The 2022 Formula 1 season is on to its penultimate race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Max Verstappen secured his second straight world championship long ago and also set a new record for wins in a single season with his triumph in Mexico.
But the battle for second in the drivers’ standings is still alive with Sergio Perez leading Charles Leclerc by just five points.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for both Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, who both won’t be around next season.
Read on below as SBOTOP previews the
Talking Points
Last Sprint of the season
Sao Paulo will be the third and final Sprint race of the season. The first two took place at the Emilia Romagna GP and the Austrian GP.
World champion Max Verstappen was dominant in those races; he won pole in both races and won at Emilia Romagna while finishing second in Austria. But despite his success, Verstappen is not actually a big fan of Sprint races.
“I don’t like it,” Verstappen said. “I don’t mind the one practice and going straight into qualifying – I think it probably is even better for me. I just don’t like that there’s no feeling with it.
“Every time I do these [Sprint] races, it’s about ‘don’t get damage, make sure you stay in the top three’.
“For me, that’s not really a race because you go into the main race and you know there are way more points available anyway, you just risk a bit more there.”
With the title already secured, Verstappen will have the luxury of taking a few more risks in the Sprint race at Sao Paulo, which could make for an interesting race with plenty of Sao Paulo 2022 highlights.
Perez vs Leclerc going down to the wire
While the drivers’ championship is already decided, second place is still very much up for grabs. Charles Leclerc has long been the favourite to finish in second, but the Ferrari driver has been overtaken by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
Perez finished in third in his home grand prix in Mexico, while Leclerc – who had made the podium in five consecutive races – finished a disappointing sixth.
With only a five-point deficit to make up, Leclerc still has every chance of reclaiming second spot in the last two races. But the Ferrari driver does not have a brilliant history in Brazil. He finished a distant 18th in his first race for Ferrari in Sao Paulo back in 2019 after suffering a late collision. And he went fifth last season, 49 seconds behind winner Lewis Hamilton.
As for Perez, he is have a strong finish to the season. He has three podium finishes in his last four races – he won in Singapore, went second in Japan, and third in Mexico – and just missed out in the US Grand Prix, where he went fourth.
And with Lerlecrc admitting that he is now focussing more on next year as opposed to the battle for second, Perez will like his chances of extending his lead over the Ferrari in Sao Paulo.
Penultimate races for Vettel and Ricciardo
The clock is ticking for both Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in F1. Vettel announced earlier this year that he would be retiring from the sport, so the Sao Paulo GP is the second-to-last time we will get to watch the four-time world champion.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo is likely to step away from F1 in 2023 – he has been linked with a reserve role at both Mercedes and Red Bull – and it remains to be seen whether he will get another chance amid his consistently declining form.
History
Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Sao Paulo Grand Prix last year as F1 returned to Interlagos after skipping 2020 due to the pandemic. That was Hamilton’s third win at Interlagos, which makes it one of his less dominated tracks.
Vettel has also won three times in Brazil, the most recent of which coming in 2017 with Ferrari. And Max Verstappen won the race in 2019, which was Red Bull’s first triumph in Brazil since 2013, wherein Vettel came out on top.
What are the odds?
The Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2022 betting odds currently up at SBOTOP are qualifying head to heads. Max Verstappen, who has won pole in the first two Sprint races, is priced at 1.75 to outduel rival Charles Leclerc, who is priced at 2.07 to claim pole.
Other interesting head to heads have Carlos Sainz as a massive 1.50 favourite to top Sergio Perez, who still has a lot on the line in this race as he battles for second place with Sainz’s teammate, Leclerc.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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