FORMULA 1 LENOVO GRANDE PREMIO DE SAO PAULO 2024 | ||||
Date | Route | Circle length | Kroogov | Distance |
01-03/11/2024 | Interlagos | 4309 m | 71 | 305,909 km |
official website |
The Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, southeastern Brazil, is traditionally praised before the race and criticized after. The track allows overtaking, there are several interesting sections, but after the finish they remember the bumpy asphalt, the unusual counterclockwise movement and the rampant crime.
In 2010, an armed attack was carried out on Jenson Button. Since then, teams have not recommended that staff appear unescorted away from public places. Many European journalists and photographers simply do not go to this stage, fearing for their safety.
The autodrome was built with private money and opened for racing in 1940. It became municipal property – for a small fee the committee for the celebration of the city’s centenary bought it from the previous owners. In 1972, Interlagos hosted the first Formula 1 race and in 1990 the Brazilian Grand Prix found a permanent home in Sao Paulo.
The circuit is often called Interlagos, although officially the circuit is named after Jose Carlos Pace, who died in a plane crash in 1977. Not far from the main entrance is a bronze monument to the racer. Interlagos is a geographical term; the circuit is located between two reservoirs that supply Sao Paulo with water and electricity.
New asphalt was laid for the 2014 race, the paddock was expanded and a large office complex built for the 2015 round, and in 2017 the modernization program, worth approximately $60 million, was completed.
The contract for the Brazilian Grand Prix expired in 2020. There was talk of moving the stage from Interlagos to a new circuit in Rio de Janeiro, which had yet to be built, but the regional authorities shut down this project. Formally due to protests from environmental activists, but in fact due to the lack of guarantees from Formula 1 under which investments could be attracted.
In 2020 the stage was canceled due to the pandemic, but in November they announced the signing of a new five-year contract to organize the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The stage changed its national status to a geographical one and acquired a new promoter – the organization is carried out by the Brasil Motorsport company, owned by investors of the Mubadala fund from Abu Dhabi. Alan Adler, a specialist with extensive experience in sports and entertainment, is now responsible for hosting the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Characteristics of the trajectory
The technical Brazilian circuit is the fourth longest circuit on the 2024 Formula 1 calendar (4.309 km in total), after Monaco, Zandvoort and Mexico. It is located at an altitude of 800 meters, but after Mexico City (2,300 m above sea level) this will not be a problem.
Interlagos is a route of two extremes. The first and third sectors require low drag on long straights, but the middle sector is twisty and requires high downforce.
With the arrival of the second DRS zone, engineers started to focus on downforce to achieve the best lap times, but it is also important to maintain maximum speed on the straights during the race.
The largest height difference (40 meters) is straight ahead from the start/finish to the 4th bend.
The long straight before the start of the lap requires an intelligent distribution of ERS energy to achieve maximum efficiency during the acceleration lap before the start of the fast lap.
Thanks to the long straights and the second DRS zone, Interlagos is one of the best circuits for overtaking. It is difficult for the defender to control the battery charge, because there are not many large braking zones on the track to recover energy.
Interlagos is a very fluid circuit with many combination corners (where you corner and brake at the same time), so stability is very important.
The weather in Sao Paulo is unpredictable and changeable and often becomes a key factor on weekends.
Nick Chesterengineer: “It is difficult to find optimal settings in Interlagos. The middle section is very twisty, with many slow bends, followed by a long, uphill bend that ends in a long straight where you rely on the power and dynamics of the bike.
In the middle sector it is important for the driver that the car handles the corners well and the tendency to understeer is not so evident, and at the exit it is necessary that the drive wheels hold the line well during acceleration.
It is quite difficult to find a compromise when choosing the level of downforce. You want it to be less in the last sector, and more in other areas. To find this trade-off, we rely on computer simulation data. Normally in Brazil we reduce the downforce level slightly compared to the calculated downforce, but we will probably do the same now.”
