Verstappen’s Brazilian Masterclass

30 years after the death of the Brazilian motor racing legend, Ayrton Senna, Formula 1 returned to his home country this weekend for the São Paulo Grand Prix, and, after wet weather had severely impacted proceedings, it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who claimed an utterly dominant victory after starting only 17th on the grid. Under orders from the McLaren team, Oscar Piastri handed over yesterday's Sprint victory to Lando Norris. However, despite starting in pole position this afternoon, the title challenger could only finish sixth, potentially facing a subsequent time penalty due to a start procedure infringement.

At the start of the Interlagos round, Mercedes’ likeable British driver, George Russell, who is also a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (commonly referred to as simply the GPDA), called for Formula 1 to employ full-time, professionally trained stewards for every race weekend instead of relying on an ongoing mix of those involved in such roles on an intermittent basis. The job is demanding, and the consistency of penalties applied has to be of paramount importance for all concerned rather than potentially varying from round to round.

In the treacherous conditions Hamilton failed to make it beyond the opening part of the qualifying process

Also, Verstappen commented on how so many leading F1 stewards and pundits are British and that, as a result, he feels he has “the wrong passport” for the Formula 1 paddock. A fair point was also made recently by Red Bull’s departing design guru, Adrian Newey, when criticising the apparent bias towards British drivers and against foreign ones sometimes shown, including during television coverage.

F1 teams and their drivers always like predictability, not only in terms of stewards’ adjudications but also in terms of the performance of their cars on every circuit they return to. Sometimes though this isn’t possible if, as in the case of Interlagos, the whole track has been resurfaced since the previous year. The new asphalt wasn’t expected to be unusually challenging in terms of grip levels, but it certainly proved to be in terms of its bumpiness, which was to give the drivers something of a wild ride.

With the Brazilian event including the fifth Sprint race of the season, there was time for just a single free practice session on Friday. Prior to the race, Red Bull installed a new internal combustion engine into Verstappen's car as part of its hybrid power unit, as the previous engine had experienced weakened output in Mexico due to its age. The change meant the reigning champion would suffer a five-place grid penalty for today’s Grand Prix, but it was considered worthwhile to increase the car’s performance at a track where overtaking is easier than at many others.

Also, driver health was an issue as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had had to return to Europe between the Mexican and Brazilian rounds for medical treatment due to an intestinal infection, and in São Paulo, illness meant Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was replaced by the 19-year-old British rising star, Oliver Bearman, who is set to join the outfit full-time next year. He performed exceptionally well during the practice session, securing the third fastest time behind Norris and Russell.

During the red flag break, Hülkenberg was disqualified after he had been helped back onto the track by marshals, in strict contravention of the regulations.

In Friday’s qualifying session for yesterday’s Sprint race, Piastri led the way, followed by Norris, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and Verstappen, with 10th-placed Bearman impressing again as he outpaced Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton. Pérez was only 13th quickest, and Alonso was eliminated in the opening part of the grid setting process.

Offtrack, Leclerc was fined 10,000 euros for having used a swear word during the post-race press conference in Mexico, with half of it suspended provided he doesn’t repeat the offence in the next 12 months. This ties in with the FIA governing body’s recent campaign against the use of coarse language, with Verstappen having received a community service order for having used a swear word himself in a Singapore press conference.

Conditions were dry for yesterday’s Sprint contest, although rain was forecast for later in the day, and the Sprint was controlled by the McLaren duo, with the leading Piastri ordered by his team to gift the victory to Norris with two laps remaining. This enabled the British driver to reduce Verstappen’s advantage in the Drivers’ Championship by a couple of points as the Red Bull team leader reached the chequered flag in third place ahead of Leclerc following a late Virtual Safety Car intervention to enable the removal of Nico Hülkenberg’s stricken Haas. However, an infringement by Verstappen during the brief VSC period resulted in a subsequent five-second penalty from the stewards, which demoted him to fourth place behind Leclerc and reduced his title lead over Norris by a further point.

Qualifying for today’s Grand Prix was due to start at 3pm local time yesterday, but this proved to be impossible due to torrential rain, with the FIA officials even giving the teams permission to close their pit garage doors to reduce the risk of flooding. With all this water descending from the skies, it struck me as somewhat ironic that the circuit’s Interlagos name refers to it being located between two large artificial lakes! You had to feel for all the soaked fans who waited patiently for the conditions to improve, but eventually a decision was taken on the grounds of safety to postpone qualifying until today. The forecast of more heavy rain for mid-afternoon led to the decision to start the qualifying hour at 07.30 local time and move the Grand Prix forward to 12.30.

Conditions were still very wet for this morning’s qualifying hour, and it proved to be one of the most eventful sessions that I have ever witnessed in 26 years as a motorsport reporter. It had to be redflagged on five occasions following separate accidents for Williams’ Franco Colapinto, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Alonso, and then the other Williams car of Alex Albon. Fortunately the drivers all emerged unscathed from their hefty shunts, with Albon’s being a huge one, but this left these three teams facing a race against time to get all five cars repaired in time for the start of this afternoon’s Grand Prix. Unfortunately, Williams soon realised that the extensive damage to Albon’s car was beyond repair within the timescale available, and so his entry was withdrawn.

