The Interlagos circuit in Brazil has been on the F1 calendar for 30+ years now, and is a solid fan favourite in real life and for sim racing. It’s a dead easy track to learn, yet still provides for great racing and strategy options.

 

Because you’re on full throttle for such a large percentage of the lap, it should come as no surprise that you need a medium-low level of downforce here on F1 24 as on this game it’s all about maximizing your speed on the straights even if it costs you a bit in the corner. On previous game it was a medium downforce circuit, but you’re having to go lower on this year’s game.

For a setup, I did really need to look much further than my usual baseline setup I start off with, with the wings lowered a bit for higher top speed. Same as the last track Mexico, it worked great.

Here’s a general dry race setup for Brazil for a controller user:

• Wings – 18/20
• Diff – 10/45/50
• Camber/Toe – -2.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13 (LLL13)
• Suspension – 39-5-15-9-25-58
• Brakes – 100% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyres – Maximum pressures all tyres

Hotlap With This Setup

 

More Setup Analysis & Tips

Wing levels – Really any setup with the rear wing 25 or lower can be made to work round here, but I’ve gone super low as I want it basically impossible for the AI to overtake me on the long straight as long as I deploy a my ERS strategically. You can also try 20/22 or even 22/24, but the lower the wings you can get away with and still set competitive lap times, the better on this game.

Tyre Pressures – Following on from the last track Mexico, Brazil is another one where the tyres seem to overheat very easily on this game (especially the rear tyres, with the rear right the worst). Therefore it’s maximum pressures all tyres again to keep the temps down.

Intermediate Conditions – Brazil is one of those tracks that’s got tricky traction zones in the wet, and where over-rotation on a pad can really hurt you out of corners. Therefore I’d always space the rear wing 3 clicks above the front in any wet conditions, for more stable handling. Also set your On Throttle Diff to 10 if not already there for easiest traction. Other than that, your dry setup can work, though you can add 1-2 clicks of wing so you’re using something like 19/22 or 20/23 wings.

Full Wet Races – When it’s raining heavily you can add a bunch more wing and make some bigger adjustments to your suspension settings. The main approach here is to soften the suspension and roll bars a few clicks and raise the ride height, as well as spacing the wings further apart. I’ve also bumped up the Off Throttle Diff to soften the rotation and make corner exits smoother.

Here’s a suggested full wet race setup for Brazil for a pad user:

• Wings – 22/25 or 23/26
• Diff – 10/55/50
• Camber – -3.50/-2.20/0.00/0.13
• Suspension –  37-4-13-7-28-61
• Brakes – 95% Pressure/50% Bias
• Tyre pressures – Max pressures all tyres.

Getting on the power out of corners in full wet conditions is extra tricky on this game. So if you’re not getting the required stability even with this setup, I’d suggest increasing the Off Throttle Diff even more, in increments of 5, to dampen the rotation and make the traction easier. Also be super careful feeding the throttle in when using a pad, and experiment with turning ERS down to None for easier traction out of slow corners.

Bonus Setup Resources

In my guides I’m trying to go for race setups that are more stable and easier to control over a race distance rather than being super aggressive and blisteringly fast. If you’re wanting some more optimized for single lap pace or certain cars, here are some other sites to check out:

• For something more aggressive, you can try the SimRacingSetups channel’s Brazil setup. Based on my testing, it can set potentially faster lap times, but it’s also more nervous when using a pad, and will be more difficult to control on worn tyres. This channel’s setups are also designed for wheel users with super aggressive wing spacing, and so need some tweaking to use on a pad (port over my wing and Diff settings above).
• F1laps.com Texas Brazil page – Another car setup forum with pages for every track, and loads of custom setups posted, both TT and race, all cars, all conditions.
• F1gamesetup.com – An even more specialized resource with custom setups, every car and every track, wet and dry weather.
• Sim Racing Centre (Premium) – Paid resource where you can buy specialized, aggressive setups either for individual tracks or all tracks in one. Higher end setup designed by eSports drivers, but for this reason more suited to wheel users than pad users (but can be tweaked with their support guys).

Strategy & Racing Tips

Brazil often presents an interesting race, with unpredictable weather as well as the hectic weekend format throwing up some surprises and challenges. Here’s some tips for racing here.

Sprint Weekend – On the 2024 calendar, Brazil is the 5th of 6th Sprint Race weekend formats (Practice—-Sprint Quali—Sprint Race—-Main Quali —– Main Race).

Therefore, you’ve only got one 30 minute practice session to do the practice programmes and dial a setup in – choose the Harder tyre allocation before the weekend starts to free up some softs for this session if you want to prioritise qualifying pace for this event. And get going with the practice programmes right away if you need the resources points. Your setup is locked as soon as you drive out in Sprint Quali.

Sprint Qualifying – Depending on your tyre allocation, you might be limited to only 1 set of soft tyres for some of the qualifying sessions. If so, wait until the last 5 minutes of these sessions before setting your flying lap, as this is when the track is “rubbered in” and at it’s fastest.

ERS (Qualifying) – You’ve got a reasonable excess of around 8-10 seconds of Overtake ERS mode to use during Qualifying laps here. I like to use a short blast going onto the lap to boost top speed, and then again all along the shorter DRS straight. Then use whatever is left climbing back up the hill to finish the lap, along with DRS. Check the yellow ERS bar and look to drain it just as you finish your flying lap.

ERS (Race) – Although ERS recoups generally quite quickly on F1 24, Interlagos is one track where is runs out relatively fast and doesn’t replenish so easy. Therefore, you’ve to be careful with it in races and generally only use it sparingly on a few straights, or to overtake or defend (see below).

Tyre/Pit Strategy – The soft tyre isn’t really a usable race tyre round here on this game. You might be able to do a 2-4 lap blast on them in a 25% race, and then go straight onto the hards, but that’s often not an optimal strategy as you’re breaking out the DRS train too early. Mostly, it’s a medium-hard strategy round here. Also, the “undercut” strategy – where you come in 1-2 laps early to take advantage of fresh tyres – does seem quite powerful here, and you can make up a bunch of places doing this.

Defending – Fending off chasing AI can be very tricky round here on this game. They’ll be on your gearbox on both the DRS straights, so you need to use your ERS strategically, mostly a long blast going up the hill until any proximity arrows for chasing cars revert to one faint arrow. Same for the shorter DRS straight out of turn 3. If it’s clear you can’t move forward and can only hold position in a race, only use the ERS that is needed to do this and defend position in each DRS zone on each lap (then don’t use it and let it recharge the rest of the lap). If you need to defend, always go to the inside and make the other car go on the outside. With restrained ERS use and clever positioning, you can fend off faster cars in races here.