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When you have an Alpine in Esteban Ocon leading the timesheets of an F1 Brazilian GP session, you know that outright performance was more or less not on the agenda. It is somewhat hard to make the head and toe of the second practice session on the sprint weekend.
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The cars can't make changes to their setup and it is sometimes hard to judge what they are trying to achieve by running as many laps as they do during the session. Having said that, there are still some key learnings that can be extracted from these 60 mins of running. What is it? Well, let's find out!
2022 F1 Brazilian GP FP2: Key Learnings
#1 Mercedes could pose a challenge for the win at the F1 Brazilian GP
True to the form shown by the car in the last few races, Mercedes should feel confident about its chances at the F1 Brazilian GP sprint and the race. The long runs were more or less on par with what Red Bull could achieve while Ferrari appeared to be just a step behind.
For George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the strong point has proven to be the esses in the first sector where the car is pulling time from both Ferrari and Red Bull. While over the lap that advantage is somewhat sustained over Ferrari, Red Bull takes over during the rest of the lap but does not pull away much.
Tire wear is going to be crucial on this track, but it will be important to see what kind of strategy is employed by Mercedes for the F1 Brazilian GP weekend.
#2 Red Bull's Sector 3 advantage might be key for the race
Red Bull is leaking time in the first sector where most of the time it is made or lost in the esses. The second sector appears to hand Red Bull some advantage but the key for either Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez is going to be the third sector because that is just free lap time gained by the car.
Red Bull appears to be untouchable in the third sector and that is going to be crucial in the race. For Perez to fight his way through the field, that third-sector advantage is going to help, while for Verstappen, it's all about either keeping the lead or making a decisive move for the lead into turn 1. Red Bull's advantage in the third sector could be the key to winning the F1 Brazilian GP.
#3 Alpine might be a better race car than McLaren
The correlation between Red Bull and Mercedes could be somewhat extrapolated to the battle between Alpine and McLaren. For the F1 Brazilian GP, the two cars are somewhat neck and neck in terms of overall speed. The key difference that could even decide if an Alpine (in the hands of Fernando Alonso or Esteban Ocon) or a McLaren (in the hands of Lando Norris) finishes ahead will be the slingshot to the end of the lap in S3.
Alpine appears to hold an advantage there, which can be attributed to both the low downforce setup and the Renault power unit. Keep an eye on either Ocon or Alonso to make use of that slingshot and make a move on Norris during the F1 Brazilian GP.
#4 Soft tires could be the high-risk high-reward choice for teams
Charles Leclerc was one of the few drivers to show his cards for the F1 Brazilian GP sprint. The Ferrari driver ran on soft tires for more than 20 laps at a decent pace. Is that pace good enough to make his way through the field and end up in the top 3?
That's hard to say, but while the Ferrari driver did show a strong pace in pockets, he did also show that the tires could really make things a struggle at the end of the stint. Soft tires might just be the high-risk, the high-reward choice for some of the drivers during the F1 Brazilian GP sprint.
#5 Kevin Magnussen can compete with the car in the sprint race
What was heartening to see, at least to an extent, was how well Haas was able to run in the session with both Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen. This should be good news for Magnussen. While it is safe to say that the car is certainly not on the level of the front runners in Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari. It might be a bit slower than McLaren and Alpine as well. Having said that, it's not a complete washout. In the 2022 F1 Brazilian GP sprint, Magnussen more or less has the tools to not lose too many positions. Now, the onus is on him.
