#F1 - 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Thursday "Solid Start in Las Vegas" Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

 

			Press Information 21 November 2024   F1: Session Report   2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Thursday   Solid Start in Las Vegas The team opened the race weekend in Las Vegas by topping both Thursday practice sessions. F1 returns for the second Las Vegas Grand Prix, kicking off a triple header that culminates in the Abu Dhabi season finale. The cool conditions of the Nevada desert after sundown saw both ambient and track temperatures hovering in the low teens. The team's focus was therefore primarily on understanding the necessary tyre warm-up for the single lap and management for the long run. Both sessions saw the team run the Medium and Soft compound tyres on both cars, with Lewis setting the pace in both FP1 and FP2. George also featured near the top of the timing screens, ending FP1 in P2 and FP2 in P3 having encountered traffic on his likely best effort. The team return to the track tomorrow for FP3 and Qualifying around the 6.201km Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Driver FP1 FP2 Lewis Hamilton 26 Laps 1:35.001 P1 Medium, Medium, Soft 25 Laps 1:33.825 P1 Medium, Soft, Soft George Russell 29 Laps 1:35.397 P2 Medium, Medium, Soft 29 Laps 1:34.015 P3 Medium, Soft, Medium Lewis Hamilton I felt really good out there today. I think that is the first practice day this year that we've been consistently strong, and the car has felt quick throughout. I am really enjoying driving this track and it was nice to put together three good, competitive sectors over the lap.   Despite topping both sessions, it is difficult to know exactly where we are in the competitive order with everyone running different fuel loads and run plans. Our long run pace didn't look quite as good as our speed on the single lap. We therefore have work to do overnight to try and improve that without compromising our speed for qualifying. I'm hopeful we can still be in the mix tomorrow; I will get some good rest tonight and come back strong.   George Russell That was a really good day for us as a team. It is still only practice, but it is definitely encouraging. The car has been working from the off and I felt good behind the wheel. Lewis was on it from lap one and did a great job to top both sessions.   That said, it is a street track and quite a dirty circuit today. As it continues to both clean up and grip up, I am sure it will continue to evolve. It is likely that the times will be three seconds or so quicker come qualifying tomorrow. We will therefore pick through the data overnight to understand exactly why we were so strong and how we can continue to make improvements too. It is clear others will take a step forward so we will have to be at our best if we want to challenge at the front again on Friday.   Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director We've had a solid day here in Las Vegas. It's tricky with the very cold temperatures to get the tyres into the window but in relative terms, it looks like we were coping reasonably well. It was encouraging that all our laps on low fuel looked competitive in both practice sessions. The circuit is going to grip up significantly so we need to make sure we can track that with the setup, but so far it does look like we're in a better place than at most of the recent races. It's quite hard to work out where we sit on the long run. We saw a lot of degradation across the field, with cars that pushed harder early on looking poor later in the stint but it's clear that a bit of management is going to be required to look after the tyres on Saturday night. Preview Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

#F1 - 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Sunday "Battling results for George in P4 and Lewis in P10 at Interlagos" Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

 

Press Information 3 November 2024

 
F1: Session Report
 
2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Sunday

 
Battling results for George in P4 and Lewis in P10 at Interlagos

• George Russell finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton tenth in Sunday's Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
• In a compressed Sunday schedule, qualifying and the race were held on the same day, with qualifying at the unusually early hour of 07:30 local time.
• George led the field into Turn 1 after a strong start from P2, and headed the field until a VSC period was called on lap 28.
• Using the VSC period, which coincided with a heavy run shower the team called George to the pits to fit fresh intermediate tyres, followed by Norris from P2.
• George rejoined in P4, and was passed for P5 by Norris before the race was red flagged.
• Resuming after the red flag, George climbed to P4 but was unable to make further progress without the overtaking assistance of DRS.
• Lewis started from P14 owing to incidents for other cars in qualifying and drove a battling race to secure the final point.
• Struggling throughout for rear grip and confidence, Lewis spent the final stint stuck behind Lawson's slower car, unable to pass in the wet conditions.

Driver	Grid	Result	Fastest Lap
George Russell	P2	P4	1:21.645
Lewis Hamilton	P14	P10	1:22.041

Strategy	Start	Stop 1
No.63	Intermediate	Intermediate (lap 28)
No.44	Intermediate	Intermediate (red flag)

George Russell
That was an intense race and there's lots for us to debrief and learn from. I got a good start and I was surprised at the pace in the opening stint - we didn't have the right tyre pressures on the set, and we were expecting them to drop off, so that was encouraging. When the VSC came with the heavy rain, I was in favour of staying out as I thought there would be a red flag - it was like driving a point at points, with the aquaplaning on the straights. I pitted and so did Lando, and we ended up P4 and P6 at the finish, while the cars that stayed out finished ahead. But it's easy to make the call after the race, and we're in this together, trying to make the best calls with the information we have available. I think we would have taken P4 at the start of the weekend; but of course, after qualifying P2 and running in the lead for the first half of the race, it's hard not to feel some regret for the opportunity we missed today.
 