In the treacherous conditions Hamilton failed to make it beyond the opening part of the qualifying process, and Stroll’s accident at the dangerous Curva Do Sol Turn 3 in Q2 was contentious as the officials failed to throw a red flag until 40 seconds after the incident had happened. When the off occurred, Verstappen and Pérez were on hot laps and had to abort, they could not try again. Therefore, both Red Bull drivers were eliminated, with Verstappen destined to start from 17th on the grid. Eventually, after all the stoppages, we reached the conclusion of the top ten shootout, and it was Norris who claimed pole position from Russell, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon claiming the second row. RB’s Liam Lawson was thrilled to qualify fifth in the other RB, just ahead of Leclerc.

This led to a full 10-minute restart procedure, with the errant drivers set to be investigated by the stewards after the race and with potential penalties looming

.This all meant that we had drivers of the quality of Verstappen, Sainz, and Hamilton starting well out of position compared to where you might normally expect them to line up, while at the sharp end of the grid we had a few who wouldn’t typically be there. As a result, the atmosphere was truly intense as the 20 drivers lined up on the uphill starting grid and began the formation lap. Stroll managed to have his second accident of the day before the race had even begun as the start procedure was aborted to allow for the removal of his stranded car. However, confusion then reigned as some of the leading cars on the grid, led by Norris, set off on a second formation lap despite the yellow lights on the gantry forbidding this. Verstappen, among others, stayed still, anticipating the necessary green lights to appear, but they never did. This led to a full 10-minute restart procedure, with the errant drivers set to be investigated by the stewards after the race and with potential penalties looming.

When the race started, Russell made a great getaway and had overtaken Norris for the lead before the opening lefthander, with Tsunoda and Ocon in close attendance. To their rear, Verstappen showed blistering pace as he moved up from 17th to 10th position by the start of the second lap, revelling in the challenging wet conditions, and, following a further nine tours, had risen to sixth. As the Grand Prix progressed, the rain intensified, and an off for Hülkenberg caused a short VSC period. By lap 30, Ocon led from Verstappen, Gasly, and Russell before the safety car was called onto the circuit due to the conditions, and, just two tours later, red flags flew for a sixth time today after Colapinto crashed heavily, giving his Williams team another expensive repair task.

During the red flag break, Hülkenberg was disqualified after he had been helped back onto the track by marshals, in strict contravention of the regulations. The Grand Prix subsequently resumed at only half distance with a rolling start, with Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly the leading trio. With visibility remaining poor due to the rain and spray, the safety car was soon called into action again after Sainz had his own second accident of the day and was out of the race.

On lap 43 of 69, Verstappen swept past Ocon into the lead at Turn 1, and a mistake by Norris dropped him down to seventh position behind Piastri in the other McLaren, although the latter again soon let his teammate past. From being just ahead of Ocon, Verstappen was flying, and, after setting multiple fastest laps, he was over 19 seconds clear of the second-placed Frenchman by the chequered flag. Third-placed Pierre Gasly made it a day of great celebrations for the Alpine team, with Russell, Leclerc, and Norris completing the top six finishers on track. The result earned Verstappen a further 18 points over Norris in the drivers’ title standings, with three Grands Prix and a final Sprint remaining.

Formula 1 now has a three-week break in terms of ontrack action ...

Following the post-race celebrations, the stewards were clearly in no hurry to adjudicate over the start procedure issues involving Norris, Russell, Tsunoda, and Lawson, and news of any penalties is still awaited several hours later. The same applies to possible penalties too for both Mercedes drivers due to apparent tyre pressure regulation infringements during the race red flag stoppage.

Formula 1 now has a three-week break in terms of ontrack action before everyone reconvenes in Las Vegas as the fight for the 2024 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship titles continues, although Verstappen today took a massive step towards being crowned world champion for a fourth consecutive year.


2024 Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2hr6m54.430s
2 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +19.477s
3 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +22.532s
4 George Russell (Mercedes) +23.265s
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +30.177s
6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +31.372s
7 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +42.056s
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +44.953s
9 Liam Lawson (RB) +50.452s
10 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +50.753s
11 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +51.531s
12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +57.085s
13 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +1m3.588s
14 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1m18.049s
15 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) +1m19.649s
16 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) Retired
17 Franco Colapinto (Williams) Retired
18 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Retired
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Retired
20 Alex Albon (Williams) Did not start

2024 Formula 1 São Paulo Sprint

1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 29m46.045s
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.963s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +5.656s
4 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +6.497s
5 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +7.224s
6 George Russell (Mercedes) +12.485s
7 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +18.161s
8 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +18.717s
9 Liam Lawson (RB) +20.773s
10 Alex Albon (Williams) 24.606s
11 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +29.764s
12 Franco Colapinto (Williams) +33.233s
13 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) + 34.128s
14 Oliver Bearman (Haas +35.507s
15 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +41.374s
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +43.231s
17 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) + 54.139s
18 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +56.537s
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +57.983s
20 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) Retired


2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship

1 Max Verstappen 393
2 Lando Norris 331
3 Charles Leclerc 307

2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship

1 McLaren 593
2 Ferrari 557
3 Red Bull 544