Preview São Paulo F1 Grand Prix --- Friday -- Mercedes-Benz

 

Toto Talks São Paulo

Mexico was a special weekend for Kimi and the team. Winning the World Championship is an incredible achievement, particularly at this stage of his career, and he thoroughly deserves the moment. For George, there is natural disappointment. He has been hard on himself but he has driven at an incredibly high level this season and shown again the quality we know he has. There have been circumstances out of his control that haven’t always fallen his way, and we have not always given him the car to perform. Nevertheless, the way he has continued to push and contributed to the team says so much about him.

Our focus, though, has already moved to São Paulo. We came into this season wanting to fight for both championships and there is still a job left to finish. The teams’ title is about the performance of the entire operation, both at the track and back in Brackley and Brixworth, and securing it would mean a great deal to all of us. Nothing is won yet, though. Interlagos is always a demanding weekend and there is little margin for error. We need to execute strongly from the first session and put ourselves in the best possible position to bring home both titles this season.

Third Driver Insight

Brazil is an incredible race and one the whole team always looks forward to. Interlagos is such a historic and iconic circuit, and of course Ayrton Senna’s legacy and the impact he had on F1 make racing there incredibly special. With Kimi’s connection to Ayrton, I think there will be an extra layer of emotion around the weekend too.

We also have the opportunity to clinch the Constructors’ Championship in São Paulo, which would be an incredible achievement. Everyone has worked so hard throughout the season to put us in this position, so to have that within our grasp is hugely exciting. We know there is still a job to do, though, and our focus will be on executing the weekend as strongly as possible.

From a driving perspective, Interlagos is a really challenging track. There are several slower-speed corners where you need good rear grip to maximise lap time, along with the elevation changes and different corner characteristics that make getting the car into the right window particularly important. It usually produces some fantastic racing too, so hopefully we can have a strong weekend and fight to get both cars onto the podium.

Did you know?

• This year’s São Paulo Grand Prix will follow the usual weekend format having held a Sprint weekend last year.
• The Autódromo José Carlos Pace is the fourth-shortest track on the 2026 F1 calendar at just 4.309 km long, only behind Monaco, Zandvoort and Mexico.
• The São Paulo Grand Prix venue is situated 800 metres above sea level, the second-highest altitude on the F1 calendar behind Mexico City (which sits at 2,300m above sea level).
• The biggest difference in elevation is from the start/finish straight to Turn 4 where there is a 40-metre drop in elevation.
• The uphill grid requires the drivers to find the balance between holding the car on the brakes as gently as possible, without rolling backwards.
• Since 2021, the race around the circuit has been known as the São Paulo Grand Prix.
• In 2022, George Russell won his first F1 Sprint race at the venue. A day later, George won his first F1 Grand Prix. He became the first driver to come through the Mercedes Junior Programme to win an F1 race for the Silver Arrows.
• The team has six wins overall at Interlagos. In addition to the three from Lewis Hamilton (2016, 2018 & 2021) and George (2022), Nico Rosberg also won in São Paulo (2014 & 2015).
• The team could clinch the 2026 Constructors’ Championship by outscoring Ferrari by three points. 
• In this decade, on each of the four occasions that a driver has clinched the World Championship before the final Grand Prix of the season, they have gone on to win the next race: Lewis Hamilton in 2020 and Max Verstappen in 2022, 2023 and 2024. In 2023, Verstappen secured the title in the Qatar Sprint before winning the Grand Prix the following day.
• Juan Manuel Fangio also achieved the feat in 1954, while driving for Daimler-Benz AG, winning the first Grand Prix after securing that year’s World Championship.

The Automobile in One Man's Fictional Life: Rabbit's Road Trip in John Updike's Rabbit. Run (1960).

