Max Verstappen reinforced his candidacy for the Formula 1 world title this Sunday by winning a Brazilian Grand Prix full of adventures, from start to finish. The Dutch driver, who had not won in ten races, started from 17th place, but was favored by luck and the good management of his team to reach first place, while Lando Norris, who started from pole positionthrew it all away after a red flag that turned the race upside down.
THE RACING MOVIE
A Grand Prix that ended with Alpine celebrating, as it had, for the first time, two riders on the podium, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
A race that, after an already very turbulent qualifying, featured a first incident right on the warm-up lap, with Lance Stroll losing control of the car and being stuck in the middle of the track. An accident that immediately dictated a new start and, at the start, it was George Russell who came out in first place ahead of Lando Norris.
Further back, Max Verstappen began to recover positions, reaching tenth place in the first laps, but losing time to the cars in front. A race that was spinning and crashing almost every lap. Sergio Pérez spun, Lewis Hamilton left the track and Hukenberg also lost control of his car.
At a time when the rain was beginning to increase in intensity, Russell and Norris, at the front of the race, decided to go to the pits to change tires. This is where the race began to decide. Ocon took the lead, chased by Leclerc and, soon after, Verstappen was already in third place. Norris even overtook Russell on his return to the track, but soon after the safety car entered the track, due to the heavy rain that was falling.
Even with the safety car On the track, the accidents continued, with Colapinto also abandoning, after losing control of the car on a curve. An accident that led the organization to show a red flag, due to the wreckage of the Argentine driver’s car. The race changes completely from here.
Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly had not yet changed tires and ended up being the biggest beneficiaries of this stop when only 33 laps were completed and another 36 remaining.
The race resumed with all cars on intermediate tires, Ocon took the lead, chased by Vertsappen, while Norris once again lost a place to Russel, before another interruption, this time caused by a crash by Carlos Sainz. THE safety car he returned to the track and, when he left, Verstappen overtook Ocon, while Lando Norris, with a wider corner, fell to seventh place.
Verstappen returned to winning in an imperial way 🤯
From P17 to P1 in the rain, Max showed again why he is a world champion 🤩#sporttvportugal #F1nasporttv #F1 #Verstappen #SaoPauloGP #BetanoF1 pic.twitter.com/D2MdSEx2j2
— sport tv (@sporttvportugal)
November 3, 2024
From here, Verstappen, with no one in front of him, began to fly, recording 17 fastest laps, gaining time from everyone, while Norris was lost in traffic, held back by Leclerc in the fight for fifth place.
Verstappen thus gained 18 more points from Briton Lando Norris (adding one point for the fastest lap), who started from pole position and finished in sixth place. In the general classification, the Red Bull driver now has 393 points, compared to 331 for his English rival.
RACE CLASSIFICATION
Max Verstappen’s performance will live long in the memory#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/tJ8Hu3UVcA
— Formula 1 (@F1)
November 3, 2024
