F1 Review: Max Verstappen Storms from 17th to Victory in Sao Paulo GP; Lando Norris 6th from Pole

Max Verstappen started 17th and was on the attack early in Formula 1, blitzing his way through the field to easily win a thoroughly wet and eventful Lenovo Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday (Nov. 3) over the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. It was Verstappen’s first victory since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23 and essentially squashed Lando Norris’ hopes of challenging for the Drivers’ Championship.

“My emotions today have been a rollercoaster, with qualifying being really unlucky with that red flag,” Verstappen said of the events that left him down the grid order. “I knew it was going to be a very tough race … We stayed out of trouble. We made the right calls. We stayed calm and we were flying. All of those things together made that result possible.

“Unbelievable to win here from so far back on the grid.”

Behind the Alpines, George Russell finished fourth after starting second and beating Norris on the start. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth, and Norris, after a number of mistakes and strategy missteps, took sixth. Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was seventh, joining teammate Liam Lawson, who finished ninth, in the points. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was eighth and Lewis Hamilton finished 10th.

In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen’s lead over Norris ballooned from 47 to 62 points, 393 to 331. Leclerc is in third, only 24 behind Norris, with Piastri 45 behind Leclerc.

In the constructors’ standings, McLaren leads Ferrari by 36 points, 593 to 557. Red Bull is in third, just 13 behind Ferrari.

The Race

The start was aborted during the formation lap when Lance Stroll lost it under braking and ended up in the sand at turn 4. After some confusion between the drivers (some immediately began the second formation lap, others did not), officials declared the race would restart in 10 minutes and mechanics would be allowed back on the grid. As the first car to begin the second lap, Norris was being investigated for a start infringement. 

Russell out-launched Norris at lights out and easily took the lead into turn 1. Despite the wet track, it was a clean start, and the biggest mover was Verstappen, who was up from 17th to 10th by the end of lap 1. Sergio Perez survived a spin late in the lap and continued, albeit well down in the order.

Russell’s lead was two seconds after three laps as Norris awaited the stewards’ call on his start, which would certainly impact his race strategy.

The rain soon intensified and several drivers noted heavy rain in sections of the track. Norris was gaining on Russell but Tsunoda was well back in third, over 3 seconds behind Norris.

Norris laid down a series of fastest laps and was within DRS range of Russell by lap 5. Verstappen picked off Gasly for ninth, then Fernando Alonso for eighth, and was feeling confident in the rain.

Verstappen got by Piastri on lap 10 and was up to seventh, while Norris continued to chase Russell. Verstappen then checked Lawson off the list, taking sixth. Even if Norris were to win the race, Verstappen was greatly minimizing damage to his still healthy championship lead.

On lap 17, the order was Russell, Norris, Tsunoda, Ocon, Leclerc, Verstappen, Lawson, Piastri, Gasly, and Alonso. Heavier rain was expected in about 15 minutes. Heavy rain would necessitate full wet tires, and heavier rain could bring about a red flag. The key for the drivers was to make it on the intermediates until the heavier rain arrived, then make a calculated tire choice at that point.

Norris was still a second behind Russell on lap 24, but was encouraged by Tsunoda, who was a good 10 seconds behind Norris and serving as a buffer to the cars behind, which included Verstappen.

Leclerc was the first to pit and came in on lap 25 for another set of intermediates. It was a gamble, as the heavy rain was soon to arrive. Norris noted the heavier rain and asked to pit for wet tires, but was advised to stay out. Norris was also right on Russell’s tail, about a half a second back. The heavy rain was there and visibility was becoming an issue as well, with wheel spray abundant. 

As the wet weather intensified, Nico Hulkenberg spun and stranded his car; eventually, a Virtual Safety Car was issued. Several cars pitted, with Perez taking on a set of full wets. 

The virtual safety car ended on lap 29, and Norris and Russell both pitted for intermediates. It was a case of bad timing for the two, as they returned behind Ocon, the new race leader, Verstappen and Gasly, as all three stayed out.