Sources: Wiki, John Updike, Rabbit Angstrom A Tetralogy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

 In a later interview, John Updike stated that his Rabbit, Run was a response to Jack Kerouac's On the Road. However, critical analysis of this masterpiece and the beginning of a series of books that reflect late 20th century American life neglect to discuss the prominent place of the automobile in the novel, particularly during the first segment of the narrative. Critics of this book focus on sex, religion, responsibility (or not!), and the loss and hurt that inevitably accompany leaving. Rabbit is relentless but like his road trip, ultimately goes nowhere.

Rabbit Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school, but now eight years later is in a marriage with a woman he no longer loves.  His wife is an alcoholic, frigid and dumb (and also pregnant with their second child). So he leaves, and he does so by driving off one night in a 1955 Ford that his father-in law sold him for $1,000, although he thought his 1939 Nash was good enough and needed only $80 dollars to repair.  But his controlling in-laws could see their son-in -law driving such an old car. After all, Rabbit lives during the Golden Age of the Automobile in America, but when "he opens the car from the passenger side, wincing at the ping of the brittle door spring... he views "Beneath the knobs for lights and wipers the octagon of the ignition key tells in silhouette."

With the turning of the key, he begins a one evening road trip from his place other of Philadelphia to West Virginia and back, a remarkable road narrative that is as good as it gets from this reader's viewpoint. It features music from the radio, memories from Rabbit's past and thoughts of the future. Rabbit's start is to drive south to escape, "to become" but in the end the people left behind are hurt. In the 2002 American drama film 8 Mile the movie opens with a quote from the novel "If you have the guts to be yourself...other people will pay the price." In four Updike novels Rabbit's life unfolds. In this first one there is a line in a poster that was used to publicize the 1970 film based on the novel a tagline proclaims, "3 months ago Rabbit Angstrom ran out to buy his wife cigarettes. He hasn't come home yet."

Some quotes from Rabbit, Run to ponder.

p.24,26

Route 23 works west through tame country like Coventryville, Elverson, Morgantown.......he stops at a hardware store opposite with two gasoline pumps outside. ...[The farmer] "You don't want to go that way, do you now?"

"No," Rabbit answers, and walks to his car door. ...He's [the farmer] wearing glasses. a scholar. "The only way to get somewhere, you know, is to figure out where you are going before you go there."

Rabbit pulls out, going straight. Everybody who tells you how to act has whiskey on his breath.

p.31

He drives through a thickening night. The road unravels with infuriating slowness, its black wall weariless rising in front of his headlights no matter how they twist. The tar sucks his tires. He realizes that the heat on his cheeks is anger; he has been angry ever since he left that dinner filled with mermaids. So angry his cheeks feel parched inside his mouth and his nostrils water. He grinds his foot down as to squash this snake of a road, and nearly loses the car on a curve, as the two right wheels fall captive to the dirt shoulder. He brings them back but keeps the speedometer needle leaning to the right of the legal limit.

P. 32

The road is broad and confident for miles, but there is a sudden patched stretch, and after that it climbs and narrows. Narrows not so much by plan as naturally, the edges crumbling in the woods on each side crowding down. The road twists more and more wildly in its struggle to gain height and then without warning sheds its skin of asphalt and worms on in dirt.

Kimi Antonelli crowns himself the youngest world champion in history with a podium in Mexico

• Kimi Antonelli became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history with his third place at the Mexican City Grand Prix, while his teammate George Russell finished sixth.
• Kimi started from fourth on the grid and managed the first stint with aplomb: a combination of pace and prudent tyre management allowed him to use his soft tires over 40 laps and put himself in the fight for the podium places.
• However, an interruption due to a red flag due to a violent accident by Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas wiped out the tire advantage he had built up. At that time, Kimi was in third place.
• However, since the order of the restart was determined by the control line at the pit entrance, he resumed the race in fourth place.
• However, he quickly regained a podium finish – with an impressive maneuver against Leclerc at Turn 1 on the second lap after the restart.
• Kimi crossed the finish line in third place, securing his 17th podium of the season as well as winning the 2026 Drivers' World Championship.
• George made a solid start from second place but unexpectedly struggled with energy on the straight before turn one, costing him several positions.
• He then came into contact with Hadjar at Turn Six, after which he received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
• George then showed solid pace and returned to the race in sixth place after serving his penalty ahead of Piastri.
• After the red flag, he rejoined the race in sixth place and retained this position until the chequered flag.
• Kimi is the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history at 20 years and 68 days, surpassing Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 134 days old when he won the title in 2010.
• He is the first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1953 to become world champion, ending a 73-year wait.
• In addition, he is only the third Italian after Ascari and Giuseppe Farina to win the World Championship.
• Kimi is the first graduate of the team's junior program to win the world championship and secures the tenth drivers' title for the brand with the star (1954, 1955, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020).

