Get the freshest data and news straight from the Brazilian GP and find out who had the worst performance in 13 years
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Hey there, driver-of-the-day 👋
Right back at you with the latest news after the Brazilian GP.
📉 Team Troubles: Check which team has had the worst performance in the last 13 years.
🐝 Honey Badger’s Buzz: Daniel Ricciardo isn’t smiling about the current F1 regulations. Find out why one of the grid’s most tenacious drivers calls out what he sees as a ‘sting’ in the sport’s rulebook.
🏁 Haas Has Had Enough: The Haas team is waving the red flag at track limit breaches. With a firm demand for an FIA review, we’re on the edge of our seats to see how this race for fairness will pan out.
In today’s email:
- Speedy Race Review – Get the recent data, insights, and updates following the Brazilian GP
- In-depth education- What Does It Cost To Host an F1 Race?
- Fast Lane News – Your swift F1 digest – dynamic, impactful, and exactly what you need to keep up-to-speed.
- The Las Vegas GP – The first one!
Lights out, and away we go!
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Speedy Race Review
🏁 2023 F1 Brazilian GP Highlights
🥇 Max Verstappen clinches the win
🌟 Fernando Alonso puts on a stellar performance
🔴 Leclerc crashes on the formation lap
🚫 6 DNFs (Leclerc, Albon, Magnussen, Guanyu, Bottas, Russell)
🤕 Tough luck for drivers with that lap 1 crunch
🔄 Aston Martin’s “downgrade to upgrade” strategy paid off, especially for Alonso’s genius defensive moves and Stroll’s standout performance.
🛠️ Mercedes raised their car’s height to dodge a disqualification; this led to huge air resistance and rapid tire wear
⬆️ Ferrari still scored more points than Mercedes
📊 Race Pace
🐢 Mercedes lagged behind their previous year’s pace, with Hamilton clocking in 0.46 seconds per lap slower than their W13
🚀 In 2022, they had the fastest car, with Ferrari and Red Bull trailing. This year, they’re slower than Alpine and AlphaTauri
🆙 Tsunoda and Stroll made a whopping 1.3 seconds per lap improvement from last year
💔 Ricciardo had a stroke of bad luck despite showing great speed
🚩 Ricciardo Calls Out Unfair F1 Rules
Daniel Ricciardo had bad luck with the F1 rules. He got caught in a first-lap crash at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and because of that mess, he ended up a lap behind right from the get-go.
What Happened
He and his fellow Aussie, Oscar Piastri, thought they were out of the race with rear wing damage, so they headed back to the garage. But then, a red flag gave them a second chance to fix their cars and jump back in.
Since they were already in the garage when the red flag was waved, they had to restart from the pit lane while everyone else had done an extra lap behind the Safety Car. That left Ricciardo and Piastri a lap down as the race restarted, and Ricciardo wasn’t pleased.
Oscar and I fell victim to that. Okay, it’s two of us, but if 15 cars had damage and had to do what we did, are they going to start a race with 15 cars a lap down? I don’t think so. So I think they need to be a bit more open-minded. So that was frustrating.
Go Deeper:
It was a real downer, especially since the AlphaTauri cars were flying around the track all weekend. Ricciardo had to dodge a flying tire during the crash and then found out his rear wing had taken a hit.
Despite the setback, he showed impressive speed whenever he had a clear track. But because of the rules, he couldn’t really fight for points, which stings because he’s trying to help his team clinch seventh in the championship. – Read more
⚫ Worst Mercedes Performance in Years
Mercedes had a rough time at the Brazilian GP. It was their worst weekend in 13 years! Just last year, they were celebrating a win there, but this time, it was a total nightmare.
What Happened
- Team arrived in Brazil optimistic following strong race performances.
- Lewis Hamilton was disqualified at the US Grand Prix but secured two second-place finishes.
- In São Paulo, Hamilton’s car underperformed in qualifying.
- Tire problems during the sprint race resulted in a drop to seventh place.
- Hamilton ended the Grand Prix in eighth place.
- George Russell retired from the race due to an engine cooling issue.
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ boss, was pretty blunt about it. He called the performance “inexcusable” and was completely stumped by what happened. Hamilton thinks the trouble is of a technical nature.
My guess is that the floor is not working. It is not sucking down and it’s pushed us to a higher wing and then we are massively draggy on the straights and sliding in the corner. We have to look into why that is the case on this rough circuit. The tyres were overheating, slow on the straights, no grip in the corners.
Go Deeper
They’ve got a lot to figure out. Wolff admitted they might have played it too safe with the car’s height, but that wasn’t the only issue. There might be some mechanical problems they have yet to find. It’s puzzling because the car was great in the last few races, and suddenly, it’s a mess.
This setback came at the wrong time since Mercedes was just starting to feel like they were getting on top of things. It’s also a wake-up call about the issues with their current car, especially when you compare it to Red Bull’s dominant one. – Read more
🧑🤝🧑 Brazilian GP Track Invasion
The FIA wasn’t too happy about what happened at the 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix. Fans got on the track after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat McLaren’s Lando Norris. This wasn’t supposed to happen – cars were still racing! Luckily, no one got hurt, but the race officials are in hot water over safety concerns.
Usually, there’s a set time when fans can get on the track to celebrate. But at Interlagos, some fans jumped the gun and climbed over fences while the race was still going on. The FIA checked the security footage and said the safety measures weren’t good enough.
Pancadaria na Fórmula 1: Seguranças trocam socos com torcedores após acesso à pista ser negado.
