Verstappen’s title crescendo – Dutchman’s epic victory in chaotic Brazilian GP

Max Verstappen was due to win a Formula 1 GP (with the exception of the Texas Sprint) from Spain at the end of June, but today he returned to winning ways with a driving performance recital from 17th on the grid to the first of the Brazilian GP, ​​race 21 of this year’s championship.

And while with his 17th place at the start we expected the title battle to take a new turn, in favor of Lando Norris, the Englishman’s only 6th place in McLaren together with Verstappen’s unexpected victory did indeed bring a new turn – but in favor of the Dutchman: with this victory Max made a leap for this year’s championship, increasing his gap with the Briton from 44 to 62 points.

After one of the most episodic GPs of recent years, in the rainy Interlagos, the podium next to Verstappen was closed by Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly who took full advantage of the rain for Alpine’s surprise of the year, while Georges followed in the top six Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

The Brazilian GP at a glance

• From start to finish the race was rainy. Everyone started with the intermediate rain tires.
• At the start Russell passed Norris for 1st place.
• Verstappen moved up in the first lap from 17th to 10th, and up to 20th to 6th.
• Hulkenberg’s 4-a-ke brought about VSC status. Russell, Norris came in to change tires, Ocon-Verstappen-Gasly stayed on the track, in the first three positions.
• Shortly after, Colapinto’s heavy crash stopped the race with red flags.
• At the break, Ocon-Verstappen-Gasly changed tires and thus remained at the top.
• Once the race restarted Ocon impressively held the lead from Verstappen.
• Not long after, Saint’s accident prompted safety vehicle status.
• On the new restart Verstappen immediately passed Ocon, while Norris slid off the track at the first corner and fell from 4th to 7th.
• Russell, Leclerc rounded out the top five as Leclerc had an unfortunate tire change before the VSC.
• Piastri handed 6th place to Norris, and in the end the Australian dropped to 8th due to a 10′ penalty for an incident at the start.

The development of the fight

The first start of the Brazilian GP was postponed when Lance Stroll went off the track at Turn 4 during the formation lap and damaged the Aston Martin, before getting stuck in the sand trap on his way back.

A 10 minute delay followed, and when the race got underway after another formation lap Russell got the better of Norris (who had a lot of spin when the 5 red lights went out) and so the Mercedes driver turned first going into the first Senna S chicane .

At the same time, by the end of the first lap, Verstappen began his great advance, rising from 17th to 10th place, with overtaking mainly in Turn 1. At the top, Russell and Norris from Tsunoda, Ocon and Leclerc who were following.

Losing top speed on the straight (due to McLaren’s higher boost settings) Norris was unable to threaten Russell for the lead. Further back, by lap 15 Verstappen had caught up to Leclerc, but was stuck for some time behind the Ferrari, in 6th place.

As the rain began to intensify around lap 25, Leclerc was the first to venture into the pits for a fresh set of intermediate rain rubber.

But the race took a different turn when Nico Hulkenberg lost control and spun at Turn 1. The race then entered virtual safety car (VSC) status, with leaders Russell, Norris pitting -stop them at the end of the 28th round.

Ocon and Verstappen I didn’t follow them, as did Gasli in the other Alpine, and although this seemed absurd at the time it vindicated them a little later, when the race would be interrupted by the accident of Franco Colapinto.

Before the accident happened, the rain had started to get heavier, Interlagos started to turn into a river, and Norris had the opportunity to pass Russell for 4th place. But now the downpour was so heavy that the organizers decided to send the safety vehicle to the track.

During this, Franco Colapinto lost control of the Williams and crashed hard into the track wall, resulting in red flags and the race being stopped.

The delay lasted 25 minutes, during which – with the cars stationary in the pits – Ocon, Verstappen and Gasli were able to fit their fresh intermediate rain tires without losing places and time with a pit stop during the race.

On the restart Ocon easily left Verstappen behind and built a lead of 3.3 seconds with a few laps to go. However then a new accident, by Carlos Sainz on lap 39, brought the safety car back onto the track and wiped out the differences.

Once that left the track, Verstappen made his elaborate move on Ocon to pass him at turn one, where Norris slid under pressure from Leclerc off the track, dropping the McLaren Englishman to 7th.

Shortly after, Leclerc passed Russell for 4th, but after his own exit the Monegasque dropped back to 5th – while Piastri generously handed over 6th to Norris for the title battle.

Verstappen pulled away with a series of fastest laps, building a lead of over three seconds with 20 laps to go – to eventually finish 19.3 seconds behind. In all this period it only rained at the end of the race, but now the rain was not enough to change much.

Gasly withstood pressure from Russell until the checkered flag, while Piastri finished 7th but dropped to 8th due to a 10-second penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson before the red flag. The New Zealander finished ninth, keeping Hamilton (who had a number of small exits before the stoppage) and Perez successfully behind him at the end.

Alex Albon did not take part as it was not possible to repair the Williams from the damage done in his heavy crash in qualifying earlier today.

The Brazilian GP ended this trio of races in the Americas. Next up is the final three races of the season that will decide the champions, with the first meeting being the Las Vegas GP on November 21-23.