The third and final weekend of F1’s triple-header tour of the Americas, the Brazilian Grand Prix is always one of the most popular rounds of the championship.
This weekend could be a pivotal one for Lando Norris’ prospects of catching Max Verstappen in the championship battle. Not only will the sprint race offer extra points, but Sunday’s grand prix could be critical if the championship leader has to start from the midfield.
But after further controversy between the title contenders last weekend, there’s one topic that will likely dominate discussions in the paddock once again. These are the talking points for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s grid drop
One of the major plot points of last weekend was that Verstappen appears to be facing considerable trouble with his power unit allocation once again.
He missed a significant amount of track time on Friday with a recurring power unit problem which meant he set no meaningful laps of running during the second practice session. Even if that was not a representative session due to the tyre test taking place, it still meant he headed into the race with far fewer long run practice laps than he would have liked.
Whether that ultimately limited his race pace on Sunday or not, we’ll likely never know. However, a more pressing problem is that Verstappen is now right on the limit of power unit availability once again, assuming the unit he ran last Friday is unsalvageable. If he has to take a new power unit this weekend, that will be a grid drop of ten places for Sunday’s grand prix.
Interlagos is not a terrible track to take a grid penalty. It has one of the most generous DRS zones and there are overtaking opportunities into the Senna Esses and Descida do Lago. However, Brazil can often produce incidents and accidents, which means Verstappen could be uncomfortably vulnerable if he has to start in the mid-pack. Either way, this weekend could present Norris a major opportunity to take more points off Verstappen in the championship.
Racing rules row rumbles on
As much of a shame as it is, it’s starting to feel that the first championship battle to still be alive at Interlagos since 2021 will again be dominated by discussions over the rules of racing.
For both rounds in this triple header in the Americas so far, there have been multiple incidents where drivers have been forced off track by rivals. Some have been penalised. Others have not. Some have been punished with penalties of five…
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