Driver	Launch site	Result	Schn. Runde	Starting Tyres	Stop 1	Stop 2
Kimi Antonelli	P4	P3	1:19.427	Soft	Medium (R22)	Soft (R46)
George Russell	P2	P6	1:20.147	Soft	Medium (R33)	Soft (R45)

Kimi Antonelli

It's hard for me to put into words what I'm feeling right now. I'm still trying to process everything. But to be able to say that I'm world champion is just incredible. This is a moment that I will remember for the rest of my life. We've had a fantastic season and I'm very proud of what we've achieved together. We had a strong car very early on and were able to show consistent performances. That gave us confidence that we could fight for the World Championship.

I wouldn't be here without this team, without all the people and partners who have supported me throughout my career. Mercedes believed in me for so many years and gave me this incredible opportunity. Repaying this trust by winning the World Cup together means a lot to me. I would also like to thank my family, friends and everyone else who has stood by me on this journey.

Before this weekend, I was definitely more tense because I knew what was possible. To have made it today is therefore a huge relief and an incredible feeling. The podium made it even more special, and it was really cool to celebrate it together with Max (Verstappen) and Lewis (Hamilton). There are still races to go and we want to finish the season strong by securing the Constructors' Championship title as well. Tonight, however, we will definitely enjoy this moment together as a team.

George Russell

Congratulations to Kimi on this absolutely deserved title win! He has done a fantastic job this season and can be incredibly proud of what he has achieved.

Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing race for me. I had a good start and was in a strong position. But then we had a problem that prevented me from delivering full power on the straight. That cost us a lot of places and ultimately a good result. It's frustrating when the race is affected by something that's out of my control. But that's just the way it is in racing.

We'll regroup after this weekend and try to come back stronger in Brazil. We still have a chance to win the constructors' championship and my whole focus is on helping the team achieve that goal.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and Managing Director

What Kimi has achieved today is extraordinary. To become Formula 1 World Champion at the age of 20 – and already in his second season – is a remarkable achievement. However, what fills me most with pride is not the number of records or statistics he has recorded, but the path he has traveled to get here.

There were difficult moments last year. There were people who doubted that he was ready for Formula 1 and that he deserved to drive in a Mercedes. However, we always believed in his talent and knew that these experiences would make him stronger. It's incredibly satisfying to see how he's reacted to it this season, the confidence he's built up and the level he's riding at now. We saw this maturity again today. He mastered the first stint very well, remained patient when the red flag wiped out his advantage, and then chose the right moment to overtake after the restart. The fact that he performed this while the World Championship was at stake says a lot about him.

We also have to give credit to George. Today was again a race in which we didn't give him the opportunity to prove his skills. The problem with the release of energy at launch directly affected his afternoon. And although the incident and the penalty made his race more difficult, he kept fighting and brought the car home in sixth place. There have been too many occasions this season where we've let George down and he deserves more from us. His contribution to what we have achieved this year has been immense, and we should not lose sight of that today.