Norris zoomed by Russell on lap 30, just as a safety car was deployed because of unsafe track conditions. With rainfall expected to subside in a few minutes, the drivers on intermediates were looking good. Those on wet tires saw any advantage diminish with each safety car lap.

Meanwhile, Russell and Mercedes were being investigated for adjusting tire pressures before the second start.

On lap 32, the race was red flagged when Franco Colapinto slammed the wall while in the Safety Car queue and came to rest in the middle of the track. It was the best possible scenario for Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly, and worst possible for Norris. Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly would get a free tire change and maintain their positions. All signs now pointed to a Verstappen win, a dagger to Norris’ hopes. 

Racing resumed about 45 minutes later with a rolling star and Ocon led the field into turn 1 with Verstappen right on his gearbox. Norris went wide into turn 6 and lost fourth to Russell. 

Up front, Ocon opened up a solid lead over Verstappen, over 2 seconds by lap 35. Even without winning, Verstappen could still celebrate a second as if it were a win, considering he started 17th. 

With 30 laps to go, the order was Ocon, Verstappen, Gasly, Russell, Norris, Leclerc, Piastri, Tsunoda, Hamilton and Alonso.

Carlos Sainz spun and hit the wall on lap 40, causing another safety car to hit the track. The race winner from Mexico just a week ago was out! And Ocon’s gap over Verstappen, which was nearing three seconds, was gone. 

With no more rain expected until after the race, managing the wear on intermediate tires became crucial. Could a set survive 30 laps with the track drying bit by bit?

Verstappen aced the restart when racing resumed on lap 43 and blasted away in clean air to build a 2-second lead by lap 45. In turn 1, Norris again went wide, nearly losing his rear end and dropping two places to seventh. Piastri gave up sixth to Norris on lap 46, as McLaren desperately wanted to salvage as many points as possible. 

Verstappen’s lead was up to seven seconds by lap 53 and the Red Bull showed no sign of weakness, although Verstappen was advised by his team to cool his tires a bit. 

With Verstappen continuing to pull away, Lawson, Hamilton, and Perez entertained with some exciting scraps while they ran ninth, 10th and 11th. 

Verstappen crossed the line with a whopping 19-second advantage over Ocon and the Red Bull driver also took the extra point for the fastest lap. Gasly was third, giving Alpine a 2-3 finish, vaulting the team to sixth in the constructors’ standings. Russell was fourth, Leclerc finished fifth and Norris took an extremely disappointing sixth.   

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1853134342496629007

The Good

Alpine took a stunning 2-3 finish, and the team’s 33 points in Brazil were 17 more than they had previously scored all year. Of course, much of Alpine’s success could be attributed to the weather, as wet conditions threw qualifying into chaos, which helped Ocon secure fourth on the grid. And in the race, rain again played a huge role.

Does Alpine need rain to duplicate such success? Yes. Can Alpine special advisor Flavio Briatore “make it rain” in any other way besides showering cash on people he wishes to financially influence? Probably not. Can Briatore use his nefarious wiles to convince many people that he can, in fact, influence the weather and make it rain? You bet.

Who doesn’t love a rainy F1 race besides the drivers who have to drive in it? I can tell you a driver who starts 17th and thinks he has a good chance of winning absolutely loves it. 

From a TV viewer’s standpoint, nothing beats a rainy race. It basically gives any driver a chance to win. On the flip side, it also gives any driver a chance to lose. I’m winking at McLaren now.  

Meanwhile, this Perez-Lawson rivalry is really gaining steam. The two made contact battling for position on lap 55, with both complaining of the other’s driving tactics. If there are ever going to be punches thrown over one or two points, it might just be between these two. I refuse to pay money to see Mike Tyson boxing with Jake Paul. I also refuse to watch it for free. But I would pay good money to see Perez and Lawson in any form of combat with a seat at Red Bull on the line.

