Continuous heavy rain and a 17th starting position could not stop Max Verstappen from performing his class on the Interlagos track to win the Brazilian Grand Prix on the morning of November 4.
The resurgence of McLaren and the late summer slump of the RB20 seemed to end Verstappen’s hopes of winning four consecutive world championships. But in a tight spot, the Dutch star still showed the spirit and talent of a seasoned driver. Verstappen completed 69 laps in 2 hours 6 minutes 54.430 seconds, 19.477 seconds faster than second-placed Esteban Ocon (Alpine). This was the first time the Red Bull driver won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of June.
Coming to the Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen had to use a new engine to compete with rival Lando Norris. But despite the champion’s change, McLaren still completely dominated Red Bull in the Sprint races as well as the tricky qualifying due to the rainy weather in Sao Paulo (Brazil). After losing to Norris in the sprint, Verstappen continued to be eliminated early in the second qualifying round, and ranked 12th in terms of speed. In addition to being demoted five places for using an excessive number of engines, the Dutch driver had to start 17th.
The weather also added to Verstappen’s troubles, as rain continued to fall at Interlagos. The Brazilian Grand Prix began on a slippery track. Lance Stroll lost control of his car during the warm-up lap before the start, forcing the Aston Martin driver to retire early.
The team was forced to do another warm-up lap, then wait more than 10 minutes until 12:47 local time to start. Up front, Norris lost the lead to George Russell (Mercedes) just before Turn 1. Behind, Verstappen shot like an arrow at the back of the starting group, then climbed to 11th after the first lap.
The Red Bull driver continued his momentum, quickly eliminating Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri to climb to sixth when the race had just reached lap 12. At this time, Verstappen began to get stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and his tough opponent Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
As the optimal tyre change window approached in the first third of the race, the rain became heavier. Ferrari brought Leclerc in early on lap 24 to give the SF24 more grip. Just a few laps later, a virtual safety car was brought out after Nico Hukelberg’s accident (Haas) on lap 28. A number of drivers followed Tsunoda, Russell and Norris into the pits.
But Alpine and Red Bull took the risk of waiting for the red flag and stayed on the track without changing tyres at this point. This decision allowed Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly to temporarily take the top three positions. When they returned to the track, Norris and Russell dropped to fourth and fifth, while the rain became heavier and the road became very slippery.
As Alpine and Red Bull had hoped, the safety car was deployed, and the red flag was soon raised on lap 33 after a series of dangerous corner losses. The climax was Fernando Colapinto’s accident (Williams) on lap 32. The drivers were ordered to return their cars to the pits to wait for conditions to improve. The cars were now free to change tyres. Alpine and Red Bull benefited greatly from the red flag.
The two drivers who had led the race before the incident were both disappointed. Russell shouted over the radio to his team: “I told you. We shouldn’t pit.” Norris was also upset when the pit marshals confirmed that his rivals were allowed to change tyres freely during the red flag.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, the drivers started again. Verstappen was firmly on the lead with Ocon, but Norris lost control at the start and fell behind Russell. Ocon gradually increased the gap to more than 3 seconds faster than Verstappen.