FORMULA 1
 Credit: Carl De Souza Formula One returns this weekend once again for the third round of this first of two triple headers to complete the 2024 championship as the World Championship heads to the iconic and legendary Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo for the Brazilian Grand Prix, The championship has just four rounds remaining of the championship season and this will be the penultimate sprint weekend of the year as Interlagos continues to be a staple to the sprint calendar. With the reigning champions of the Constructors Championship Red Bull now down to third and with them having championship leader of the Drivers' Championship Max Verstappen, this will make the remaining races of the season extremely competitive. It has been the Ferrari show in the previous rounds of this triple header with Charles Leclerc winning the United States Grand Prix and last weekend, Carlos Sainz took his potential last win for Ferrari in the Mexican Grand Prix. The drivers championship has two main contenders for the title with four rounds to go and they are Verstappen and Lando Norris, with Verstappen in the lead of the championship by 47 points over Norris. Charles Leclerc is still mathematically in the championship but it would take an awful lot of circumstances for that to unfold. In the constructors championship, McLaren have the championship lead by 29 points over Ferrari who have moved up into second as Red Bull have moved down to third and are 54 points away from McLaren. Their season is going from bad to worse considering expectations of them at the start of the year. Brazil is known for producing critical moments in championships and with how entertaining and trilling this season has been, the Interlagos circuit is sure to make more memories in the 2024 championship. A look at the track: Interlagos, Sao Paulo Credit: Vince Mignott/MB Media Formula 1 heads to Interlagos this weekend for round 21 of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship and to arguably the most iconic race track in South America for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. It is an iconic race track that has its fair share of elevation change and banked turns, especially in sector 3 on the run to the start/finish line. It is a circuit with many overtaking opportunities and is one where moves can be made. Many iconic moments in Formula 1 have happened at Interlagos including specifically for one of the grid's current drivers in Lewis Hamilton. The current Mercedes drivers has won seven Drivers' world championships but it was his first that came at Interlagos in 2008 when he was racing for McLaren. On the final lap, Hamilton passed Toyota's Timo Glock for fifth place which was all that he needed to take the world championship away from home hopeful Felipe Massa. This was when one of the most iconic Formula 1 commentary lines of all time was made by Martin Brundle shouting "Is that Glock?!" Interlagos is very much an iconic circuit and first held a Formula 1 Grand Prix all the way back in 1973. However, the first Grand Prix race was held a year prior in 1972 but was not formally part of the Formula 1 World Championship that year but Brazil would see their first ever Formula 1 world champion in Emerson Fittipaldi.  Emerson Fittipaldi pictured at Monaco. Credit: Rainer Schlegelmich The track itself is made up of 15 corners and has a lap distance of 4.309km. Overtaking opportunities are plenty around the Interlagos circuit with two DRS zones into turns 1 and 4. 71 racing laps are to come in Sunday's Grand Prix with the 100km sprint race on Saturday being of 24 racing laps which promises to make many exciting moments across the weekend's two races. This weekend it will be a sprint weekend at Interlagos, which will be the fifth sprint weekend of the 2024 season, following on from the fourth sprint weekend of the season two weeks prior in Austin, Texas. This means that more points will be on over for the drivers and all points scored could be crucial in the context of both championships for many teams at both ends of the championship in the Constructors'. Also, in terms of the drivers' Lando Norris and Max Verstappen will be going at each other fighting for the championship, so points will be crucial for Lando catching or Max getting closer to securing his fourth championship. The lap record around the circuit was set by the Mrcedes of Valtteri Bottas back in 2018 in what was an eventful race all round and is remembered for Esteban Ocon trying to unlap himself but instead colliding with Max Verstappen. Bottas' lap was a 1:10.540 as he finished fifth with teammate Lewis Hamilton taking victory that day. Last year in Brazil was also a sprint weekend, as has every year that sprint races have been running and it was a weekend that was filled to the brim with drama and brilliant action. In the 2023 format, it was the Grand Prix qualifying that would take place on the Friday unlike the sprint shootout that will be the session