This is a great moment for everyone in Brackley and Brixworth, as well as everyone associated with the team. World Championships are never won by a single person. There are so many people who have contributed to this – both here at the circuit and in the factories – and they should all be incredibly proud tonight. Thank you to Mercedes-AMG for their continued support, to our title and technical partner PETRONAS and to so many others. We all believed in Kimi from a young age, and today he is a Formula 1 World Champion. This is a very special moment for all of us.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Congratulations to Kimi on his first world title! It was a pretty eventful race. However, he managed the soft tyres very well in the first stint and was able to drive them over 40 laps. This gave us some useful options for the end of the race, even though the red flag practically reset the situation and wiped out our tyre advantage. He started from fourth on the restart but made a very good manoeuvre against Leclerc to get back into the podium places and drove a very controlled race from there to take third place and the title.

He has driven excellently throughout the season and mastered today's race in impressive fashion – despite everything that was at stake. This is further proof of the progress he has made. It is an incredible achievement of which he can be justifiably proud.

George had a difficult afternoon, but it was no fault of his own. The problem with the release of energy on the way to Turn 1 cost him several positions and put him at a disadvantage from the start. From then on, he had to work his way back up the field. The contact with Hadjar and the subsequent punishment made this task even more difficult. He stayed focused, showed good pace and fought his way back to sixth place. It's frustrating because we didn't give him the start of the race that he needed – that's down to us as a team.

We have a lot to focus on before we travel to Brazil. We want to add the constructors' title to the drivers' title and we know that we have to continue to perform the necessary to do so. We will enjoy today and then concentrate very quickly on the next race.

Mexico City F1GP Qualifying on Saturday

 F

Front-Row for George in Intense Mexico Qualifying

• George Russell qualified second for tomorrow’s Mexico City Grand Prix with Kimi Antonelli fifth in an incredibly tight qualifying session. 
• That will become P4 for Kimi on Sunday’s grid by virtue of Max Verstappen’s one-place grid penalty.
• In what was a closely fought affair, George put together a strong final effort in Q3 to take P2, just 0.009s shy of Lewis Hamilton’s pole position time of 1:16.514. 
• Kimi was also in the fight at the front, setting a 1:16.707 to take P5, just 0.193s away from pole position. 
• The difficulty throughout the session was getting tyre warm-up correct, with the optimal finely balanced between needing a preparation lap and going for it on the first lap.
• Tomorrow’s race will likely be dominated by the challenge of cooling, with all teams needing to manage brake and power unit temperatures at the high altitude of Mexico City.

Driver	FP3	Q1		Q2		Q3
George Russell	P7	8 Laps	P5	7 Laps	P5	7 Laps	P2
		1:17.659	Soft	1:17.027	Soft, Soft	1:16.523	Soft, Soft
Kimi Antonelli	P2	9 Laps	P9	7 Laps	P7	8 Laps	P5
		1:17.918	Soft	1:17.133	Soft, Soft	1:16.707	Soft, Soft

George Russell

That wasn’t an easy session, but I was pleased with my final lap. It came together when it mattered and we were able to get a good result out of the session. It was tricky getting the tyres into the right window and we took a slightly different approach with our preparation compared to some of those around us. We opted to go for it on the first lap at the end of Q3, rather than take a preparation lap, and that proved the right call. The performance was clearly in the car, but we need to understand why we haven’t been able to access it as consistently as we would like recently. 

It’s very close between the four teams at the front, so tomorrow should be an interesting race. Overtaking will be difficult and managing the power unit and brake temperatures will be important, but we’ll see what opportunities come our way. My focus is on finishing the season strongly and maximising every opportunity we have.

Kimi Antonelli

It wasn’t my best qualifying today. I struggled to find the grip from the tyres in Q3 and didn’t put together the lap I wanted, with a few too many mistakes. It’s disappointing as I felt more comfortable earlier in the session and hoped we could be fighting further forward. That said, we’re still P4 and there is plenty to play for tomorrow.

