Racing in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, I think in a nutshell, anything can happen. I don’t know why, but there is something about this place and this circuit. Every year, something crazy happens and, if it doesn’t you can be sure it will the following year. This is another track that has suited us well in the past and treated us well over the last couple of years. I remember we had good pace there and Kimi was on the podium last year, while two years ago we won the race. I think overall it’s been a good hunting ground for us and hopefully it will be like that again this weekend. Certainly, in terms of atmosphere, it’s very special. Brazilians are one of the loudest crowds on the calendar: you can actually hear them when you are in the car and it feels as though they are in the cockpit with you.

Not only are the people in Brazil extremely passionate about our sport, but it was also the home of Ayrton Senna, who is the driver I have probably most looked up to. He was very talented, just special, and this GP will always remind us of his legacy. The circuit is really exciting to drive on. It’s a short lap but still features lots of different corner combinations paired with straights. I think the layout has changed quite a bit over the past decades until it reached its current shape. When I was younger, I actually always used to select it on my Playstation, so I’ve always been very fond of it! The weather in Sao Paulo can be changeable, which means that the conditions on track can vary from day to day and pose unexpected challenges to all teams, mixing things up.

We come to the penultimate round of the season after a frustrating race in Austin, where we were unable to deliver the results we felt we could have done. On Saturday, we missed out on taking a historic seventh consecutive pole by just one hundredth of a second with Sebastian, although we can take comfort from the fact it showed the raw performance was there. On Sunday, Charles’ pace in the first stint was poor although his car performance level was back to normal after the first pit stop. So we will put all this behind us now and look ahead to Brazil and a fresh start. Charles will get a new Power Unit there, as his was damaged on Saturday in Austin, which meant he had to use a previously used and less powerful version for the rest of the weekend. Fitting a new PU means taking a grid-penalty in Sao Paulo, but we should be back to our normal performance level and show some fighting spirit to finish the season on a high note. That will be important in order to confirm we are making progress with our car and to take some of that momentum into the winter work. I know that our drivers and the whole team are fully focused on that.