Best session results for the 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||||
Event | Weather | Racer | Team | Time | |
First workout | Cloudy. Dry | K. Sainz | Ferrari | 1:11,732 | |
Qualification | Cloudy. Dry | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:10,727 | |
Sprint qualification | Sunny. Dry | L.Norris | McLaren | 1:10,622 | |
Best sprint lap | Sunny. Dry | D. Russell | Mercedes | 1:14,422 | |
Best lap of the race | Sunny. Dry | L.Norris | McLaren | 1:12,486 |
Weekend schedule
The Brazilian weekend will again be held in the sprint format on Saturday. You can follow the progress of all Formula 1 sessions on our live broadcast page.
Schedule of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Moscow time | ||||
Day | Event | Time | ||
01/11 | Formula 1. First training | 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM | ||
01/11 | Formula 1 sprint qualification | 21:30 – 22:14 | ||
02/11 | Formula 1.Sprint | 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM | ||
02/11 | Formula 1. Qualifying | 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM | ||
03/11 | Formula 1. Parade of pilots | 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM | ||
03/11 | Formula 1. Grand Prix of Sao Paulo (71 laps or 120 minutes) | 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM |
Tire kits issued to teams for the weekend
This year Pirelli will bring a trio of ‘soft’ compounds to the Brazilian stage – C3, C4 and C5 named Hard, Medium and Soft.
Performance of active pilots in Brazil
Performance of the current drivers at the Interlagos circuit | |||||||||||
Racer | GP | Glasses | Circles | Best | pool | 1st row | quickly circle |
stage | victory | ||
All | leader | start | finish | ||||||||
F. Alonso | 20 | 139 | 1282 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||
L. Hamilton | 16 | 185 | 1090 | 184 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
S. Perez | 12 | 66 | 775 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||||
V. Bottas | 11 | 56 | 630 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
N. Hulkenberg | 11 | 37 | 567 | 35 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||
M. Verstappen | 8 | 134 | 567 | 176 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
K. Sainz | 8 | 62 | 495 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |||||
K. Magnussen | 8 | 5 | 284 | 7 | 9 | 1 | |||||
P. Gasly | 6 | 30 | 423 | 6 | 2 | 1 | |||||
E. Okon | 6 | 9 | 352 | 8 | 8 | ||||||
L. Walk | 6 | 11 | 392 | 3 | 5 | ||||||
S. Leclerc | 5 | 35 | 278 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||
D. Russell | 4 | 39 | 269 | 66 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
L.Norris | 4 | 33 | 262 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | ||||
Yu.Tsunoda | 3 | 5 | 211 | 15 | 9 | ||||||
A. Elbon | 3 | 142 | 5 | 14 | |||||||
G.Zhou | 2 | 93 | 13 | 12 | |||||||
O. Piastri | 1 | 69 | 10 | 14 | |||||||
Lawson and Colapinto did not participate in the Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit |
Max Verstappen: “I like the Brazilian circuit, it has an interesting configuration with a characteristic height difference, and the counterclockwise movement makes the task even more interesting.
The track is quite technical, especially the winding second sector – everything has to be done correctly there to set a good time. Like many of the circuits we compete in, Interlagos has a rich history and has hosted many exciting events over the years, making this race a special place on the calendar.”