The run to Turn One is very long here, so getting a good start and staying out of trouble will be important. We’ve also saved a set of Soft tyres which could give us some options in the race. I think we have a good chance to fight for a strong result, so I’ll get some rest tonight, reset and focus on doing the best race we can tomorrow.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

It was incredibly close out there today. The gap between Lewis (Hamilton) and George was probably no more than 50 centimetres on track, which shows how fine the margins were. It was a difficult session for us though overall. The tyre was tricky to get into the right window and the grip dropped away quickly, so getting the preparation right was important. George’s quickest lap came without a preparation lap, whereas we took a different approach with Kimi, so we need to look at that and understand whether we could have optimised it better.

The race will be a different challenge. The margins were just as small on Friday’s long runs as we saw on the single lap today, so getting the start, strategy and tyre management right will be important. We are starting from a position where we can fight, and our focus will be on executing a clean race with both cars and seeing what opportunities come our way.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We had a relatively straightforward FP3, evaluating the changes we made overnight and doing some work to better understand the tyres on lower fuel. We made some progress with the set-up, although we were still struggling with a loose rear on corner entry and understeer at the apex of the slower corners. That made it difficult to put a complete lap together. Our pace on the Medium tyre wasn’t particularly strong, but the additional grip from the Soft helped and, by the end of the session, it looked like we might have the performance to fight for pole.

We didn’t change much on either car going into qualifying, but it was a slightly messy start to the session, and we were lacking some pace early on. The track temperature continued to drop, which would normally help us, but after the first runs in Q2 we still looked to be a few tenths away. We improved as the session progressed and George produced a very strong final lap in Q3 to take a place on the front row, just a few milliseconds from pole. Kimi finished P5 and wasn’t especially happy with either the car or his own performance. With penalties applied, we will start P2 and P4 tomorrow. Given the long run to Turn One, that puts us in a reasonable position. Our long-run pace on Friday looked competitive, but managing brake and Power Unit temperatures is likely to be one of the key factors in the race. Both drivers can fight for the podium and, if we can manage those temperatures and use the performance in the car, hopefully we can be in the fight for the win too.

Friday Report -- Mexico City F1 GP, Mercedes Benz Team

 

Solid first day in Mexico City

• The team had a decent first day of practice in Mexico City: Kimi, George and Fred drove in the W17 and finished in the top four in both practice sessions.
• Fred completed his third rookie session of the season in FP1. He took over the car from George and did an excellent job of completing his program in full and setting the third fastest time of the first practice session.
• He was the fastest rookie in the session, less than a tenth of a second behind Kimi, who finished second.
• George returned to the car in FP2 and, together with Kimi, built on the work done in FP1.
• George set the third fastest time of the day, just 0.106 seconds behind Charles Leclerc's best time in the Ferrari.
• Kimi was only 0.111 seconds behind his teammate in fourth place. In this session, four different teams were represented among the top five.
• In the long runs, it once again looked incredibly close between the top four teams, with both the soft and medium tyres being used.

Driver	FP1				FP2
George Russell	-	-	-	-	31 para.	1:17.933	P3	Medium, Soft, Soft
Kimi Antonelli	30 para.	1:18.787	P2	Hard, Soft	33 para.	1:18.044	P4	Medium, Soft, Medium
Fred Vesti	24 para.	1:18.861	P3	Hard, Soft	-	-	-	-

George Russell

Fred did a really good job in the car and prepared me optimally for the training session. It was good to get back into the rhythm so quickly after skipping the first practice session. Mexico is always a special challenge because of the altitude and the low grip, which is even more noticeable this year. Due to the way the cars work on the straights, we were running with a lot of downforce on most tracks. Therefore, the increase in downforce is not as strong this time as is usually the case on this route. This makes the car particularly tricky to drive. In addition, there is the challenge of turbo lag at this altitude.

It's incredibly close, and every tenth of a second will be decisive. Ferrari seems to be the strongest at the moment. Given the characteristics of this track, this may not be a surprise, but I think that can change between now and Q3 tomorrow. We have to get everything out of the car because the gaps will be very small.

Kimi Antonelli

First of all, it was nice to be back in the car today and to feel fit. It was an interesting Friday here in Mexico. It's never easy to get a feel for the car, especially in the first practice session when the track still needs to be driven cleanly. We tried a few different things between sessions to put the balance of the car in a better window and it seems like we improved for the second practice session.

