With the Brazilian GP next up on the F1 calendar we’re slowly reaching the end of this month’s triple header. Round 21 takes place in Sao Paulo just south of Rio de Janeiro along the famous Brazilian coastline.
Round 20, the Mexican GP to be precise, proved two very important things fans have been speculating for a while now. Namely, the first of the two is that the Ferrari duo, consisting of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, simply cannot cope with the pressure. Even before turn 1, Verstappen’s Red Bull passed them for an easy entry into 1st place. All that Verstappen had to do from this point onwards was to control the race pace steadily.
The second point we would like to emphasize here is that it would seem that Sergio Perez’s days in Red Bull are numbered. The Mexican GP turned out to be a disaster for Sergio. In his wish to take the lead, he ended up crashing with one of the Ferrari cars knocking himself out of the race entirely. Following the race debrief, multiple journalists reported that Red Bull decided to bring Fernando Alonso to the team and put Sergio in the Aston Martin. Will it happen? And is the Brazilian GP a “D-Day” for Perez? UK bookmaker William Hill has the latest odds!
※ Current Odds Date & Time: November 1st, 7:00 P.M. (EST)
This week’s odds are mostly expected if we take into consideration recent results. Verstappen, as usual, is priced at an “all-time” low with the price on him being just 1.25. He is followed by Lewis Hamilton at 9.00 and Lando Norris at 13.00.
The interesting bit here is to see the McLarens priced so high. In our opinion too high, considering their overall pace and the ability to come up with good strategies. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri certainly possess the tools and have the capabilities to challenge Mercedes both in qualifying and the race.
The Circuit
Autódromo José Carlos Pace is the famous Brazilian circuit often referred to as “Interlagos”. Its first GP was held all the way back in 1973 when Fittipaldi took victory. Carlos Pace himself won the Brazilian GP in 1975.
The track itself is a 4.309 km long circuit featuring 71 laps, 2 very interesting DRS zones, 15 corners and covers a distance of 305.879 km. The current lap record is held by Valtteri Bottas with a time of 1:10:54 set in 2018.
What to Expect?
Aside from predicting a new Verstappen victory, we would like to point out two interesting things to watch out for in Brazil. First and foremost, how will the battle between McLaren and Mercedes play out? The two teams seem to be relatively on par regarding raw race pace and their respective aero packages. Taking into account the past few races, it would seem certain tracks like Circuit of the Americas suit Mercedes better. How will either of them perform at Interlagos? This remains to be seen but the scale will tip to one side, perhaps favouring McLaren more.
This goes without mentioning the fact that Mercedes is dealing with serious personnel issues. Their chief technical officer, Mike Elliot, decided to leave the team after spending 11 years with them.
Second, we would like to point out the fact that HAAS is currently in contention to score points. Their car worked well at Interlagos so far in the past so let us hope this year they manage a good result as well. With the new aero package introduced a few races back, their car gradually improved and gained significant race pace. Let us see how Brazil works out for them!
