Red Bull’s Max Verstappen closed in on the 2024 Formula 1 crown after recovering from 17th on the grid to score his first victory in 11 races at a very wet Interlagos.
Poor weather over the weekend played havoc with the schedule, resulting in qualifying being delayed until Sunday, and the Grand Prix was also moved to earlier on the day’s schedule due to the forecast. It was the first time in five years that qualifying and the Grand Prix took place on the same day.
It took almost two hours for qualifying to eventually be completed as rain brought havoc and five red flag stoppages. McLaren’s Lando Norris only made it through Q1 by 0.1 seconds before going on to take pole ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, while other leading contenders struggled.
Norris’s chief rival Verstappen was hampered by one of the red flags in Q2 and was eliminated, with a five-place grid penalty for an engine change leaving him 17th on the grid, two places behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who did not make it out of Q1.
Williams duo Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon joined Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in crashing out of qualifying, with Albon’s incident while running strongly in Q3 leaving his car too damaged to take part in the race which kicked off just three hours later.
There was further drama before the Grand Prix got underway on a damp circuit. Stroll crashed out on the initial formation lap after losing his car under braking for turn four. There was more confusion as the cars set off for their second formation lap, with Norris and Mercedes leaving the grid before the green lights were displayed on the gantry, and the pair where placed under investigation by officials
More rain arrived when the race eventually started, and Russell made the better getaway to beat Norris into turn one. Verstappen made swift progress to climb to 11th before diving inside Hamilton at the beginning og lap two, while his team-mate Sergio Perez spun to the rear of the field.
While Russell continued to lead Norris, and Tsunoda maintained third ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Verstappen took ninth away from Ocon’s team-mate Pierre Gasly on lap five.
Having soon dispatched Alonso, Verstappen outbraked McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into turn one on lap 10 and then drove around RB’s Liam Lawson for sixth on the next tour.
It was another 11 laps before Verstappen passed Leclerc, who soon headed to the pits for fresh intermediate tyres as the rain intensified. Lawson was caught out by the conditions and slipped four places to ninth, and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg spun to a halt and caused a virtual safety car period.
Russell, Norris and Tsunoda all took the opportunity to pit, but the VSC ended just as they headed in as Hulkenberg was able to get going, though he was soon black-flagged for receiving outside assistance. By staying out, Ocon moved into the lead, with Verstappen and Gasly climbing to second and third. Norris soon swept past Russell for fourth in the appalling conditions, moments before a heavy crash for Colapinto brought out the red flags.
The stoppage turned the race on its head, as the top three were effectively able to change their tyres for free as the cars held station on the grid. The contest resumed 25 minutes later with a rolling restart, but not before Haas driver Ollie Bearman – deputising for the unwell Kevin Magnussen – and Guanyu Zhou both spun behind the safety car.
Russell capitalised on an error from Norris to reclaim fourth, while Ocon initially pulled over 3s clear of Verstappen. The Frenchman’s lead was soon eradicated by a further appearance from the safety car, which was deployed due to Sainz crashing out. Moments before that, Bearman had another spin but was able to continue despite a brush with the barriers.
Racing resumed once more on lap 43 of 69, with Verstappen immediately diving inside Ocon into the lead, while Norris slid off the road and dropped to seventh behind Piastri who soon let his team-mate back past.
As conditions improved,m, Verstappen romped clear over the remaining laps to take the chequered flag 19s clear of Ocon, who came home 3s ahead of Gasly, as Alpine secured a shock double-podium finish.
Russell was fourth, while Leclerc held off Norris for fifth, and Tsunoda passed Piastri to finish seventh. Lawson was ninth ahead of Hamilton, who denied Perez the final point in 10th.
Featured image credit: F1 on X
