The Silver Arrows hit the goal of victory before the end of the season, passing first and second under the checkered flag. The brace tells of a result matured for the merits on the field without benefiting from fortuitous events, because net of a daring match Mercedes’ superiority in Brazil has never been in question. Leading the W13 to a win that looked like science fiction earlier in the season was George Russell, who inscribes his name on the list of winners, a long-awaited champion on the top step of the podium since Bahrain’s now distant night in 2020. The two standard-bearers of the Star have been authors of different races, both in the Sprint and in the Grand Prix, with Hamilton constantly busy recovering and on an unpaired strategy. However, in the short fractions in which it was possible to compare the rhythm of the two Englishmen, George’s pace was not higher than that of his partner, with the impression that the multiple champion had a few tenths more in his foot. So here is that Russell has been building his victory since Friday, in that discipline in which he has already shown himself to be at his best in the past: the flying lap in qualifying. The third position conquered in the only useful lap before sinking into the gravel allowed the young Englishman to compete in the sprint race and Grand Prix in the first positions, staying away from the dangers of a comeback race such as those faced by Hamilton.
Both Mercedes have expressed the best race pace ever from the turning off of the traffic lights to the checkered flag, outclassing a Red Bull that with Sergio Perez went up against a greater degradation. Eloquent in this regard are the times in the middle stint on medium tires, during which Russell has constantly lapped in the low 1’16 ”, while Hamilton, with tires five laps cooler, did not go beyond 1. 15 ” tall. Sergio Perez, on the contrary, initially kept the pace of the leader for the first laps after the break, and then gradually slowed down to a high 1’16 ”. In addition, in the final stage after the Safety Car, both Mercedes maintained the same pace as Carlos Sainz behind them, the latter strong, however, on soft tires against the averages of the Silver Arrows, moreover four laps older. In summary, on the weekend in Sao Paulo Red Bull was the big absenteeauthor of a momentary misstep in the development, but the team of the Star was able to be found ready and to seize the opportunity that presented itself.
There is still a lot of talk about the possible benefits that Mercedes may have gained from technical directive 039 on the wear of the plank, strongly supported by the Brackley team which we can therefore think has actually benefited, albeit to an extent that cannot be quantified from the outside. However, it would be a mistake to overlook the enormous study, growth and development work carried out by the team, able to bring the W13 back from the center-group to the very first positions. At the beginning of the season, the Silver Arrows did not suffer only from absolute performance and downforce deficiencies, possibly partly hidden by the directive, but also from balance, extreme sensitivity to changes in set-up and great unpredictability of its behavior. Mercedes also progressed during the second part of the season following the introduction of the directive, thanks to the understanding of the ideal set-ups and the development of two upgrade packages that debuted in Spa and Austin.
In the last month, the Silver Arrows have proved to be competitive everywhere and in all conditions, with the victory of San Paolo which outlines a subtle parallel with that of Red Bull in Abu Dhabi in 2020. At the time Verstappen came to success after a year spent chasing the unrivaled Mercedes, consecrating technical growth and launching a clear signal for the next season, although the significance of that victory was downplayed by the public. During the winter the updated regulation took over with the aerodynamic restrictions at the bottom and diffuser, which helped to definitively close the gap from the reigning champions. Two years later it was Mercedes who proved that it had closed the technical gap on Red Bull, also being able to count on the variable of the small regulation change for 2023, when the lateral edge of the bottom will be raised as well as the bottom keel. History seems to repeat itself, with the hope that this lays the best conditions for a championship that is fought to the end.
In home Ferrari both pilots snapped up medium tires against the soft ones of the competition, a choice dictated by the asphalt temperatures at the start higher than 15 ° C compared to the sprint race, which at Maranello they hoped could accentuate the degradation of the soft compound with a full load of fuel. Carlos Sainz, however, did not have the opportunity to extend the first stint, forced to anticipate the stop for a tear-off visor finished in the brake cooling duct, an episode more and more frequently this season. There are still no tools to say this, but it would be interesting to investigate whether the new cars increase similar risks, whether it is due to the reduced pursuit distance and / or the new aerodynamics that aims to keep the slipstream of the car close from the front wing. therefore no longer pushing the flows outwards but sucking them towards the car body. In any case, Sainz has long been out of line with rivals both in terms of compounds and timing for stops, making a direct comparison impossible. The impression, however, is of a better pace than Red Bull but not as good as Mercedes, so much so that, after passing Perez in the final, Carlos was not able to shorten on the Silver Arrows despite the compound advantage and the four fewer laps on the tire. Leclerc, on the other hand, showed flashes of a competitive F1-75, but the Monegasque’s race was too conditioned by overtaking to be able to draw conclusions.
The Brazilian Grand Prix confirms that the crash in Mexico was only a negative parenthesis for Ferrari, the daughter of set-up errors and a power unit in conservative mode. About, in Sao Paulo the engine is once again used at its normal speed. The Scuderia di Maranello is now awaited by an interesting confrontation with Mercedes in Abu Dhabi valid for the second place in the constructors. In the Middle East there is also one Red Bull in recovery, after it was the Milton Keynes team that became the protagonist of a misstep in Brazil, five months after the last committed in Austria. At Interlagos, the RB18 was forced into wider trajectories than rivals at various points on the track, suggesting that understeer issues that emerged during testing had not been resolved. The lack of pace, however, was not such as to lead Red Bull to express a lower competitiveness than Alpine, with the overtaking suffered by Alonso in the final due only to the new soft tire mounted by the Asturian during the Safety Car.
The Spaniard himself was the author of a remarkable comeback race, planned over three stops to travel as much as possible in the open air and let his A522 gallop, a reference point for the center of the group. The neutralization in the final went to meet the team, without however detracting from the technical potential of the Anglo-French car. With the result of Brazil Alpine mortgage the fourth place in the Constructors, thanks also to a McLaren which, even before the double retirement, suffered on the race pace. Finally, it was of great interest the direct duel between Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin valid for the sixth place in the World Championship which lasted for the entire race. The short wall Aston was not very reactive in responding with two laps late to the stop of the rivals, costing Vettel the position on Bottas. The Finn, however, expressed a better pace throughout the central stint, then managed to defend his position after the last restart, despite an alternation between the two Aston Martins to attempt the assault with Stroll on soft tires. Alfa Romeo is therefore confirmed as reborn thanks to the package of updates last month, including bottom and wing, a small-big analogy with Mercedes again winner of a Grand Prix.
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