To break his victory drought, Max Verstappen needed only to add a little water.
He got more than a little, and he did more than just snap his losing streak.
Verstappen dominated in sometimes torrential conditions, monstering his way past 14 other cars to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at a canter.
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Wet weather is generally regarded as a motorsport equaliser, reducing the differences in car performance and bringing driver skill to the fore.
But it also acts as a pressure test. With so many variables in changeable conditions and with constant disruptions, only the coolest heads can prevail, with those of lesser mettle inevitably folding.
Interlagos was particularly trying, with all manner of interruptions, featuring a bizarre botched start procedure — still under investigation at the time of writing — big crashes, safety cars, red flags and of course unpredictable weather.
In a masterful performance, Verstappen was in total control throughout, making his fellow Formula 1 drivers look as though they were in a different league an all but guaranteeing himself a fourth world title.
VERSTAPPEN’S DROUGHT-BREAKER HAD IT ALL
Verstappen arrived in Brazil under fire.
His driving style was being publicly criticised from all quarters after two controversial battles with title rival Lando Norris, the latter incurring him significant penalties.
The Dutchman was furious after Sunday qualifying, when Lance Stroll red flags in Q2 eliminated him in 17th and feeling hard done-by by race control’s reluctance to suspend the session earlier.
After venting his frustration, he responded in the race like a champion.
This will go down as one of Verstappen’s greatest drivers.
Starting 15th on the grid — after Alex Albon and Stroll didn’t take the start — he was immediately up four places on the first lap, and by lap 11 he was sixth and within 10 seconds of the lead.
It was close enough to be in victory contention at a race that was always going to be packed with twists and turns as weather hammered the circuit at will.
It took mistakes from Norris and George Russell ahead of him to get one hand on the trophy, with only a big-braking pass on Esteban Ocon then required to get him into a lead he’d never relinquish.
“My emotions today have been a rollercoaster, with qualifying being really unlucky with that red flag,” he said. “We stayed out of trouble. We made the right calls. We stayed calm and we were flying.
“All of these things together made that result possible. Unbelievable to win here from so far back on the grid.”
The result ended a 10-grand prix losing streak dating back to the Spanish Grand Prix in June, and the Dutchman’s post-race enthusiasm demonstrated how much it meant to him to be back on the top step.
“It was a masterclass today,” team boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports. “I think in those conditions the driver’s skill really comes to the fore, and he was in a league of his own.
“It was an incredible performance from him. One of his very best.”
Verstappen’s outstanding performance — he also set the fastest lap — also meant Red Bull Racing outscored McLaren in a grand prix for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
“It’s been a while, but I think that the whole team have really kept their heads and worked incredibly hard,” Horner said.
“We fought ourselves back into a winning position, and that’s testimony to the effort that goes on behind the scenes back in Milton Keynes, that nobody ever gives up. We’ve demonstrated that today.”
RBR remains third in the standings, having marginally shrunk its deficit to 49 points.
NORRIS MISTAKES MEANS TITLE CAN BE DECIDED IN LAS VEGAS
While the effect on the constructors championship is marginal, the impact of the result on the drivers standings is severe.
This is the race Norris was supposed to have put his foot down and finally assert his championship credentials.
Starting from pole with Verstappen 15th in the order, the goal was open, and a significant points haul beckoned.
Instead Norris ended sixth and more than half a minute behind the man he thought he could challenge for the title.
His points deficit has blown out from a hopeful 44 points on Saturday to a practically insurmountable 62 points with three rounds remaining.
Far from Norris taking the title down to the final race, Verstappen can now deal him final defeat at the next race in Las Vegas, where he’ll only need to prevent the Briton from outscoring him by three points to seal the deal with two rounds to spare.
It was a Sunday on which nothing went right — and on which Norris and McLaren’s small but decisive weaknesses relative to the formidable Red Bull Racing-Verstappen combination were laid bare.
Things started unravelling even before the start, with Norris leading away a quartet of drivers at the aborted start — instead of remaining on the grid as per the rules — miring himself in a post-race investigation.
He lost the lead to George Russell immediately off the line — “a wet start’s just a bit of a gamble,” he said — and then struggled to get past the Mercedes until the heavy rain arrived close to half distance.
His team then made the mistake of pitting him — albeit with Mercedes doing the same with Russell — just as the virtual safety car for Nico Hülkenberg’s spin was coming to an end.
It lost the pair the net lead, which was then compounded by red flags gifting Verstappen, Ocon and Pierre Gasly free tyre changes that locked them into the podium places.
In the interim laps between safety cars Norris managed to pass and then lose a position to Russell, and at the final restart he cost himself a podium shot by spearing off the road at the first turn, leaving him sixth at the flag.
