Hiroki Tsunoda “Even though I was 5 seconds faster than the others…” Even though he had his sights set on the lead, he was hit by the red flag, and things changed in the final stages. “Alpine protection speed” required | Formula1-Data / F1 information and breaking news reporting

The 2024 F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix was at the mercy of rain over the weekend. Hiroki Tsunoda qualified 3rd, a career best, and held on to 3rd in the early stages of the race, beating Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and at one point looking to take the lead, but in the end, he had to. to take the red flag and was forced to RB.

Qualifying was originally scheduled for the evening of Saturday, November 2, but after several delays due to heavy rain, it was postponed until Sunday, and Q1 started 16 and a half hours later than originally planned. This was the sixth time in F1 history that a warranty was held on the same day as the race.

As a result, each team had to wake up at 4am.

“Drinking espresso is my daily routine, but I didn’t have time to rest and had to finish it quickly, so it wasn’t a pleasant morning,” Yuki Tsunoda recalled.

“However, the first period of the race went well and I was able to hold third place after that, I switched to real tyres.

“The tires were perfect for the road surface at the time, and I think I was maybe five seconds faster than the other cars, but as you know, the red flag was shake and I was lucky.”

It was on lap 28 that Interlagos was hit by a downpour. Each car’s lap times suddenly dropped by nearly 25 seconds.

On the 28th lap, Yuki Tsunoda changed to full wet tires while other cars chose intermediate tires. In just section 3 of his outing, he beat Ocon, who was leading the lap at the time, by 2.837 seconds.

However, the safety car (SC) was taken out on lap 30 due to rain, and the red flag was issued on lap 32 when Franco Colapinto (Williams) crashed. Had the race not been stopped, Hiroki Tsunoda might have been in the lead within a few yards.

In the end, the Alpine cars and Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who deliberately stayed out despite the arrival of heavy rain, including the possibility of a red flag to be lit, to finish on the podium.

Before the main race, the entire surface of the Interlagos circuit was resurfaced, including the pit lane. Although a high pressure wash has been applied, oil tends to float on the surface after paving, and when it gets wet, the grip tends to decrease significantly.

“It was very difficult. I tried to stay as calm and focused as possible. When the rain was so hard, it felt like I was floating, like I run on water,” said Yutaka Tsuyoshi.

After restarting from the red flag, he lost the pace that had kept Ocon at bay in the early stages of the race.

“The first time I switched to Inter, I struggled a bit.

“I think the clean air was probably the reason I was able to hold off the Alpine in the first place. The Alpine got some clean air (by passing me) and he was as fast as he can fly.”

“Unfortunately, Pierre had a bit of luck[Gathly]and he got on the podium in third place, Alpine moved up to sixth in the constructors’ championship and we passed him, but we’ll get back next time.

2024 F1 Round 21 Sao Paulo GPMax Verstappen (Red Bull), who started from 17th on the grid, came from behind to win the race, followed by Esteban Ocon in second and Pierre Gasly in third, giving Alpine a place on podium W

The next race will be held on the city course of Las Vegas.Las Vegas GPit will start with 1 free trial on November 21.

F1 Sao Paulo GP special feature