Race day in Sao Paolo! Start times around the world:
Bottas starts on pole for the second race running, after his softs (and some dodgy Red Bull gear shifts) propelled him into P1 off the line in the sprint, and he held on for the rest of the race.
Verstappen starts in second, hoping to reverse what happened yesterday.
Sainz's mega start on Saturday sees him line up 3rd, with Perez (who spent the whole race bottled up behind Sainz) just behind him.
Norris kicks off in 5th, having managed to best the seemingly quicker Ferrari of LeClerc who starts alongside.
Gasly (who surely will have been disappointed with yesterday, after a superb qualifying), Vettel and Ocon round out the top 9 before a 5 place demoted (thanks to an ICE change) Lewis Hamilton in 10th.
Pirelli's take on strategy options: here
Tomorrow all the compounds can play a key role. The fastest strategy for the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix should be a two-stopper but a lot will depend on track temperature; the weather should be a little warmer. Today the P Zero Red soft and P Zero Yellow medium tyres showed similar performance but higher levels of wear than expected. On paper, a two-stopper using the medium followed by two sets of P Zero White hard should be the fastest option. Another possibility (really close in terms of overall race time) is to use all three compounds: starting on the medium and then using the hard for the central stint, before finishing on the soft. But a one-stop is another possibility. This could be medium to hard, to benefit from a long opening stint and gain track position, or alternatively soft to hard (although this would require more management, with the cars full of fuel at the start of the race). Under Sprint Qualifying regulations, the drivers are allowed to start the grand prix on whichever compound they choose, irrespective of the tyres used in Sprint Qualifying today.
The temperatures could play an interesting role, with the race start time 2 hours earlier in the day than the sprint, it will be much hotter. Also expect the 3x higher starting fuel levels to have an impact, and taking a set of softs 24 laps seems unlikely to happen. Hopefully it will lead to some interesting strategy options.
Who will get off the line first? Will Max be able to pressure Bottas more, with strategy options in play and less of a need to 'play it safe'? Can Perez get involved in the action at the front? Can Norris mix it with the Ferraris? And of course, can Hamilton get up the grid as quickly as yesterday and put himself in the mix for a podium?
Should be an interesting race, with plenty of strategy options and overtaking opportunities. Enjoy your race day, folks!
@ this forum ..... majority voted in the poll for LH win as the expected result. 
