... and only one track limits penalty in quali ....

And that was a genuine driving error rather than deliberately driving over the white line and just going a bit too far.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TrapezeArtist

And that was a genuine driving error rather than deliberately driving over the white line and just going a bit too far.

Was surprised it was track limits given it costs time, but fair enough.

Incredible lap by Piastri.

[bjohnsonsmith]

VSC eventually comes out, after Huklenberg went off.

[Akrapovic]

Great drive by Piastri. Fast, team player and rough with Max.

[Akrapovic]

Max reported to the stewards for a VSC restart violation.

[chillibowl]

Definitely looked like he got on it too early. Bit surprised it’s taking this long to make a decision?

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Definitely looked like he got on it too early. Bit surprised it’s taking this long to make a decision?

You can actually go early if you managed to keep your mini sector below the delta. So the investigation will be if the mini sector time was violated.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to McLaren, they get maximum points and Norris gains 2 more points on Super Max.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

You can actually go early if you managed to keep your mini sector below the delta. So the investigation will be if the mini sector time was violated.

He complained to his engineer that he thought that Piastri was going too slow, and wanted them to report it. I wonder whether that had anything to do with the possible infringement.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

He complained to his engineer that he thought that Piastri was going too slow, and wanted them to report it. I wonder whether that had anything to do with the possible infringement.

Verstappen and a team member have been told to attend the Stewards for possibly failing to keep above the minimum speed at the end of the VSC, which was to be held 15 minutes ago.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Verstappen and a team member have been told to attend the Stewards for possibly failing to keep above the minimum speed at the end of the VSC, which was to be held 15 minutes ago.

Verstappen given a 5 seconds penalty, and an addition point on his licence bring the total to 7 over the 12 month period.

I think that this means that he will drop to about 7th place, meaning Norris has eaten even more in to Verstappen's lead.

[Akrapovic]

I believe it only drops max to 4th behind Charles. It was indeed a violation of the delta time by 0.6 seconds.

[broadrun96]

That was 1 million percent a fix, absolute joke of a "race" with the VSC only after the swap. Hulkenberg was out of the car and no VSC but once the lead 3 went past VSC.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Rain has stopped play, so far, with qualifying on hold.


Edit:

Sky Sport F1 saying there will be an announcement in approximately 40 minutes.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Karun Chandhok was saying on Sky Sports F1, that it is 16 years to the day since Lewis Hamilton won his first WDC at Interlagos.

[Akrapovic]

If qualifying isn't run tomorrow (suspect it will be) then regulation 39.4b states that the grid will be set by FP3, or in the case of a sprint weekend, the FP1 positions.

Which would put Lando pole, and Max 15th, and the conspiracy theorist would go wild.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

If qualifying isn't run tomorrow (suspect it will be) then regulation 39.4b states that the grid will be set by FP3, or in the case of a sprint weekend, the FP1 positions.

Which would put Lando pole, and Max 15th, and the conspiracy theorist would go wild.

McLaren control the weather! Lando is doing sophistry! It's all Lewis's fault!

[Akrapovic]

Additionally, article 39.1 states that Qualifying for the Grand Prix "will take place on the second day of track running" and "no more than 4 hours after the end of the sprint".

Soooo. Suspect these will have to be overridden.

[FFSM]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

If qualifying isn't run tomorrow (suspect it will be) then regulation 39.4b states that the grid will be set by FP3, or in the case of a sprint weekend, the FP1 positions.

Which would put Lando pole, and Max 15th, and the conspiracy theorist would go wild.

So Max would end up at the back of the grid, with his engine penalty?

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by FFSM

So Max would end up at the back of the grid, with his engine penalty?

He would, but I suspect they'll use common sense over the actual regulations.

Qualifying scheduled for 0730 Brazil (1030 UK).
Race scheduled for 1230 Brazil (1530 UK)

Note the race is 90 minutes earlier than planned due to the threat of rain.