There are definitely things we can improve on tomorrow and we still have some work to do overnight. Ferrari looked very fast, but we'll focus on ourselves, see where we can get more performance out of it and hopefully put ourselves in a good starting position for tomorrow.

Fred Vesti

I'm very happy with my FP1 today. We completed our entire program, collected a lot of valuable data for this weekend and the future and created the basis for the rest of the day. Personally, I was also very satisfied with my performance during training. I knew my lap on the soft tyres was good, but when I saw third place on the timesheet, I was overjoyed. Since the start of development two years ago, I have put an enormous amount of work into this car together with the team. So it's very special for me to have the opportunity to ride it here in Mexico and put in a strong lap.

I'm very grateful for the trust the team has placed in me and for giving me the opportunity to prove my skills. These training sessions are very important for all of us rookies, so I'm happy to have made the most of them today. I felt comfortable in the car, put in a good lap and was really happy to finish third. It was a great experience that I enjoyed very much.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It was a solid first day in Mexico. Kimi and Fred both did a good job in the first practice session, especially given the difficult conditions here due to the altitude and low grip. Fred completed the program provided for him and showed an excellent performance with third place. This provided us with valuable information for the second practice session, in which George was back at the wheel.

The track in Mexico is the most difficult to prepare for, as it is impossible to simulate all the effects of altitude. We are using Friday to understand the different issues we are facing and to develop an approach on how to overcome them in qualifying and in the race.

As far as the Power Unit is concerned, we seem to be in good shape and have a lot of power delivery out of the corners. However, the cooling of both the brakes and the power unit is always an issue here. However, we were able to do decent long runs with both cars. While we'd like to see a little more wiggle room, it seems like all the teams here need to do some level of management.

The field is close together and after today we wouldn't be at the top. We struggle with a lack of stability at corner entry, which leads to understeer at the apex. The problems on a fast lap are similar to those on the long runs. That should make it a little easier to make progress. But it's also clear that we still have to improve if we want to fight for the front row of the grid.

Top Selling Motor Vehicles in the U.S. between 1969 and 1980: Ford F 100 Trucks already dominated sales long before the Home Depot / Lowes Era!

 

1970 Ford F-100

At times I prove myself quite wrong! Before the 1980s, Ford f-100 trucks already were the best selling vehicles in America. But the mix within the top ten during the decade of the 1970s are a story worth telling.

In 1969, the Ford F 100 sold over 364,000 units more than 2nd place Chevrolet Chevelle (335,000), and 3rd place Chevrolet Impala (303,000), Performance-oriented cars that aimed at younger drives followed -- Ford Mustang, Pontiac Lemans Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Camaro Dodge Charger, and Plymouth Roadrunner, with the only exception being the Volkswagen Beetle (65,000). The 1960s were coming to a close, but the cars that in many ways helped define automotive history of the decade remained strong fixtures, But it was not meant to be much longer.  By 1971, only the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Camaro remained in the top ten in sales. As Lee Iacocca would later state, the Mustang was becoming a "fat pig."

The Ford F-100 remained the best-selling vehicle throughout the remainder of the 1970s, but the list of the other popular cars was in flux from year to year, with Volkswagen falling out, Toyota Corolla moving in by 1972 and Honda in 1978. Dodge Ram and D-series pickups became significant in the marketplace by 1977.  Then in 1980 after Oil Shock II front wheel drive economy cars rose to prominence, with the top passenger car being the new Chevrolet Citation, and the Ford Escort and Fairmont following behind.

1980 Chevrolet Citation

Of course, the automobile consumer had many choices, and Plymouth Dusters, Chevrolet Novas, and  Dodge Darts enabled working class families to also purchase new cars. There were classes of vehicles that clearly aligned with classes of Americans, with the solid middle classes making the Oldsmobile Cutlass the favorites car of buyers in 1978.