Alpine bet everything on reducing the drag! 😳

They were 6km/h faster than the 2nd fastest car, and +13km/h over Aston
It was NOT due to a tow!

Aston was draggiest, still their performance was excellent.

If it rains ➡️ Teams on the right should be advantaged.

Each car's properties:

Alpine⬆️: ridicolously low drag (highest top speed by far).

Ferrari, RB➡️: good performance (high avg sped), average drag.

Merc, Aston⬇️: high drag (low top speed), decent performance.

McL↘️: best car, despite the medium-high drag.

Each Team's and Driver's best sectors:

Best S1: 🟠McL (Piastri)
Best S2: 🔵RB (Verstappen)
Best S3: 🟠McL (Norris)

McLaren was the fastest car in 2 sectors! And nobody got close in sector 3.📈

Norris would have been favorite for pole if not for the rain. 😭

Best Minisectors - Each Driver’s best lap

NOR lapped in 1.10.02 (0.14s faster than VER).

Even though🔵RB had a higher top speed (332 vs 329),🟠McL was faster in almost all the main straight thanks to an excellent corner exit.

🟢ALO was quickest in several corners of sector 2.

🗒 Notes on Sprint Shootout!

I told you McL had the pace for pole! They bottled it yesterday, but NOR aced it today. 👌

PER/LEC/SAI/PER were on used tyres➡️Still, PER got P3, just 0.073s behind VER!

LEC didn’t use his new set. 👀

Disastrous session for Aston.

What’s YOUR take? 🤔

🟢 Russell was in front of Norris at the last corner: he lost 3 places in just one straight due to Mercedes' disastrous top speed! 😭 😳

🟠 McL's top speed was ok: large improvement compared to the first part of the season. 📈

🔵 RB: low drag despite the 'Monaco' wing. 🚀

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🗒 Thoughts on F1 Sprint:

⚫️ Mercedes had a blistering start, which might have stressed their soft tyres: HAM had NO pace at the end!

How did 🔵 AT go from last in the standings to battling with 🔴 Ferrari and ⚫️ Mercedes in 2 races? 😳

🟠 NOR clear 2nd fastest.

The very high drag of the Mercedes was very noticeable when battling vs Perez.

Aston also had a clear drag deficit vs the Alpine, but it was able to exit the corners much quicker.

Discuss!

Race Pace

HAM lost, on average, 1.3s/lap to NOR!
RUS's was slow too: over 1s/lap slower than VER. 😳

After bringing 'everything possible from Red Bull', AlphaTauri went from last in the WCC to quicker than Ferrari and AM! 📈

PIA 1.33s/lap slower than NOR. 📉

Start Analysis:

Piastri was quickest off the line in the #F1Sprint
Sargeant (on Mediums) was slowest (he needed 1.1s more to reach 200km/h).

Hulkenberg was quickest among those that started on Mediums: he had a better start than ALO, SAI and Ricciardo.

VER: 0.2s quicker than NOR. ⏱

Norris lost P1 to VER by using too much throttle at the start.💡

He made the rears spin (as shown by the engine's RPM being slightly higher)➡️had to back off, losing precious speed. 📉

VER went on full-throttle one gear earlier (in 2nd gear), around 1s sooner! 📈

🗒Notes on #BrazilGP!

VER won, but ALONSO STOLE THE SHOW: 🟢Aston’s pace was back!

⚫️Mercedes lifted the car to avoid DSQ; drag became massive and tyre wear tremendous!

🔴Ferrari still gained points vs Mercedes: ‘If only Charles didn’t DNF’ 😭

Perez had a significant top-speed advantage, but Alonso managed his ERS brilliantly: he used very heavy harvesting settings and deployed all the energy at the beginning of the two main straights.

Alpine’s and AT’s pace was impressive, too (RIC would have scored big points).

What’s YOUR take?🤔🤩

Norris had a blistering start and overtook Hamilton, Alonso and Stroll in one shot! 📈

0-200km/h (Gap to NOR)
HAM: +0.2s
ALO: +0.4s
STR: +0.5s

All (except STR) went full-throttle at the same time, but NOR could use more throttle before that (and upshifted earlier).

📊 Race Pace Analysis:

Mercedes was SLOWER than the 'tractor' W13: Hamilton was 0.46s/lap slower! 📉 😳
2022: Fastest car (Ferrari 2nd, RB 3rd).
2023: 7th fastest (behind Alpine and AlphaTauri)! Only Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo were slower than them.

TSU and STR gained 1.3s/lap over '22; RIC was unlucky as he had excellent pace!

Ferrari jinxed themselves: their poster for the #BrazilGP foretold everything!😳

The driver, the location… only the tyre compound does not match!🤯

Honestly unbelievable! 😭

Perez's gap to Alonso during the thrilling last lap!🔥

Fernando crucially increased the gap to 0.7s in the twisty second sector: he got the podium by 0.053s, or less than 5 metres!🤏

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🔵Perez: highest top speed (339km/h)📈
🟢Alonso: lowest (324km/h)📉

Fernando drove brilliantly to fend off Perez!
Conscious of his drag disadvantage, he harvested heavily before the braking zones to deploy the energy at the beginning of each straight. 🏆

Alonso only used the DRS on the main straight once, at the end of lap 70, which explains his lower maximum speed compared to Stroll.

Verstappen and Norris used it just 4 times.