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Linus O'Howell

2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Another Sprint Weekend!

In my opinion, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend is the best of the whole year, and the Sprint Format only adds to that! As you resident Sprint expert (it’s the only thing I’m an expert in), I’ve got some names of some people you should look out for! Firstly, Max Verstappen as he’s won every Sprint this season, and secondly, Carlos Sainz as he’s always in the Top 5! Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda also tend to go pretty well in the shortened format, but on the other end of the spectrum, Sprints have not come kindly to Alex Albon or Aston Martin (in particular Fernando Alonso)! Still, there’s plenty of time for things to change!

Credit: F1

 


Haas, Haas, Haas, Super Haas!

Haas are by far the smallest team on the Grid, like I’m not even sure there’s a comparison between them and the other 9 teams! However, that hasn’t stopped them from arguably being the Team of the Season, like to be 6th in the Championship with 46 points is super impressive! What’s more impressive though is Haas’ recent form, they’re on a 5-Race scoring streak, and both drivers have picked up points in each of the last 2 weekends! Haas’ best result also came at Interlagos when Kevin Magnussen took Pole in 2022, so there’s no reason why K-Mag and Nico Hulkenberg can’t go well again this weekend!

Credit: F1

 


Lewis Hamilton’s Second Home Race

Since gaining his honourary citizenship in June of 2022, Brazil has been very much a second Home Race for Lewis Hamilton! The crowd absolutely love him, he absolutely loves them, and this is also a track that Lewis has won around in the past (multiple times over in fact). Lewis’ win in 2021 was arguably one of his greatest, but it honestly might be bested if he manages to win around here this year! We’ve talked about this a lot that besides his super July, it’s not been a great season for the 7-time World Champion, but we also know that when Hamilton is fully motivated to win, he usually does! Will Mercedes give him a car to fight with though, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Credit: F1 Oversteer

 


How are Aston Martin...

Yes, it’s time to return to my “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How” series with Aston Martin, and this week, we’re focusing on the “How” part! Now, the end of the question could mean many things, like “How are Aston Martin so bad?” or “How are Aston Martin going to turn things around?” Now, whilst there’s not many reasons to have any faith in Aston having a good weekend, it’s worth remembering that we thought this last year (not in as extreme of a way though) and they ultimately had their best weekend of the season! After having their joint-worst weekend of the season in Mexico City (it was as bad as Singapore), Lance Stroll managed to qualify P3 in Qualifying, and in the Race, Lance came home to finish P5 as Fernando Alonso beat Sergio Perez to take a dramatic Podium! Now, there’s no chance that Aston are going to go that well this weekend, but you never know, they might just score a couple of points!

Credit: F1

 


Max Verstappen Needs a Big Weekend!

With 4 Rounds to go, Max Verstappen currently has a 47-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship! Now, that is still very much Max’s to lose, and it’s crazy to think that despite receiving a 20-second penalty last week, he only lost 10 points to Lando Norris, and he could still win the Title even if that all happens again from now until Abu Dhabi! However, last week got a lot of people talking about Verstappen’s tactics, and rather aggressive driving style, and that is a problem for him, even if he doesn’t care about it! Again, Max doesn’t need to win right now because he doesn’t exactly have a car that’s capable of winning, he just needs to be close enough to Norris to manage the gap to the end of the year. Despite that, because of what happened last week, and the fact that Max has had plenty of incidents around Interlagos in the past, I do feel it’s important for Verstappen to pull out something special this weekend to remind everyone why he is a 3-time World Champion, and by far the best driver on the Grid!

Credit: The Independent

 


My Predictions for Sao Paulo Sprint Qualifying

  1. Oscar Piastri

  2. Carlos Sainz

  3. Max Verstappen

  4. Lando Norris

  5. Charles Leclerc

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