to take place on this year's Friday running, following on from the sole practice session. Taking pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix would be Max verstappen as the Dutchman would set a 1:10.727 with a great lap in the evening at Interlagos. He would beat Charles Leclerc to pole, who would qualify second and Lance Stroll would make the top three after he out-qualified teammate Fernando Alonso. It would be time for another qualifying session to begin Saturday's track action, as it was the sprint qualifying that would take place ahead of that day's later sprint race. On pole would be a surprise in the form of McLaren's Lando Norris. This would be McLaren's second successive sprint shootout in three sprint weekend events as Oscar Piastri had done so in Qatar earlier that season. Norris narrowly beat Verstappen by less than a tenth and they would share the front row on the grid with Sergio Perez in third place staring just behind them. The day's later sprint race would be not a total surprise as Verstappen would take victory for the first time that weekend as he would beat Lando Norris by just over four seconds to take the flag first as he completed the 24 laps in just over half an hour. Sergio Perez would make it two Red Bulls inside the top three as he would finish in third place. For the Grand Prix itself, it would be no surprise to see the man who took pole position, Max Verstappen, come home to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix for the year 2023 with a brilliant drive from that year's world champion. Verstappen would take the flag first and would bring home the victory ahead of Lando Norris who would make it a repeat of the sprint race's first and second placed finishers. In a remarkable drive that displayed his talent and it showed he had not lost it, Fernando Alonso would complete the podium after a stunning battle with the mighty Red Bull power being driven by Sergio Perez. It would be a race of so much drama and it would be filled with DNF's. One driver, being Charles Leclerc, would not make the starting grid as he spun on the formation lap and would find the barrier at turn six. This would therefore delay the start. The racing in the Grand Prix would then be delayed further as Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen came together in a heavy crash which brought out the red flags. Joining them in retiring the car would be both Alfa Romeo Sauber drivers Zhou Guanyu and Bottas. Completing the retirements would be George Russell of Mercedes - a year on from his maiden Grand Prix victory. Great racing is usually produced at Interlagos and fans will be in anticipation of more fantastic racing as this season has delivered so many entertaining action as well as championship twists. A look back at the previous Grand Prix: Round 20 - Mexico City Grand Prix Credit: Jared C. Tilton Less than one week ago in Mexico, action happened that could have significant implications in both championships as events unfolded around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City. Passionate fans filled the grandstands and the stadium section which created a great atmosphere as people were hoping for great action while the home faithful were hoping for a change in fortune for their home hero Sergio Perez. Red Bull were needing a good weekend as was Sergio Perez with the [pressure evergrowing on whether Red Bull would sack him and replace him with Liam Lawson in 2025, despite the Mexican driver having signed a new contract in June of 2024. It would be far from ideal for Red Bull either as by the end of the weekend they would fall to third in the Constructors' Championship as Ferrari would jump above them and into second place. On track, Perez would get knocked out in Q1 on Saturday to eliminate himself from qualifying and to make him start 18th on the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix with only Zhou Guanyu and Esteban Ocon behind him in the qualifying order. It would be a hugely surprising Q1 as in a Grand Prix qualifying session, Oscar Piastri would be eliminated for the first time in 2024. The pair would be 17th and 18th on the grid for the race. Towards the front it would be the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz who took pole position for the Grand Prix with a fantastic Q3 performance with both of his laps being better than the time of Max Verstappen who would qualify in second place. Lando Norris would be in third place ahead of Charles Leclerc in fourth on the second row. As for the Grand Prix, it would be a dramatic one from the very offset as we would see the second safety car in as many Grand Prix. Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon would collide in a racing incident at turn 1 as Max Verstappen would take the lead in the first sequence of corners as Carlos Sainz ran across the grass. The safety car would come back into the pit lane once the two cars were removed from the circuit and immediately there was fantastic action, Sainz would re-claim the lead from Verstappn and would begin to try and pull away from the reigning world champion, who was the winner of the last three Mexican Grand Prix in Formula 1 (2021, 2022 and 2023). Soon enough, the race's main talking points were about to unfold as Lando Norris had closed up to second placed Max Verstappen. The two would go side-by-side into turn 4 on lap 10 with Norris being forced off the track and coming back on ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen would then send a massive divebomb, which was a huge risk, down the inside on Norris which sent them both off the track. The Stewards were not fans of Max's driving whatsoever and gave him two separate 10-second time penalties, which would be one for each incident and that would mean Verstappen would have to undertake 20-seconds worth of a time penalty at his mandatory pit stop. It would be an eventful race with Liam Lawson having many battles including ones with Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez, who occupies the Red Bull seat that Lawson will be eager to win in 2025.  Credit: Jared C. Tilton By the end of the race it would be Sainz the eventual winner, with Lando Norris splitting the two Ferrari drivers in second as Charles Leclerc completed the podium in third place. The two Mercedes drivers would complete the top five with Lewis Hamilton in fourth ahead of his teammate George Russell. Although, he managed to do well in recovering his penalty time to finish sixth, Verstappen would lose 10 points in the championship to Lando Norris, which has the gap down at 47 woth four rounds remaining and six races (two sprints). Kevin Magnussen was best of the rest in seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri in eighth. Nico Hulkenberg joined Haas teammate Magnussen in the top 10 with a ninth place finish. Alpine's Pierre Gasly completed the points scoring. There would just be one additional retirement to sit alongside Albon and Tsunoda. Fernando Alonso would be the driver to retire from the Grand Prix with a mechanical problem that saw him forced into the pit lane. Not the way the two-time world champion would have wanted to spend his 400th Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton to take part in 'emotional experience' as he gets to drive his idol's McLaren car Credit: Lars Baron Sir Lewis Hamilton. One of the all time greats. A driver with seven driver's world championships, 105 Formula 1 Grand Prix victories, 105 pole positions and over 350 Formula 1 Grand Prix.The boy from Stevenage is the statistically most successful driver Formula 1 has ever seen, only being tied for World Championships by Michael Schumacher. The seven-time world champion is a driver who when growing up had racing driver idols but his main racing idol that stood out amongst the rest for him was Brazil's most adored motor racing son, Ayrton Senna. Like Lewis, Senna is considered as one of the all-time greats with three Formula 1 World Championships and his sheer skill and passion for racing could not be disputed. This year is an emotional year for the Senna fan base as it is the 30th year anniversary since his tragic passing at Imola in 1994. Tributes were carried out at Imola earlier on this season but in Brazil, Senna's nation, they will be remembering with their own tributes at Interlagos in Sao Paulo, where Senna adored and shone - by winning Grand Prix around the circuit twice - in 1991 and 1993. Being Senna's idol and now a Brazilian citizen as from November 2022, Hamilton will get to do something that will be an "emotional experience" for him personally. Hamilton will get the chance following the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, to drive Ayrton Senna's championship winning McLaren MP4/5B. The year that infamously saw Senna and championship rival Alain Prost come together at the first corner at Suzuka to take the title which was a reverse outcome of the year before when both cars retired and Prost became champion - at the same circuit. Speaking on the opportunity and honouring Senna, in Thursday's pre-weekend press conference hosted by Tom Clarkson, Hamilton said: "Every tie we come here it's an opportunity to do that, and I think so many of the drivers also do that. "But I never in a million years thought I'd get to drive Senna's car here. I remember someone contacted me, my manager told me about it, and I jumped at the opportunity. Back in the day when I was at McLaren, I did get the chance to drive the MP4/4 around Silverstone, which was incredible. Hamilton will have the opportunity to drive his idol's championship winning machine on Saturday during what promises to be a very exciting an important weekend for the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 21 - Sao Paulo Grand Prix session times (SPRINT WEEKEND)Track Time
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 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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