Verstappen and Red Bull streak finds sprint danger - São Paulo GP stats

F1 returns to Brazil for the final sprint weekend and penultimate race of the season.

The São Paulo Grand Prix could be crucial in the race for second in both the drivers' and constructors' championships, with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc separated by only five points and Mercedes trailing Ferrari by 40.

But before the track action gets underway, GPFans brings you the best stats and facts for the weekend!

Brazil's secure spot

Brazil has hosted 48 grands prix in F1 with 38 of those held at Interlagos.

Situated 800m above sea level, the Autódromo José Carlos Pace is the second-highest circuit in F1 after the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

The circuit layout is the fourth-shortest on the calendar at a length of 4.309km. Only Monaco, Zandvoort, and Mexico City are shorter.

With over 72 per cent of the lap run at full throttle, it also has the second-fastest lap time of the year after the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Overtaking to be expected

The track has seen an average of 46 overtakes per race since 2017, the most for an active circuit.

Over 80 per cent of passes are done at the end of both DRS zones.

Safety car spice?

Safety car periods are frequent here with the Bernd Maylander or the VSC being called upon ten times in the last five races.

Australian milestone

The São Paulo race will also be the 700th by an Australian driver in F1 history. Tony Gaze was the first back in 1952.

Hamilton the home hope?

Five Brazilians have previously won the event - Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlos Pace, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, and Felipe Massa. While no natives will race this weekend, Lewis Hamilton was given honorary citizenship in the build-up.

Schumacher the Interlagos king

Michael Schumacher is the most successful driver at Interlagos with four victories. From the current grid, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have triumphed on three occasions.

Hamilton’s impressive charge from 10th to first in 2021 was the first time in 13 years that the race had not been won from the front row.

P10 is also the lowest starting position from which a driver has won at Interlagos.

The F1 sprint returns for the last time this year making Interlagos the first venue to host the format twice.

Verstappen and Red Bull dominance troubled by sprint?

Max Verstappen has taken pole in four of the five sprint weekends so far but has converted only one of those to a race win, at Imola earlier this year.

The two-time champion has won at Miami, Montreal, Austin, and Mexico City this year. A win this weekend will ensure a clean sweep of race wins in the Americas for the Dutchman.

Red Bull is currently on a streak of nine race wins stretching back to France. One more on Sunday will see them celebrating their longest winning streak in F1.

Ferrari issues to continue?

The last time Ferrari reached the podium in Brazil was in 2018.

Reliability omen for Alonso?

Fernando Alonso will make his 19th race appearance at Interlagos, equalling Rubens Barrichello for the most starts at the venue.

Alonso who’s suffered five retirements so far this season, hasn’t retired from a race in Brazil race since 2009.

A century for Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen is set to make his 100th race start for Haas this weekend.

Sundaram Ramaswami -Twitter/Instagram - @f1statsguru