Brazilian Grand Prix: all stages | |||||
Date | Route | Pool | Winner | ||
05/11/23 | Interlagos | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | M. Verstappen | Red Bull |
13/11/22 | Interlagos | K. Magnussen | Hare | D. Russell | Mercedes |
14/11/21 | Interlagos | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | L. Hamilton | Mercedes |
17-11-19 | Interlagos | M. Verstappen | Red Bull | M. Verstappen | Red Bull |
11/11/18 | Interlagos | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | L. Hamilton | Mercedes |
12/11/17 | Interlagos | V. Bottas | Mercedes | S. Vettel | Ferrari |
13/11/16 | Interlagos | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | L. Hamilton | Mercedes |
15/11/15 | Interlagos | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | N. Rosberg | Mercedes |
09/11/14 | Interlagos | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | N. Rosberg | Mercedes |
24/11/13 | Interlagos | S. Vettel | Red Bull | S. Vettel | Red Bull |
25/11/12 | Interlagos | L. Hamilton | McLaren | D. Button | McLaren |
27/11/11 | Interlagos | S. Vettel | Red Bull | M. Webber | Red Bull |
07/11/10 | Interlagos | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | S. Vettel | Red Bull |
18-10-09 | Interlagos | R. Barrichello | Brawn GP | M. Webber | Red Bull |
02/11/08 | Interlagos | F. Mass | Ferrari | F. Mass | Ferrari |
21/10/07 | Interlagos | F. Mass | Ferrari | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari |
22/10/06 | Interlagos | F. Mass | Ferrari | F. Mass | Ferrari |
25/09/05 | Interlagos | F. Alonso | Renault | H. Montoya | McLaren |
24/10/04 | Interlagos | R. Barrichello | Ferrari | H. Montoya | Williams |
06/04/03 | Interlagos | R. Barrichello | Ferrari | D. Fisichella | Jordan |
31/03/02 | Interlagos | H. Montoya | Williams | M. Schumacher | Ferrari |
01/04/01 | Interlagos | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | D. Coulthard | McLaren |
26/03/00 | Interlagos | M. Hakkinen | McLaren | M. Schumacher | Ferrari |
11/04/99 | Interlagos | M. Hakkinen | McLaren | M. Hakkinen | McLaren |
29/03/98 | Interlagos | M. Hakkinen | McLaren | M. Hakkinen | McLaren |
03/30/97 | Interlagos | J. Villeneuve | Williams | J. Villeneuve | Williams |
31/03/96 | Interlagos | D. Hill | Williams | D. Hill | Williams |
26/03/95 | Interlagos | D. Hill | Williams | M. Schumacher | Benetton |
27/03/94 | Interlagos | A. Senna | Williams | M. Schumacher | Benetton |
28/03/93 | Interlagos | A. Prost | Williams | A. Senna | McLaren |
05/04/92 | Interlagos | N. Mansell | Williams | N. Mansell | Williams |
24/03/91 | Interlagos | A. Senna | McLaren | A. Senna | McLaren |
25/03/90 | Interlagos | A. Senna | McLaren | A. Prost | Ferrari |
26/03/89 | Jacarepagua | A. Senna | McLaren | N. Mansell | Ferrari |
03/04/88 | Jacarepagua | A. Senna | McLaren | A. Prost | McLaren |
04/12/87 | Jacarepagua | N. Mansell | Williams | A. Prost | McLaren |
23/03/86 | Jacarepagua | A. Senna | Lotus | N. Pique | Williams |
04/07/85 | Jacarepagua | M.Alboreto | Ferrari | A. Prost | McLaren |
25/03/84 | Jacarepagua | E. de Angelis | Lotus | A. Prost | McLaren |
03/13/83 | Jacarepagua | K. Rosberg | Williams | N. Pique | Brabham |
21/03/82 | Jacarepagua | A. Prost | Renault | A. Prost | Renault |
29/03/81 | Jacarepagua | N. Pique | Brabham | K. Reutemann | Williams |
01-27-80 | Interlagos | J.Jabouille | Renault | R. Arnoux | Renault |
04/02/79 | Interlagos | J. Laffite | Ligier | J. Laffite | Ligier |
29/01/78 | Jacarepagua | R.Peterson | Lotus | K. Reutemann | Ferrari |
23/01/77 | Interlagos | D. Hunting | McLaren | K. Reutemann | Ferrari |
25/01/76 | Interlagos | D. Hunting | McLaren | N. Lauda | Ferrari |
26/01/75 | Interlagos | J. Jarier | Shadow | K.Pas | Brabham |
27/01/74 | Interlagos | E. Fittipaldi | McLaren | E. Fittipaldi | McLaren |
11/02/73 | Interlagos | R.Peterson | Lotus | E. Fittipaldi | Lotus |
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.