Lewis Hamilton
That was such a tough race for us today - and probably one of the most difficult race weekends of the season, to be honest. The car has been very difficult to drive all weekend, and it didn't hook up at any point during the race either. But even with the results today, it's hard to come away upset because the fans here are incredible. It was such an unusual day with the early qualifying session, and they were queuing up from 04:00 this morning - and you just cannot beat that commitment and positivity, no matter what the result on track. It was so emotional to drive Senna's car in front of them all this morning, and to connect with the five-year-old child inside of me. That was a very special moment for me, and I'm very grateful we could make it happen today in spite of the conditions.
 
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It has been a tough triple header for the team - and the final day of competition continued in very much the same way. Qualifying and the race itself were bittersweet: Lewis struggled for confidence in the car, and did not progress past Q1 in a session that saw several cars finish out of position; George was able to build greater confidence in the rear end in particular and took a strong P2 on the grid. The aborted start led to some unusual circumstances but when the race proper began, George ran strongly at the head of the field until the VSC came out at the same time as a heavy rain shower. We wanted to use that opportunity to change his worn intermediate tyres and were followed into the pits by Norris from second place - while Verstappen and the Alpine drivers stayed out and took the gamble on a Safety Car or red flag, which subsequently came. When racing resumed, with everybody on new tyres, George was able to get past Leclerc into P4 but then - as we saw up and down the field today - got stuck behind an ultimately slower car and was unable to overtake, without DRS available. It was the same story for Lewis a little further back, who climbed into the points but was unable to pass Lawson despite several close attempts. P4 and P10 feel like a meagre reward after leading the first part of the race, but there's plenty for us to pick through and learn from across this weekend, and from the last three races. We will be focusing on that work in the coming days, to give ourselves the strongest foundation for the final triple header of the season

Preview

Friday

Saturday rain stopped qualifying

Sunday

Mercedes Mexico

Preview

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

webmaster     John Nichols    @itcracing    @Linkedin 

Photos

F1 Sprint Highlights | 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Race Highlights | 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

#F1 - What Brazil's Rained Off Qualifying Means for Sundays Race - F1 Saturday Reaction: Autosport

3 November 2024

McLaren's Lando Norris won the sprint race in Brazil, while team orders and Max Verstappen's penalty were much discussed. One of the main topics of the day was the watercooled tyre story. While these were being discussed, the qualifying scheduled for the afternoon were postponed due to heavy rain.

So how will the grid be set for Sunday's Grand Prix or when will qualifying be organised? Jon Noble and Filip Cleeren reporting from the Interlagos Circuit.

webmaster     John Nichols    @itcracing    @Linkedin 

Formula Ford 1600 España y Portugal

Sunday 3 November 2024

Qualifying Highlights

#F1 #BrazilGP

Catch up on a hugely dramatic qualifying session in Sao Paulo with mixed fortunes for the championship contenders amid rain and red flags.

1  Lando Norris McLaren 1:23.405

2  George Russell Mercedes + 0.173

3  Yuki Tsunoda Team RB+ 0.706

4 Esteban Ocon  Alpine + 1.070 

5  Liam Lawson Team RB + 1.079

6  Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 1.120

7  Alex Albon Williams + 1.252

8  Oscar Piastri McLaren + 1.281 

9  Fernando Alonso Aston Martin+ 5.593

10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin

#F1 - 2024 F1 Brazilian GP SPRINT race by Peter Windsor

2 November 2024

McLaren-Mercedes duly dominated the Brazilian GP sprint race and - as predicted - instructed Oscar Piastri to give the win to Lando Norris.

Thanks to some edgy decision-making on the pit wall, however, it was a close-run thing: instead of telling their drivers to swap positions early in the race, when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was under pressure from Red Bull's Max Verstappen, McLaren left the instruction to the bitter end, at which point a VSC seemed likely.

They got away with it but it was a close-run thing, as Peter Windsor points out in this video. Verstappen found a way past Leclerc but then lost the position again when he was handed a five-second penalty for being below the minimum time behind the Safety Car when the track turned green.

