The S O Paulo Grand Prix 2023 was the 20th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, during the weekend of the 3rd to the 5th of November.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Lando Norris, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 67 pit stops during the race, although only 50 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 2 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 1-2: 17 stops
- Laps 17-22: 7 stops
- Laps 24-27: 8 stops
- Laps 44-47: 7 stops
- Laps 51-52: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Fernando Alonso's, stopping the clock at 18.487 seconds during his pit stop on lap 1, while the slowest one was was Oscar Piastri's, who stopped the clock at 38.489 seconds, 20.002 seconds slower than Alonso, during his pit stop on lap 2.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 4 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 5 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 4 stops strategy.
3 stops
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
3Guanyu Zhou
4 stops
-
3Lewis Hamilton
-
1Fernando Alonso
-
1Nico Hülkenberg
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
-
-Max Verstappen
-
1Carlos Sainz
-
2Lance Stroll
-
8Pierre Gasly
-
4Lando Norris
-
7George Russell
-
7Yuki Tsunoda
-
4Oscar Piastri
-
8Logan Sargeant
5 stops
-
4Esteban Ocon
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 4 stops strategy gained 2.15 positions on average, while those on a 5 stops strategy gained 4 positions on average.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 4 stops strategy as the optimal for this race.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 2, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, George Russell, who suffered from an overall car overhating on lap 57, Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Zhou, and Charles Leclerc, all of whom suffered an engine malfunction, and Kevin Magnussen, and Alexander Albon, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Overheating
-
George RussellLap 57
Engine
-
Valtteri BottasLap 39
-
Guanyu ZhouLap 22
-
Charles LeclercLap 0
Collision
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 0
-
Alexander AlbonLap 0
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.294 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:10.727. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Charles Leclerc.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll in third position, and Fernando Alonso in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Mercedess were right behind them, with Lewis Hamilton in fith position, and George Russell in sixth.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.