The race at Interlagos is the sixth and ultimate dash occasion of the 2023 season. The dash format brought about groups some complications earlier this 12 months as a result of vehicles are put below parc ferme situations after Friday’s single free follow session, which means key objects comparable to journey heights are locked in for the rest of the weekend.
On the final dash occasion in Austin Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes have been disqualified for extreme ground plank put on, regardless of receiving little to no warning after free follow that the plank would grow to be a problem.
The dash format, in addition to COTA’s bumpy structure, was considered an important issue of their misjudgement, as neither workforce was in a position to reply later within the weekend.
At Interlagos, the groups are once more tackling a circuit identified for its bumpy nature, and the added menace of rain on Friday has made it even tougher to nail down the optimum journey heights throughout varied situations.
Mercedes’ George Russell reckoned that the danger of plank put on might come up once more this weekend on a circuit like Interlagos.
“It may be actually difficult,” mentioned Russell. “It is a huge challenge with the dash race weekend. In Austin, we ended follow, we did our checks, there was no plank put on and we thought we have been within the clear.
“After which with a small change of wind course, put in 100 kilos of gas within the automobile for the primary time, some laps in site visitors, some laps not in site visitors, on a extremely bumpy circuit, we out of the blue discovered ourselves in a problem we weren’t anticipating.
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Photos
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG
“I’ve received to be trustworthy, on a observe like this, some groups would possibly discover themselves in the identical place.”
Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso thinks groups should take a extra conservative method to keep away from disqualification, even when it means vehicles can have a compromised journey peak for a dry race.
“I believe a dash format this 12 months has been fairly troublesome for everybody to optimise the automobile,” he mentioned. “There are at all times margins that it is advisable to take.
“In Austin, we had a number of vehicles which were checked, and lots of different vehicles that they did not verify that they weren’t authorized. I believe right here will probably be somewhat bit extra conservative from everybody.”
Purple Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen hopes that groups will likely be allowed to make tweaks if the weekend begins off moist however the race is held in dry climate.
“For organising the automobile and the journey peak, it is at all times very tough when it has rained for a complete day and within the race on Sunday you’re driving on a dry observe,” Verstappen mentioned.
“However hopefully the FIA will mean you can alter some issues if it has rained.”
Further reporting by Jonathan Noble and Erwin Jaeggi