Ferrari thus sandwiched Verstappen, as they had in qualifying, with Carlos Sainz P5; George Russell was sixth for Mercedes but Sir Lewis Hamilton, after losing ground at the start, could only finish a dismal P11.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix Post Sprint Show

#F1 - 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Friday "A challenging Sprint Qualifying session on the bumps of Interlagos" Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

Press Information 1 November 2024

 
F1: Session Report
 
2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Friday

 
A challenging Sprint Qualifying session on the bumps of Interlagos

• George Russell will start Saturday's F1 Sprint in Sao Paulo from P6 with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in P11.
• This weekend, both drivers are once again running the updated configuration of the W15 that was first introduced in Austin.
• George finished FP1 in a strong P2 while Lewis was further down the timesheets only because he was the sole driver not to run the Soft tyre in the session.
• During the break between the sessions, small set-up changes were made to the set-up, including raising the car's ride height to cope with the bumpy track surface.
• Both drivers struggled for confidence with the car during the session; in spite of a significant improvement on his second run of Q2, Lewis fell just short of the top 10 and will start P11.
• George was able to complete a late run on the Soft tyre in Q3, taking P6 with a half-second gap to pole sitter Oscar Piastri.

Driver	FP1	SQ1		SQ2		SQ3
George Russell	P2	6 Laps 1:10.479	P10 Medium	6 Laps 1:09.683	P8 Medium	3 Laps 1:09.443	P6 Soft
Lewis Hamilton	P16	6 Laps 1:10.625	P13 Medium	7 Laps 1:09.941	P11 Medium

George Russell
That was a challenging session as the track cooled through Sprint Qualifying. Finishing P6 is reflective of where we are right now, at the back of the front pack of teams, and with a pace delta to the next group behind us. I enjoy the challenge of Sprint weekends, getting straight into the action, and of course today has also brought the slightly unexpected challenge of a very bumpy track - which obviously is the same for everyone. For tomorrow, I will be looking to move forward and using the Sprint to work out where we can improve the car for qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
 
Lewis Hamilton
It has been a difficult day for me - notwithstanding the incredible support from the amazing fans here in Brazil. I think the ride on the bumpy surface has been pretty bad for everyone, and it made FP1 very challenging inside the cockpit. We lifted the car during the break and improved the situation, but the pace simply wasn't there when it came to the timed laps - the balance is on a knife edge, and the car just so tricky to drive and I couldn't attack any of the corners as I wanted to. I hope we can move forward from P11 during the Sprint and keep working to figure out how to find the sweet spot of the balance in qualifying tomorrow afternoon.
 
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
It has been a challenging day for us in Interlagos. Running in very warm conditions in FP1, it quickly became clear that the resurfaced track was as bumpy as ever, and that this would provide us with a set-up challenge for the weekend. Both drivers completed decent long runs, and we made relatively small changes going into Sprint Qualifying. Once we began running, it became clear that neither George nor Lewis were completely happy with the balance, suffering with snaps at the rear. This cost Lewis confidence and lap time, and saw him knocked out of SQ2 by less than 0.1s. George was able to reach SQ3, eventually taking P6 but with a substantial gap to Piastri on pole. The Sprint tomorrow is going to be useful to learn about the long run balance ahead of qualifying in the afternoon. It's normally a good circuit for overtaking so if we have pace, there's every opportunity for both drivers to move forward.

Preview

Friday

Saturday rain stopped qualifying

Sunday

Mercedes Mexico

Preview

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

webmaster     John Nichols    @itcracing    @Linkedin 

Sprint Qualifying Highlights | 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

#F1 - 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Preview & Stat Sheet: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

 

Press Information 29 October 2024

 
F1: Race Preview
 
2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Preview The final leg of the triple-header takes place at Interlagos in São Paulo.

 

• Toto Talks Brazil
• Fact File: São Paulo Grand Prix
• Stat Sheet: São Paulo Grand Prix

 
Toto Talks São Paulo
 
The past two races in Austin and Mexico City have not been our cleanest so we are aiming for a smoother weekend at Interlagos. Despite the challenges in the US and Mexico, we have furthered our learning with the W15. Given our position in the championship, we have been able to test things out with little penalty. While we are still focused on maximizing our result each and every weekend, that testing and learning will be valuable in setting us up strongly for 2025. We will continue that approach this weekend in Brazil. Interlagos is a proper driver's circuit with plenty of undulation and a challenging mix of low, medium, and high-speed corners. Given that it is the penultimate Sprint format of the year, we will have to execute effectively from the first session to get the car in a good window. We know it will be difficult to challenge the Ferraris and the McLarens who have looked strong in recent races. We will still be working hard to do so though and will see where our relative performance is over the weekend. Fact File: São Paulo Grand Prix
 

 
 