Conditions were obviously extremely difficult. Drivers were surviving on their wits, and even that wasn’t always enough for some of the sport’s most experienced operators. Norris’s underperformance shouldn’t be seen as embarrassing.
But the Briton’s target was to take on Verstappen, the reigning champion. When the crunch time came — and with season-changing points on the line — he was shown to be lacking.
“I’ve had a lot of good races. It’s about time something didn’t go right,” he said. “[Verstappen] drove well; he got a bit lucky.”
But luck was only part of the story. Verstappen’s brilliance — and the ground Norris still has to make up before next season — was the rest.
RED FLAGS GIVETH, RED FLAGS TAKETH AWAY
Verstappen started the day ruing the use of red flags in qualifying costing him a chance to start inside the top 10.
Race control’s slow decision to call off Q2 after Stroll’s big crash had several effects on the Dutchman’s day. By the time the session was suspended, he’d dropped outside the top 10, but the timing also prevented him from completing his next lap and came too late for the session to be resumed for him to have one final crack.
“I find it unbelievable,” he fumed at the time, per Racer. “The car goes into the wall, broken, it’s clearly destroyed, but they wait 30 to 40 seconds so everybody else can just complete their lap times, and of course the ones behind cannot even do a lap.
“I can’t get my head around it, how that is possible to just let it go for 30 seconds, 40 seconds, and that of course ruins qualifying.”
But his frustration was misplaced. Race control always needs time to assess the situation, and Stroll was attempting to limp back to pit lane for almost a minute before the red flags were used.
Even had the flags been shown immediately, Verstappen’s position at the start of the pit lane means he likely would have struggled with traffic to get a final lap in anyway.
Luckily for him, red flags played a role in saving his Sunday, albeit somewhat controversially.
The Dutchman had risen to second after Norris and Russell made their ill-advised tyre changes at the end of the VSC. It was a good gain but still left him likely net fourth on the road given he’d still need to stop for fresh tyres eventually.
But the red flags for Franco Colapinto’s crash changed all that, allowing him — and the Alpine drivers — to take new tyres for free.
It’s a rule that’s attracted more controversy in recent years as the red flag has been increasingly used by race control, and momentum has been growing to have it changed given the negative effect it sometimes has on strategy and the narrative of a race.
A particularly notable example was Monaco earlier this year, when an early red flag allowed the victory contenders to complete the race without making a pit stop.
“They got lucky with a rule that no-one agrees with,” Norris lamented to Sky Sports. “Probably today they agree with it, but every driver has disagreed with it in the past, and today it benefited them.
“It could have benefited us if we’d just stayed out, but that’s a stupid thing to think of.
“George probably felt like he won the race today, and he probably deserved to win the race today more than anyone else. Sometimes you’re just unlucky and the rules go against you.
“All of our position losses [except to Russell and Leclerc] were just under the red flag with the pit stop for the others. Unfortunate, but nothing more.”
ALPINE’S MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR RESULT
Every season is liable to throw up at least one against-the-grain result, and it’s hard to imagine an outcome more against the run of play than Alpine getting both cars onto the podium.
The seeds were sown earlier in the day, when Esteban Ocon qualified and excellent fourth, putting him directly into the mix once it was clear the race was also going to be wet. He even briefly led the grand prix around the safety cars.
Pierre Gasly started 13th on the grid but made rapid progress, rising to ninth on the first lap, making up good ground when the rain arrived and then capitalising on the red flag with a free tyre change to put himself into the podium places.
From there both drivers were faultless to deliver comfortably Alpine’s biggest result of the year and its most lucrative finish since Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I don’t know if we’re in reality right now or if we’re still in a dream,” Ocon said. “We had no idea today was going to be such a day.
“Qualifying was incredible, but today we were leading the race. We haven’t been further up than P9 this year.
“It’s been incredible to be able to fight. It feels so good. Spending so much time it the midfield struggling, you kind of think: when is my time going to come?
“Today really it shows that if we all had the same car, we would be able to fight at the front.”
But the result is more than just a morale boost to Alpine.
Its 35-point haul for the weekend — 33 points on Sunday — is a 250 per cent increase on what it had scored leading up to Brazil.
It moved the French team directly to sixth in the constructors championship, leapfrogging Haas by three points and putting it five points ahead of RB.
Based on estimates from 2023 earnings, each place in the constructors championship is worth around US$10 million (A$15.2 million).
If it can hold sixth for the final three rounds, Sunday in Brazil will have been a $45.4 million payday.
It now looks like a three-way battle for the lucrative sixth position, with Aston Martin holding a 37-point advantage in fifth that’ll be difficult to close in three weekends.
Williams, on the other hand, after a horror weekend comprising three massive, costly crashes is now 32 points behind Alpine and will struggle to move forwards.
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