2022 Brazilian Grand Prix - Sunday
“A truly emotional race. It’s wonderful to see how Interlagos always puts on a unique show for the fans. As expected, it was the variables that made the difference today, with accidents, two safety cars, and temperatures dropping by more than 10 degrees – which compelled drivers to adapt their driving styles according to the compounds they were using, mixing up the cards for every strategy. On top of the performance of all the different choices, it was really interesting to see how the setup of each car influenced the performance and degradation of the P Zero Red soft and P Zero Yellow medium compounds. The soft allowed for stints of more than 25 laps with manageable degradation, even with heavy cars at the start of the race, while the medium seemed to perform better towards the end, owing to track evolution with more rubber being gradually laid onto the surface. Congratulations to Mercedes and especially to George Russell for his first grand prix win, made all the more unforgettable thanks to this fantastic crowd here in Brazil.”
TYRE TALES: HOW THE RACE WAS WON
- Mercedes sealed its first win of the year with a one-two led by Russell – the winner of yesterday’s sprint race – who finished ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers adopted an identical two-stop strategy: soft tyres at the start, followed by a middle stint on medium and a final stint on soft. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz completed the podium with a three-stopper, alternating between the medium and soft compounds. Sergio Perez started fourth but was passed during the final laps by both Ferraris, as well as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen, finishing the race in seventh on the medium tyres.
- Russell set fastest lap of the race on soft tyres: 1m13.785s. The soft was used for a 34-lap stint by Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, who switched from the medium on lap 37.
BEST OF THE REST: THE ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY
The Brazilian Grand Prix was effectively split into two different starting strategies. A total of 11 cars selected the soft tyre and eight used the medium for the opening stint – with the only exception being Williams driver Alex Albon, who put on the hard tyre from last on the grid. He then switched to the medium after five laps during the first safety car. Most drivers ran a two-stop strategy, with the majority finishing on the soft. Eight drivers instead went for a three-stopper. As predicted yesterday, the hard tyre wasn’t used extensively. The safety cars during the race didn’t lead to any unexpected changes in strategy.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR NEXT
Abu Dhabi is the final round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, hosting not only the last grand prix of the year but also a one-day post-season test in which the teams will be able to try the 2023 slick tyres. The teams will be able to decide their run plans and drivers for this test, using either their regular race drivers or young drivers.