Heavy rain affected much of the São Paulo GP weekend, even forcing race control to postpone qualifying from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning. The rain returned during the race, with an intensity that led many drivers to request a halt to the race due to poor visibility and the difficulty of staying on track.
Strategically, the red flag played a key role, allowing those who hadn’t pitted to change tires without losing positions. While choosing to stay out on a flooded track always involves a bit of risk, in reality, teams considered various factors behind the scenes.
“At that stage of the GP, every team had its reasons for acting in a certain way. For us, track position was crucial,” explained Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes. “It was clear that overtaking was difficult. I think even after the pit stop, everyone was a bit surprised by how wet the track was, so, obviously, a bit of luck always plays a part. But I believe the strategy was right, also listening to the drivers on the track.”
Many drivers wanted full wets, the teams didn’t
There was a second underlying factor, which was how likely it was that the red flag would be issued due to the amount of water on the track. Listening back to the team radios, many drivers noted how difficult it was to stay on track with intermediate tires even before the Virtual Safety Car came out for Nico Hulkenberg’s off-track incident.
For instance, George Russell, who was leading the Grand Prix at that time, had told his engineers about the difficulty of keeping the car on track with intermediates, highlighting two key points: on one hand, his intention not to pit, convinced the race would soon be stopped due to the excessive water on the track, and on the other, the need to switch to full wets if they did pit. In either case, however, Russell was not listened to, and he was called into the pits to fit a new intermediate tire, as after a heavy downpour, full wets would have been ideal, but the track was expected to improve.
Several teams reasoned in this way, aiming to survive the most intense part of the rain with new intermediates, hoping to keep the car on track and avoid a double stop from full wets back to intermediates. Other teams, like Racing Bulls, chose to switch directly to heavy wets given the rain’s intensity, which would indeed have provided an advantage at that stage.
This was one of the reasons that made displaying the red flag virtually unavoidable. In fact, Russell wasn’t the only driver complaining about the track conditions; even Lando Norris mentioned via radio during the Virtual Safety Car that he was starting to struggle with visibility due to the water spray from the Mercedes ahead and that conditions warranted full wets. However, like Mercedes, McLaren followed the same logic by fitting a new set of intermediates, despite Norris immediately mentioning the serious risk of aquaplaning.
Behind them, Esteban Ocon, one of the drivers who stayed out, explained via radio during the VSC that the rain was too intense not only for intermediates but for any type of tire, full wets included, implying the race might soon be stopped. His choice not to pit came at his own insistence, even when the team suggested he pit for heavy wet tires. Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, and Oscar Piastri also mentioned how difficult it was to drive in those conditions, calling for the Safety Car or a red flag.
There are two other examples that explain why the stoppage was inevitable, one of which was the incident that ultimately led race control to show the red flag: Franco Colapinto’s crash. The Argentine driver, who crashed under the Safety Car, had repeatedly requested to pit for wet tires due to difficulty keeping the car on track. However, as with other teams, the pit wall opposed the change, advising him to “trust them,” stay on intermediates, and try to endure the heaviest rain.
The problem with intermediates and visibility
This highlights a second issue that the FIA could not ignore when deciding to neutralize the race. While some cars had switched to full wets, most cars were still on intermediates to avoid another pit stop, facing the serious risk of aquaplaning. Something similar had happened last year in the Netherlands when very few cars chose to fit full wets in heavy rain conditions, prompting the FIA to stop the race.
Another factor weighing on the race director’s decision was visibility. Many drivers immediately mentioned poor visibility as the rain intensified, including Oliver Bearman. The Haas driver was among those using the strongest words to express his opinion on the situation, radioing after the Virtual Safety Car, “How can they let us race in these conditions? Someone is going to crash. I can’t even see my steering wheel!”
Despite reassurances from his race engineer, Oliver Bearman reopened the radio channel to emphasize how dangerous the situation was with all that water on the track: “Talk to the FIA, this situation is really dangerous, I’m trying not to die!” To give an idea of how difficult it was to drive in those conditions, especially for those on intermediates, the Briton found it challenging to stay close to the delta time set by the FIA during the Safety Car. In fact, many drivers anticipated what the outcome of that situation would be, even before race control intervened.
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