Max Verstappen celebrated his 17th victory of the season in Brazil to confirm his title-winning campaign as the most dominant in F1 history as the Dutchman engaged in karaoke on his team radio with Red Bull. Meanwhile, their previous title rivals Mercedes experienced one of their worst races in recent memory at Interlagos after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s struggles.
Verstappen has exceeded the 500-point mark to become the first driver to do so, while Red Bull have managed to beat Mercedes and Ferrari’s combined total on their own in the Constructors’ Championship – painting a worrying picture for what it is likely to happen in 2024.
With just two races left in the current season, Mercedes are facing a genuine fight to avoid their first winless season since returning to F1. And Hamilton’s eighth-place finish, coupled with Russell’s retirement from the race after slipping to 11th, suggests they are nowhere near being quick enough.
Sergio Perez’s battle with Fernando Alonso for the final podium spot was the talking point of the paddock after the race, with Alonso coming out on top in a thrilling battle. But the Mexican may have done enough to secure his seat for 2024 after a strong weekend in the RB19.
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Brundle claims sprint format to be tweaked for 2024
Martin Brundle has suggested the sprint format will be tweaked rather than ditched as Max Verstappen has suggested, telling F1 bosses to move the event to Saturday morning before qualifying to give race fans another exciting day of action.
“The Sprint format will be tweaked for next year and qualifying for the main race will revert to Saturday afternoon I suspect,” Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports F1 column.
“Saturday will become a thrilling day should they schedule the Sprint race in the morning and Qualifying in the afternoon, although teams will be nervous of having sufficient time to repair any damage from the morning event.
“Friday will then be one practice session in the morning, which I believe should revert to 90 minutes, and the Sprint Shootout qualification in the afternoon. Another very decent day for the fans trackside and watching on TV or online. That chronology flows more logically, and tyre allocations should be standardised for every weekend – we already talk more than enough about tyres.”
Mercedes in crisis as Wolff slams ‘worst weekend in 13 years’
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits the Brazilian Grand Prix was the team’s worst race in 13 years as the team look for answers to Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s struggles.
“Sprint weekends generally haven’t been our strength,” he told Speedcafe.
“We’re working ourselves out of problems most weekends, but it’s not on from being almost quickest to ending up eighth. For me, personally, it’s the worst weekend in 13 years.
“Yeah, we ran the car way too high, but that wasn’t the main reason for an absolutely off weekend in terms of performance,” he added when asked if car set-up was the root cause.
“There’s something fundamentally wrong mechanically. It’s not the car being slightly too high by a millimetre or two. That is performance, it’s not the explanation for a total off.”
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