2023 Brazilian Grand Prix | 6 talking points

Alonso fights back to pip Perez

OK, yet another Verstappen and Red Bull victory. But little behind the dominant combination has been predictable this season. After a horrible couple of grands prix suddenly Aston Martin was back on striking form in Sao Paulo, and Alonso delivered one of the drives of the season to fully capitalise on the revival.

After the second round of pitstops, Alonso was running third – but Sergio Pérez was looming. ‘Checo’ had delivered just the performance he needed after his disastrous nightmare on home soil in Mexico and in the face of stormy speculation about his future. He’d only started ninth in a storm-affected qualifying session, but had driven a measured race to calmly move up the order – and now looked set for a podium.

Except Alonso was putting up a defensive masterclass. Each time out of Juncao, the Spaniard made a perfect exit up the hill on the drag to the finish line to just keep out of range of the faster car. Pérez, taking a tighter line into the turn each time, just didn’t seem to have an answer to the questions Alonso was asking of him. But to his credit he didn’t panic, plotted his move and on the penultimate lap finally got the run he needed to nail the Aston Martin down the inside into Turn One. Game over? Oh no. Not when Alonso is playing.

As they started the final lap, the 42-year-old sensed he had one more chance as Perez braked a little late into Turn 1. The green car gathered momentum against the blue on the run to Turn 4, Pérez jinked left to block and Alonso roared into the gap on the outside to nose back ahead. Pérez desperately chased, got a decent run out on Juncao, moved alongside – and came up just 0.053 seconds short. Fantastic stuff.

Alonso delivered Aston its first podium since his second place at the Dutch GP, and while Pérez had been outfoxed, he had at least delivered the kind of performance Red Bull demands of him. But having grabbed that third place and then lost it… that’ll twinge.

Second is as close to a win as Norris can get

Briefly for a moment on lap eight, Lando Norris threatened a move on Verstappen for the lead into Turn One and again at Turn Four. Did we finally have a race on our hands for victory? No. As he said afterwards, Norris knew he didn’t really stand a chance in a straight fight with Verstappen, and sure enough the Red Bull soon edged clear, the triple champion managing his tyres over this two-stop race to beat the McLaren by eight seconds.

Still, Norris grabbed an extra point for fastest lap – an impressive second faster than next-best Verstappen – and reflected he’d achieved the maximum anyone can at the moment in the wake of such domination. This was the 23-year-old’s seventh podium of the season, sixth second place and fourth runner-up finish in the past half-dozen races. He’d also taken pole position in what had been an entertaining Sprint race a day earlier, and finished second to Verstappen in that one too. So close. His moment will surely come – although with only two races left in 2023, he’s running out of time to land that first win he clearly deserves this season.

Funnel effect accident stops race

Interlagos once again proved it’s the best circuit on the calendar for pure racing – but its old-school nature also brings jeopardy, especially at the start. Uphill off the line, the narrow pit straight then slopes down to Turn One creating a natural funnel effect that this year sucked in a Williams and two Haas cars.

Alex Albon got a great launch off the line to edge alongside and seemingly past Nico Hulkenberg on the outside line. But Hulkenberg found himself sandwiched between the Williams and his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen on the inside. The German’s right front connected with Albon’s car, throwing the Williams into Magnussen and then into the barrier.

The knock-on effect was substantial. Magnussen tapped the back of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren during the Dane’s accident, damaging the Aussie’s rear wing, while a shredded tyre was thrown up and caught the back of Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri. The barrier damage from Albon’s impact triggered a necessary red flag, which allowed both Australians to make it back for the restart – but they were a lap down, their afternoon in ruins. That’s what can happen at one of the toughest, most brutal and best circuits on the calendar.

Horror show for Mercedes

Outpaced in qualifying by the revived Aston Martins (which both qualified on the second row, Lance Stroll ahead of Alonso for a change), Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell didn’t expect much from the Brazilian GP – especially after a poor Sprint. But they must have expected more than this.

Hamilton started well from fifth on the grid and grabbed third from Alonso before the red flag. But from the standing restart the Aston Martin came steaming through at Turn Four to demote him to fourth – and it only got worse from there. Both black cars lacked fundamental pace and were powerless to prevent a depressing slide down the order. Russell was eventually called in to log a late-race retirement, while Hamilton finished a lame eighth.

Leclerc out before the start

Just as well for Mercedes that Ferrari had its own disasters to deal with, given their battle for second in the constructors’ championship is still too close to be called as over.

Pity poor Charles Leclerc. Following his pole position in Mexico, he qualified second to Verstappen this time – but found himself thrown into a barrier before he’d even had a chance to take the start. A hydraulics failure pitched him off and out.

That left Carlos Sainz to battle alone for Ferrari honours – not that he had much to fight with. Outpaced by the Astons, he finished sixth behind Stroll (who deserves credit for a decent drive), Sainz radioing in that he’d lost his ability to downshift late in the race.

Ferrari remains 20 points behind Mercedes with just Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi to come. Meanwhile, just 19 points separates McLaren and Aston Martin in their fight for third – and with Aston now apparently back in the game, it’s another duel that might still have a twist

AlphaTauri on the rise

At the other end of the constructors’ table, Interlagos threw up another decent day for AlphaTauri after Ricciardo’s heroics in Mexico. This time Yuki Tsunoda delivered after Ricciardo’s tough break at the start, the Japanese claiming vitals points in ninth, behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Hamilton but ahead of the other Alpine of a three-stopping Esteban Ocon. That was despite a grassy moment on the brakes that lost him time.

Tsunoda’s cause was helped by a painful double retirement for the Alfa Romeos, Valtteri Bottas suffering what was described as a “similar” problem to the one that had ended Zhou Guanyu’s day. And with Haas in the wars too, that compounded the importance of those points. Red Bull’s second team is now five points clear of Alfa with Haas plugged to the bottom of the rankings, four points further off. With millions of dollars at stake, there’s more: Williams is now only seven points ahead of AlphaTauri – so there’s plenty to play for as F1 prepares for its return to Sin City in two weeks from now. Get set to place your bets.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.