F1 in Brazil: You’ve got to keep your tires alive

It looked like it was going wrong for Norris right from the start of the race. Antonelli made a better start and passed him into turn 1. Lawson followed through into second place at the next corner. But Norris kept his head down, and by lap six, he was past the Racing Bull, with about five seconds to make up on Antonelli.

Well-timed pit stops saw Norris switch to the right tires at the right time, and he made none of his rivals’ mistakes, even when the rain returned in the final few laps—at least until the podium ceremony, when he tried to fizz his champagne bottle but instead shattered it.

Keeping one’s tires in the right operating window was vitally important in Brazil, but more than a few struggled with it. The Mercedes duo appeared to struggle to generate sufficient tire temperatures, and their cars looked difficult to handle, prompting plenty of complaints from both Russell and Antonelli to the garage. Russell had been progressing well and ran in the top three early in the race but spun after leaving the pit lane for his first stop, ending up facing the wrong way.

A few laps later, Antonelli spun his own car from the lead, this time going into turn 1, letting Norris back into first. Antonelli then did it again four laps later, ending fourth. Eventually, the Mercedes finished with Russell in fourth and Antonelli in fifth. But the team sealed its Constructors’ Championship, so there was still plenty of celebrating despite the relatively mediocre results (by Mercedes’ high standards).

Worth a watch

It’s worth watching the in-car footage from the first couple of laps from both Hamilton and Verstappen, who lined up 20th and 21st out of 22 cars. By the end of lap 1, Hamilton was already in ninth and making things look easy—then again, Brazil was his 400th F1 race start, and he has won more than a quarter of them.