• The Autódromo José Carlos Pace is the fourth-shortest track on the 2024 F1 calendar at just 4,309 km long, only behind Monaco, Zandvoort and Mexico.
• The São Paulo Grand Prix venue is situated 800 meters above sea level, the second-highest altitude on the F1 calendar behind Mexico City (which sits at 2,300m above sea level).
• Interlagos is a track of two extremes. The first and third sectors require a low-drag car for the long straights, but the middle sector is twisty, requiring high downforce. The second DRS zone means more focus is typically on higher downforce for the ultimate fastest lap, but a balance still needs to be found with being competitive on the straights during the race.
• There is 1.2 kilometers of driving at full throttle between the exit of Turn 12 and the braking zone for Turn One, with an elevation change of 33 meters.
• The biggest difference in elevation is from the start/finish straight to Turn 4 where there is a 40-meter drop in elevation.
• The long straight before the lap begins also requires some clever deployment of energy from the ERS to maximize performance towards the end of the out lap, as the drivers start their flying lap.
• Turn 1 is banked heavily towards the inside, unloading the front-left wheel and causing frequent lockups. However, because the tire is unloaded, flat spots are less likely and time loss isn't as high as you'd expect, due to the steep banking and variety of corner lines drivers can take. The variety of lines is also what makes this corner well suited to overtaking.
• The uphill grid requires the drivers to find the balance between holding the car on the brakes as gently as possible, without rolling backwards.
• From Turn 10 to Turn 6 (around 3.5 km of distance) the left-hand front tire does very little work and therefore cools down quickly, providing a tricky engineering challenge to keep the tire in its temperature window.
• With long straights and a second DRS zone, Interlagos is one of the best tracks of the season for overtaking. However, it can be difficult for the defending car to manage its battery, as there aren't many big braking zones to recover energy.
• The São Paulo Grand Prix is ​​the fifth F1 Sprint of the 2024 season, with just Qatar left on the Sprint calendar this season.
• This will be the fourth consecutive year that the circuit has hosted a Sprint weekend.
• Interlagos is a very flowing circuit with a lot of combined corner entries (where you are cornering and braking at the same time), meaning good stability is important. However, you also need a good front end for the low-speed middle sector.
• Track temperatures can reach some of the hottest of the season in Brazil, up to 60°C. And thunderstorms are common around this time of year, which can potentially spice up the weekend.
• Since 2021, the race around the circuit has been known as the São Paulo Grand Prix.
• Valtteri Bottas won the inaugural F1 Sprint race at Interlagos in 2021. A year later, George Russell won his first F1 Sprint race at the venue.
• A day later in 2022, George won his first F1 Grand Prix, leading home at W13 1-2 with Lewis behind.
• Lewis has three wins at the circuit (2016, 2018 & 2021) and in 2022 the seven-time world champion was made an honorary citizen of Brazil in an official ceremony.
• The team has six wins overall at Interlagos. In addition to the four from Lewis and George, Nico Rosberg also won in São Paulo (2014 & 2015).

Preview

Friday

Saturday rain stopped qualifying

Sunday

Mercedes Mexico

Preview

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

webmaster      John Nichols     @itcracing     @Linkedin 

 
 
Stat Sheet: São Paulo Grand Prix
 
2024 São Paulo Grand Prix
 

Session		Local Time (BRT)		Brackley (GMT)		Stuttgart (CET)
Practice (Fri)		11:30 - 12:30		14:30 - 15:30		15:30 - 16:30
Sprint Qualifying (Fri)		15:30 - 16:14		18:30 - 19:14		19:30 - 20:14
Sprint Race (Sat)		11:00 - 12:00		14:00 - 15:00		15:00 - 16:00
GP Qualifying (Sat)		15:00 - 16:00		18:00 - 19:00		19:00 - 20:00
Grand Prix (Sun)		14:00		17:00		18:00

 
 
Race Records - Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team in Brazil
 

		Starts		Wins		Podium Places		Poles		Front Row		Fastest Laps		DNF
Mercedes		13		6		12		6		12		5		2
Hamilton		16		3		7		3		7		4		2
Russell		4		1		1		0		0		1		1
MB Power		28		11		28		11		25		12		20

 
 
Technical Stats - Season to Date (Pre-season Testing to Present)
 

		Laps Completed		Distance Covered (km)		Corners Taken		Gear Changes		PETRONAS Fuel Injections
Mercedes		5,974		30,419.084		101,198		294,462		239,240,000
Hamilton		2,945		15,021.400		49,776		144,784		118,080,000
Russell		3,005		15,286.943		51,044		148,814		120,020,000
MB Power		22,731		115,670.422		382,763		1,118,619		906,480,000

 
 
Mercedes-Benz in Formula One
 

		Starts		Wins		Podium Places		Poles		Front Row		Fastest Laps		1-2 Wins		Front Row Lockouts
Mercedes (All Time)		313		128		296		139		262		109		59		84
Mercedes (Since 2010)		301		119		279		131		242		100		54		80
Hamilton		352		105		201		104		176		67		N/A		N/A
Russell		124		2		14		3		11		8		N/A		N/A
MB Power		583		221		612		230		467		219		94		123