Posted on 11/06/2025 5:32:22 PM PST by Carriage Hill
2025 FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES GRANDE PRÊMIO DE SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
Circuit: Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo First Grand Prix: 1963, Number of Laps: 71, Circuit Length: 4.304 km, Race Distance: 305.354 km, Lap Record: 1:10.540 Valtteri Bottas (2021)
What (allegedly) happened in Qualies was that Tsunoda was more comfortable (than Max) with the setup he had in the Sprint race, so they took the decision to put Max in a similar set-up going into Qualies for the race. Except Max was better than 4/10ths further off the (Q1) pace than he had been in (Q3) Sprint qualies.
I think the Red Bull cars always have a narrower working window than the competition, but Verstappen drives with the precision that enables him to exploit those narrow parameters. Tsunoda can't match Max's consistency so he can't extract as much from the car. In race qualies, Verstappen still extracted (slightly) more from the setup than Tsunoda but it definitely was less to his liking than the Sprint setup had been.
I keep looking at that grid in disbelief because the slowest Racing Bull is nine slots better than the fastest Red Bull. Hadjar and Lawson simultaneously have their second best grid positions of the year.
Antonelli is on the front row for the first time in his career, third youngest driver ever to do so. He was 3rd on the start grid at Miami but this only makes the 3rd time this season he's qualified better than teammate Russell.
And there is NO RAIN in the forecast for today for São Paulo. Which can only mean one thing. Expect a repeat of the Floods of Noah.
The other shoe has dropped.
“...Max Verstappen will start the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos from the pit lane after Red Bull made changes to his RB21 under parc ferme conditions.
“The FIA has confirmed that the Milton Keynes-based squad has also fitted an entirely new power unit into the back of his car, taking advantage of his poor grid-setting session....”
https://racingnews365.com/max-verstappen-hit-with-brazilian-gp-grid-penalty
A new engine too, eh? No balls, no blue chips.
From Planet F-1:
“...More rain is forecast for Sunday’s grand prix with the FIA reporting a “moderate chance of drizzle/light rain coming from the south”.
However, on Sunday morning it was anything by drizzle or light, it bucketed down at the Interlagos circuit.”
Verstappen in third place, 14 seconds out of the lead, eight laps remaining, Max has freshest tires.
The weather forecast I used (from Weather Underground) turned out to be more accurate that whoever PlanetF1 was using.
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