Lando Norris’ already slim world title hopes were crushed at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix by a performance for the ages from Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver won from 17th on the grid. It was a masterclass, a day when he was head and shoulders above his rivals. And what he had achieved was not lost on him.
It was, he said, “definitely the best” of his 62 wins. Few would argue. It was a drive to be ranked among the greatest wet-weather drives in history. “I really believe we’ve witnessed one of the great drives in F1 today,” his team principal Christian Horner said.
It was a fitting way finally to end a victory drought for Verstappen that dates back to the Spanish Grand Prix in June – 11 races ago.
Although Norris was closing in slowly in the intervening period, and did so again with victory in the sprint race in Sao Paulo on Saturday before the chaotic events of a soaking Sunday, Verstappen’s fourth world championship never really looked under that much threat. The lead he established with seven wins in the first 10 races of the season was too big for that.
But there can be no doubt now. Verstappen’s stunning win, along with Norris’ sixth place, extended the Dutchman’s lead to 62 points. There are only 86 still available in the remaining three races.
If Verstappen leaves Las Vegas in three weeks’ time with a 60-point advantage, he will be champion. Even if he cannot manage that – and he may well not, as Norris and Ferrari might be fancied to beat Red Bull there – the title will surely be won a week later in Qatar.
Verstappen took his 62nd victory with his win in Brazil
Verstappen was ‘just very motivated’
Verstappen described the events of his Sunday as “rollercoaster”. “My emotions,” he said, “have been from almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race.”
The anger came from some bad luck in qualifying, moved to Sunday morning because of heavy rain on Saturday afternoon. Red Bull sending him out late in the second session combined with the unfortunate timing of a red flag to leave him 12th, and knocked out after the second session.
That became 17th on the grid because of a five-place grid penalty for using too many engines. With Norris on pole, following an excellent performance in a car with which he was never that comfortable in the wet, things did not look good.
Verstappen went into the race, he said, “expecting to lose points”.
But events started to turn his way at the start. Norris dropped a place to Mercedes’ George Russell, and Verstappen’s progress from the back was electrifying.
Up six places in the first lap, he was by lap 12 on the back of a four-car group fighting for third, with Russell and Norris only eight seconds up the road. With rain still falling, and heavier showers expected, the race already looked winnable for Verstappen.
“I was just very motivated to get a good race and just let the race pan out and see what happens,” he said. “Because in a wet race, always some crazy things can happen.
“But soon, I was passing a few cars, and I had always one lap or two laps of free air. I was always the fastest on the track.
“So, I knew that, ‘OK, we are quick. I just need to try and pass the guys to try and have a run to the front.’
“I felt comfortable in the car. I feel comfortable in the wet anyway, but then when the car is also performing, it just doubles up and you can really pick up the pace.”
The race turned for him in a five-lap period as the rain began to intensify at around one-third distance.
Russell and Norris pitted for fresh tyres under a virtual safety car, worried their rubber was too worn to cope with more water on the track. That gave the lead to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, with Verstappen right behind him.
Red Bull and Alpine gambled on staying out. This, Verstappen said, was “very sketchy” on tyres running out of tread. But the virtual safety car turned into a full one, and then as that led the field around, a red flag, when Williams’ Franco Colapinto became the latest of several drivers to crash in the slippery conditions.
That gave Ocon and Verstappen a ‘free’ tyre change. Ocon led the first restart comfortably. But then there was another safety car, for another crash. At this restart, Verstappen sent it from a long way back on the brakes into Turn One, took the lead, and was away.
He never likes to talk about the championship, or the meaning of races in that context, but even he had to acknowledge that this was “incredibly important”.
“From now,” he said, “I just want clean races to the end. I’m not thinking about clinching the championship in Vegas or whatever. I just want clean races.”