Cenas foram registradas no ‘Heineken Village’ logo após o fim da corrida. pic.twitter.com/yOOb7El3nC
— Metrópoles (@Metropoles) November 5, 2023
The organizers admitted they messed up with security and safety. They even said this kind of thing has happened in Brazil before, which makes it even more concerning.
This reminds us of the 2023 Australian GP, where there was another safety issue with Nico Hulkenberg’s car. The Brazilian GP folks must figure out what went wrong and fix it for next year’s race. They must share their plan with the FIA by January 30, 2024.
The FIA might decide on further penalties, but the Australian GP didn’t get any extra punishments. On a brighter note, 267,000 fans showed up at Interlagos over the weekend! Plus, the Brazilian GP will stay on the F1 calendar until 2030, thanks to a new deal. – Read more
⚙️ Red Bull’s RB19: Secret Tech Revealed
Even though the team has been quiet on updates because they’re focusing on next year’s car, the RB19 still has some sneaky tricks up its sleeve. The car has a unique tweak at the back that’s got everyone talking and rivals trying to catch a glimpse.
Here’s the scoop: there’s a nifty little feature called a micro extractor in the rear diffuser. It’s like a secret weapon that helps the car’s aerodynamics, making it super efficient on the track.
Adrian Newey, the brains behind the design, added this cool modification that’s totally within the rules, and it’s all about making the car’s downforce even better without adding extra drag.
And there’s more than just that micro extractor. The rear brake ducts have this clever design with vents and flaps that work with the rest of the car’s aerodynamics, giving it an edge over the others.
So, while other teams might be trying to figure out Red Bull’s secret sauce, it’s clear these guys are playing 4D chess with car design.
⚫ Haas Demands FIA Review Track Breaches
The FIA called in Red Bull, Aston Martin, and Williams for a big meeting after Haas complained about drivers going off-track at the US Grand Prix and not getting penalized. Haas isn’t happy these moments seem to slip by during the race.
Here’s what’s happening:
👉 Haas has officially asked the FIA to take another look, claiming some drivers were playing fast and loose with the track boundaries in Austin but didn’t get called out for it.
👉 The FIA is listening and has set up a hearing. They’ve said any new evidence brought in has to be really significant for them to act on it.
👉 The FIA also said they’re working on making the race tracking better by 2024, especially around Turn 6, to make sure the rules are followed.
So, on Wednesday, everyone involved will be at this hearing to see if Haas has enough proof to shake things up.
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner is pretty sure his team has solid proof that some other drivers didn’t stay within the track limits at the F1 US Grand Prix.
We just want to bring the case up, because otherwise we need to change the rules. I’m not a big fan of track limits, to be honest. I’m the last one who wants penalties on track limits. But if there’s a rule in place, we need as a sport to respect rules, that is more the principle of it, than the penalty.
Some other teams also had a bone to pick about how track limits were handled at Turn 6. The FIA had said the CCTV footage wasn’t clear enough to call it during the race, but they did catch some issues on the day.
And the FIA’s already on board to get a better system by next year to watch that tricky Turn 6 at the COTA. – Read more
What Does It Cost To Host an F1 Race?
What Does It Cost To Host an F1 Race?Formula 1 is big business, raking in billions. Thanks partly to the popular Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” the sport’s profitability has soared. But hosting an F1 race? That’s a costly endeavor.
F1 Hosting Fees
Countries pay a hosting fee to run a Formula 1 Grand Prix. The amount is based on contract deals with Formula One Group (owned by Liberty Media).
If a track pays more, its spot in F1 is more secure. Historical tracks like Monaco and Silverstone might pay less due to their legacy in the sport.
Hosting an F1 race isn’t cheap. Just ask countries like India and Korea who dropped out due to the financial burden. On average, it costs around $40-45 million, but it can vary. This fee covers not just the race but also track preparations, utilities, security, and more.
Fees aren’t uniform across tracks. They can range from $20 million to a whopping $55 million, according to RacingNews365.
Fast Lane News
Fast Lane News😬 Machine Gun Kelly had a bit of an awkward interview with Martin Brundle during the F1 race and left the Brazilian Grand Prix early. – Read more
📉 Las Vegas hotel prices have taken a nosedive, and now F1 fans who booked early are hustling to get some money back. – Read more
🥇 All F1 records Max Verstappen broke in 2023. – Read more
😐 Stroll’s pretty tight-lipped about his F1 future, just saying, “That’s the plan.”- Read more
🤗 Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso hugged after battling for a podium spot in the 2023 F1 Brazilian GP. – Read more
💰 F1’s revenues shot up by over $100 million from 2022 to the same period in 2023. – Read more
⚫ Check out an email James Allison, Mercedes’ technical director, sent after the Brazil GP letdown. – Read more
🏎️🏁 Adrian Newey, the design chief for Red Bull, skipped the Brazilian GP to drive some race cars with Ford boss Jim Farley. – Read more
🚨Alfa Romeo team chief shares an update on Audi Formula 1 entry. – Read more
💡 Pirelli plans a revolutionary tire concept in 2025. – Read more
🎶 Horner explains Verstappen’s bizarre F1 ‘Radio Red Bull’ song – Read more
THE 2023 LAS VEGAS GP
THE 2023 LAS VEGAS GP🇺🇸 Scheduled 16-18 November
Las Vegas Strip Circuit – Las Vegas, US
1️⃣ Circuit length: 6.201km
2️⃣ Number of laps: 50
3️⃣ Lap record: N/A – inaugural race
4️⃣ Corners & DRS: 17 corners
MEME OF THE DAY
MEME OF THE DAY
