F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Interlagos Speedtrap: who is the fastest of them all?

A medium-to-high downforce venue, Interlagos is situated much lower than Mexico City in terms of altitude. But it’s still 800m above sea level and the altitude impacts aero performance and straight-line speed

As a consequence, the cars need lots of aero and mechanical grip through the track's twisty mid-section, but the two long straights make downforce levels a compromise.

Mercedes engines powered the top two fastest cars in a straight line - Lewis Hamilton and Williams' Sergey Sirotkin - but Ferrari's sheer power isn't far behind as Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc indicate.

Once again however, one will note the massive gap conceded by Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen lingering some 13 km/h behind the top runners.

Will Honda bridge the gap next year?

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Norris says McLaren's MCL40 ‘feels like an F2 car in some ways’

Lando Norris has thrown a dash of intrigue over Formula 1’s much-hyped 2026 revolution by…

1 hour ago

Williams explain power trick that could define F1 in 2026

Formula 1’s next generation of cars will not just look different – they will sound…

2 hours ago

Williams FW48 finally hits the track at Silverstone after delay

Williams finally rolled its long-awaited FW48 onto the track at Silverstone on Wednesday, trading weeks…

17 hours ago

Horner weighs in on explosive 2026 F1 engine controversy

Christian Horner has waded into Formula 1’s latest technical storm, addressing the growing controversy over…

18 hours ago

Newey: AI has been shaping F1 ‘for a long time’

Aston Martin’s chief architect and team principal Adrian Newey believes Formula 1’s latest buzzword is…

20 hours ago

Norris gets a pole-position welcome at old primary school

Fresh from pre-season testing and with a world title now stitched onto his racing overalls,…

21 hours ago