São Paulo GP 2023: Verstappen wins, Alonso saves podium from Pérez

Max Verstappen won the São Paulo GP 2023 from pole position. Driving for Red Bull, he led every lap apart from laps 57 to 59. Lando Norris in the McLaren and Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin joined him on the podium. Alonso only made 3rd place safe from Sergio Pérez on the final lap. Verstappen won the race at the start and again at the restart after the red flag. Both times he came out of the first corner in the lead, and after that his win was never in danger.

On our race page for the São Paulo GP 2023 you can relive the whole race in 3D. Everything about the circuit is on our Autódromo José Carlos Pace page.

Charles Leclerc's race was over before it had even started. The Ferrari driver should have started from grid position 2. On the formation lap, however, his hydraulics apparently failed, and he slid off the track into the barrier. That left Verstappen without his direct rival from the front row.

Norris made the most of it at the start, jumping from 6th on the grid to 2nd. Further back there was a crash at Turn 1. Nico Hülkenberg in the Haas got squeezed and touched Alexander Albon, whose Williams then bounced into Kevin Magnussen. Albon and Magnussen were out without completing a single classified lap. Oscar Piastri was caught up in it as well: Magnussen hit him from behind and destroyed his rear wing. Daniel Ricciardo in the AlphaTauri also damaged his rear wing, apparently on a loose tyre.

Race Control deployed the Safety Car on lap 1 and sent the field through the pit lane. On lap 2 the race was red-flagged because of all the debris. The stewards noted the incident on lap 3 and decided on lap 5 not to investigate it further, so there were no penalties. Piastri and Ricciardo had their cars repaired and had to make a pit lane start.

At the standing restart Verstappen kept the lead, and Norris stayed ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Alonso passed Hamilton at Turn 4. Three laps after the restart he was 3rd, with Hamilton 4th. Alonso's team-mate Lance Stroll dropped to 7th at the restart.

At the front the race was calm. Verstappen and Norris both made their first stop on lap 27 and were still 1st and 2nd afterwards. Red Bull were quicker in the pit lane, with Verstappen taking 22.9 seconds to Norris's 23.8 seconds.

The second stop decided the duel. Verstappen pitted on lap 56 for a fresh set of softs. Norris stayed out and led from lap 57 to 59. When he came in on lap 59, he got a set of softs that were already three laps old. From lap 60 Verstappen was back in front. Norris did have a consolation: he set the fastest lap of the race, which earned him the bonus point and took his total to 19 points.

The best fight of the closing laps was for 3rd place. Pérez had worked his way forward from 9th on the grid. With two laps to go he passed Alonso on the inside at Turn 1. Alonso struck back at Turn 4 on the final lap and beat the Red Bull to the line by the narrowest of margins.

All nine drivers who finished on the lead lap ran the same strategy after the restart: two stops, going soft, medium and then soft again. Nobody used the hard tyre, so the timing of the stops made the difference.

• Mercedes stopped too early: Hamilton was the first of the leading group to pit, on lap 18. He had been fourth and was only 8th three laps later. George Russell stopped on lap 19 and dropped from 5th to 10th. Neither of them made up ground after that. Hamilton finished eighth, three places lower than he started.
• Pérez made the best of his situation: He also stopped early, on lap 20, and dropped from 4th to 7th. After his second stop on lap 46 he was sixth. He still fought his way up to 4th, even though his last set of softs was already three laps old. Overall he gained five places.
• Alonso got the timing right: After his first stop on lap 25 he was still 3rd. After his second stop on lap 47 he was only fifth at first. He then got those places back because drivers who had stopped later still had to pit: Carlos Sainz on lap 51 and Stroll on lap 52.
• Late stops only gained places for a while: Stroll was 3rd before his second stop and 5th three laps after it, which is also where he finished. Yuki Tsunoda dropped from 5th to 9th after his stop on lap 55. Stopping late kept both of them higher up for a while than their pace justified.
• Strategy outliers: Esteban Ocon was the only driver to make three regular stops (laps 14, 31 and 51) and took the final point in tenth. Logan Sargeant had started on mediums, switched to softs during the red flag and stayed on that compound.

Six drivers did not see the chequered flag:

• Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): He did not take the start. He was stopped by a failure on the formation lap, which was initially reported as a hydraulics problem, and ended up hitting the barrier.
• Alexander Albon (Williams) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas): Both retired on lap 1 after the crash at Turn 1. The stewards did not investigate the incident further.
• Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo): He retired after 22 laps with a technical problem.
• Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo): He parked his car after 39 laps with a mechanical failure, so neither Alfa Romeo reached the finish.
• George Russell (Mercedes): He retired after 57 laps. According to Mercedes, the oil temperature was too high and still rising. Race Control had shown him the blue flag on lap 58.

Winners:

• Pierre Gasly went from 15th on the grid to 7th, gaining eight places. Together with Ocon's tenth place, that put both Alpine cars in the points.
• Logan Sargeant also gained eight places, from 19th to 11th, and only just missed out on a point.
• Yuki Tsunoda started 16th and scored two points in ninth.
• Lando Norris climbed from 6th on the grid to 2nd and set the fastest lap.
• Sergio Pérez gained five places and missed the podium by a hair's breadth.

Losers:

• Charles Leclerc lost his front-row grid position without driving a single metre of the race.
• Mercedes: Hamilton was only eighth, and Russell retired.
• Alfa Romeo lost both cars to technical failures.
• Oscar Piastri had his rear wing repaired and made a pit lane start, but finished only 14th, two laps down.
• Lance Stroll started 3rd on the grid and finished fifth.

Verstappen has long since wrapped up the world title. This win took his tally to 524 points. Pérez stays second on 258 points, ahead of Hamilton on 226 points. Behind them it gets tight. Alonso moved up to 4th with 198 points and Norris to 5th with 195 points. Sainz lost two places and is sixth on 192 points, which leaves three drivers within six points of each other. Leclerc stays seventh on 170 points. Stroll is new in the top 10 with 63 points.

Red Bull lead the constructors' championship with 782 points. The fight for 2nd remains close: Mercedes have 382 points, and Ferrari are only 20 behind on 362 points. McLaren on 282 points and Aston Martin on 261 points are also separated by just 21 points. These battles will be settled in the last two races, the Las Vegas GP and the Abu Dhabi GP. You can find the full table in the 2023 standings.