Amid Political Concerns & Growing Rumors, Is the Brazilian GP Getting Cancelled?

Wide-scale protests broke out in Brazil after the results of the presidential elections came out. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva scored a narrow win over incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro. The protests spread to São Paulo, the home to Interlagos as well. With the ongoing unrest, rumors started coming in that the Brazilian GP might get canceled. However, the latest development has come as a relief for Formula 1 fans.

Interlagos has been hosting Formula 1 since 1972. Built on hilly terrain, the track’s ups and downs demand a lot more from the drivers and the cars’ engines alike. To make it more challenging, the race runs counter-clockwise, as opposed to most other circuits. The left-turning corners throw the drivers’ necks toward the right, something they aren’t used to.

Will Formula 1 go ahead with the Brazilian GP?

Incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro hasn’t accepted his defeat ever since the election results came out last Sunday. His supporters have been on the streets protesting and blocking roads. Such is the situation in São Paulo that many flights had to be canceled because the pilots and crew couldn’t make it to the airport, GP Blog reported.

Understandably, F1 fans were concerned whether the race scheduled to take place next weekend will happen. The latest development, reported by British journalist Jennie Gow on Twitter reveals that the race will take place. She wrote, “#F1 have confirmed the Brazilian GP will take place as planned. There were some rumors about the twittersvere suggesting it wouldn’t – these are inaccurate.”

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Last year Lewis Hamilton had beaten Max Verstappen to the chequered flag by over 10 seconds. This year, the 7-time world champion is having a dry run. The Brit has never had a winless season ever since he arrived in F1. Mercedes have lately shown signs of resurgence and will definitely take every chance that comes their way to register a win.

Get ready for the final sprint qualifying of the year

After being held at Imola and the Red Bull ring, the sprint race will make a comeback at Interlagos. The sprint race will be the last of its kind this year.

In 2021, the then Mercedes man Valtteri Bottas won the sprint race ahead of Max Verstappen by just 1.17 seconds. His teammate Lewis Hamilton could only secure a P5 finish.

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With the way things are going this year, Max Verstappen is the favorite to win the sprint qualifying and the race. But who knows, we might just witness something unusual. Given how quickly weather changes in São Paulo, we can never rule rain out. And rain as we all know makes things in F1 spicy for sure.