Written by Sofia Costantino, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
This weekend marks the 51st Brazilian Grand Prix — the São Paulo GP since the 2021 season, sponsored by the local authority — at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in the south of the South American city. The 21st of the current season, which sees off the triple-header on American soil.
Activities begin on Friday with a single free practice in the morning and qualifying tests for the Pole for the Sprint race, a short race to be held on Saturday at 10:00 am local time (100 km = 24 laps) which grants eight points to the winner and one less successively down until eighth position.
Pole for the starting grid of the main race will be later that same day, and the race will be on Sunday (71 laps on the 4309-meter-long track).
With all that set, let’s catch up on what happened this past weekend. Once again, in the recently contested Mexico City Grand Prix, we saw extraordinary work and performance from Ferrari that led ‘El Matador’ in the words of Italian commentator Carlo Vanzini, to his fourth victory in F1.
Although, just as it happened in Austin, it was overshadowed by the prominence of the main competitors for the drivers' title, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The antagonistic duo once again came too close on the track in the populous Mexican capital, ending this time with a double penalty of 10 seconds (20 seconds in the pit stop) for the three-time champion, for taking the competitor out of the track limits; once defending the position and the other for overtaking improperly.
The stewards used the same criteria implemented a week prior in Austin, according to the FIA Driving Rules Guidelines. Precisely, due to these mishaps and controversies, the majority of the drivers and teams achieved a review of these rules, with new guidelines set to be implemented from the penultimate weekend of the season in Qatar.
Perhaps the most important thing to modify is the ownership of the curve, which is considered a virtual line, that is the curve’s apex. Should this rule remain the same, the driver on the inside of the corner will always hold an advantage, as they will always push their rival on the outside off track by not giving them space.
For some, the driving rules are very difficult to standardise, and there will always be controversies and protests. It is preferable to return to the gravel or grass traps bordering the track. In this way, whoever goes outside the limits of the track will be trapped or lose their position by themselves.
This would also work to avoid penalties for track limits, as everyone would avoid going outside at all costs.
While Verstappen and Norris remain in the fight for the drivers' championship, McLaren and Red Bull constantly watch and accuse each other of breaking the rules, Ferrari, with an unexpected surge at the end of the season, enter the constructors' championship race.
The team in red overtook Red Bull for second, and are stealthily hunting down McLaren for the lead.
Still 29 points behind, but if they maintain this trend, with four races to go, and two Sprints in Brazil and Qatar, both teams would be fighting for a title they haven’t won for a long time. Ferrari last won in 2008, while McLaren won the constructors’ title in 1998.
For both teams, a new chapter could be beginning in a classic battle that began exactly half a century ago, when Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi won the first title for the team in 1974, eight years after New Zealander Bruce McLaren founded his eponymous team in 1966.
The winning run for Red Bull and Mercedes since 2010 looks set to end, so 2024 – and later 2025, the final year of the current chassis and engine regulations – could restart the classic Ferrari-McLaren battle for constructors’ supremacy once again.
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