Hamilton drove Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP4/5B that the late Brazilian piloted during his 1990 championship campaign. It was quite the honor for Hamilton to drive his idol’s car. And it may have been the only time this year Hamilton’s driven an F1 car and not complained about its performance.

The Bad

Either many drivers don’t know the procedures to follow in an aborted start, or F1 race officials are terrible at communicating their decisions.

Everyone seemed to be confused after Stroll spun on the first recon lap. Some drivers stayed on the grid; others, including polesitter Norris, took off thinking there was another recon lap. This, apparently, was the wrong thing to do, as Norris and other drivers who left the grid were investigated for start infringements.

And that brings up another point: does it take an entire race to determine if there was an infraction committed on the first lap? It must, because penalties weren’t announced until well after the race.

Grid Walk Moments

It was a pretty uneventful “Grid Walk” until Bernie Ecclestone showed up and said a series of words that no one on planet Earth could possibly understand.

When asked by Sky Sports’ Rachel Brookes if he was pulling for a particular driver, Ecclestone said gibberish about supporting “the winner of the race Max Verstappen.” Does Ecclestone think he can see the future? I doubt it, because it doesn’t look like he can even remember the past. But maybe Bernie can see the future because Verstappen won. What’s going on here? See, even when it’s not racist, sexist or incriminating, Bernie can still say controversial things. 

Let’s face it, Bernie is just a long robe and scepter away from being a wizard. A deeply-flawed, unscrupulous, legally-compromised, decrepit, goofy-looking wizard.

This was likely the first “Grid Walk” that Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Visa Cash App team principal and Oliver Oakes, Alpine team principal, were asked to be a part of. My impressions of the two: Mekies? Great hair. Oakes? Not such great hair.

The Disappointing

Just when you think Norris is primed to kickstart his championship hopes, McLaren makes a series of mistakes and questionable strategy calls to nullify the potential advantage.

At Brazil, Norris got the ball rolling with a start infringement, and although he wasn’t penalized, it could have been a huge outcome-changing penalty. Then, a typical Norris start from the pole ends with him losing the lead to Russell. Instead of leading the race and driving away in clean air, Norris was stuck behind Russell.  

Then, as a virtual safety car was ending on lap 29, McLaren pitted Norris and he lost track position to Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly, who had yet to pit. That move was compounded a few laps later when Colapinto’s crash caused a red flag and Norris found himself at an even bigger disadvantage as Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly were rewarded with a free tire change, basically for not pitting and waiting for something to happen, like a red flag, that would be advantageous to them.

In the end, they got it. Norris, understandably, was discouraged after that and struggled to improve on his position. 

Bottom line, Norris’ weekend showed he has trouble handling the pressure, and that includes both the atmospheric and barometric types. Norris had a golden opportunity to take a chunk out of Verstappen’s points lead but flushed that opportunity down the toilet. And that toilet is probably clogged now because his slim championship hopes are stuck there as well. 

https://twitter.com/teganmae2/status/1853150185397903562

The Driver

Verstappen made a statement in Brazil. And it was a statement that didn’t contain any profanity, wasn’t delivered in a whiny “oh poor, poor me” voice, and came with no sarcasm. That statement was “Please remember me for my driving prowess and not my terrible attitude when things aren’t going perfectly my way.”

The Results (Lenovo Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace)

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/retired	Pts
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	69	2:06:54.430	26
2	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	69	+19.477s	18
3	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	69	+22.532s	15
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	69	+23.265s	12
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	69	+30.177s	10
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	69	+31.372s	8
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	69	+42.056s	6
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	69	+44.943s	4
9	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT	69	+50.452s	2
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	69	+50.753s	1
11	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	69	+51.531s	0
12	50	Oliver Bearman	Haas Ferrari	69	+57.085s	0
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	69	+63.588s	0
14	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	69	+78.049s	0
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	69	+79.649s	0
NC	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	38	DNF	0
NC	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams Mercedes	30	DNF	0
NC	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	0	DNS	0
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	0	DNS	0
DQ	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari		DSQ	0