The F1 grid and company completed the 21st race of the championship this weekend in what went down as arguably the most influential, entertaining and chaotic race of the season so far.
The battle that ensued at this track was only added to by the monsoon-like amounts of rain seen at the track throughout the weekend. With this being a sprint weekend too, the drivers got less time to practice as the Sprint takes up a free practice slot.
Sprint qualifying rolled around as the Mclarens got a 1-2 qualifying spot with Leclecr in third, Verstappen in fourth and Sainz in fifth to round out the top 5. The sprint was relatively uneventful apart from Mclaren still not fully understanding what they were doing. As the laps wound down Vertsappen was trying desperately to get by Leclerc in order to get closer to the Mclarens and minimize the small amount of damage that would be done to his championship lead.
As Vertsappen grew hungrier and the race weaned closer and closer to then end the Mclarens plan of swapping positions between race leader and pole sitter Oscar Piastri and second place Championship contender Lando Norris seemed like it might no longer be a possibility. As Norris complained and questioned what was happening on the radio, Piastri held his rightfully earned lead in order to prove the point that despite what the score board may say, he won that race. The plan was to swap on the last lap until HAAS driver Nico Hulkenburg had trouble with his car causing him to pull off the track and retire his car from the race. After seeing this the Mclaren cars frantically swapped position to give Lando the win and gain an extra two points on Vertsappens 60 point lead. This happened virtually right after this the safety car was thrown and the race was neutralized until the second half of the last lap. However, the timing of the safety car raised some eyebrows both in the F1 paddock and amongst fans, as many fans thought the peculiarly late call for the safety car was to benefit Mclaren and give them the opportunity to do the driver swap. These conspiracies remain just that as no new information has risen in favor or against the FIA trying to benefit Mclaren but this was not the last time foul play in favor of Mclaren came up through the weekend.
Qualifying raised just as many eyebrows as it did havoc.
Due to the wet conditions qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning, however rain was coming down in a way that made the Brazilian morning seem like night. Qualifying was nothing short of chaotic as five drivers found the wall throughout the three qualifying sessions, in the first it was the Williams driver of Franco Colapinto who spun coming out of the Senna S’s. In the second session Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had a spin after the first turn and lazily slid into the barriers. However he wasn’t the only one as to everyone’s surprise Lance Stroll slid off track and collided with the barriers bringing out a very delayed red flag that once again rose some eyebrows as this red flag came at the worst time possible championship leader Max Verstappen who had to abandon his final push lap as result of the rain claiming another victim. The third and final qualifying session also claimed another two victims, the other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and the other Williams of Alex Albon. These events left mechanics a lot of work to do with very little time to do it as the race was later that same day, despite efforts the damage sustained to Alex Albons car and the poor financial situation of Williams resulted in him not starting the race. All other drivers were able to start despite damages sustained throughout qualifying.
The race was along the same lines as qualifying as the rain refused to let up for the race. On the formation lap Lance Stroll displayed his skill once more as he spun on the formation lap and proceeded to drive his car straight into the nearby gravel trap beaching him and taking him out of the race. This action resulted in an aborted start and a lap being subtracted from the race.
Once the race finally started Max Verstappen proved that his skill transcends just his car as he made up seven positions from his 17th-place starting position after the first three corners and continued to climb from there. As per usual on the start Lando Norris lost the lead to George Russel once again proving that he can not hold the lead from the start.
Despite the conditions at the start the only mishap was a lazy spin by Sergio Perez. On lap four rookie fill-in Ollie Bearmen had a spin as he collided lightly with the back of the other rookie of Franco Collapinto, this contact confusingly resulted in a ten-second penalty for Bearmen despite Collapinto being fine, losing virtually no time from the incident.
By the fifth lap Verstappen was already in tenth place and by lap seven he was already in seventh, making up ten positions in seven laps against the best drivers and equipment in the world. The race proceeded as normal despite a small collision between Hamilton and the other rookie on the grid Liam Lawson, other than that the race was as uneventful as a wet race could be, that was until lap 28 when Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg spun going into the first corner bringing out a virtual safety car so the stewards could tend to the beached Haas. This was when the race really kicked off and the good, the great and the legendary were clearly defined from this point on. After the virtual safety car, the heavens opened once again and the night-like scenes from qualifying returned, making it difficult to see the cars even as you watched on TV. This resulted in an actual safety car slowing the field and letting the hellacious weather run its course.
Unfortunately during this period Franco Colapinto thundered his Williams into the wall for the second time that day completely writing off the car and sending debris careening all over the already hazardous track. This red flag greatly hurt Norris who had pitted prior to the red flag in hopes of making up more time and with the fresher tires but the red flag allowed everyone to change tires essentially for free. To everyone’s surprise, this put BOTH Alpine cars on the podium for the first time this season, with Max Verstappen right in between the two in second place. The drivers were able to keep it clean for just a handful of laps until the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz lost control of his car and found himself in the barriers once again, taking him out of the race, slowing the field once again to allow for a safe removal of the tattered car. When the field was set free once again Verstappen seized the moment and dove up the inside of race leader Estaban Ocon, in the same frame Norris in sixth place overshot the first corner after having to catch the car mid-slide. Making for a very symbolic visual of how this race sealed Verstappens fate as champion for this year. As the laps wound down and the drama settled Verstappen decided to prove a point and show that the talent lies in him and not the car, pulling an 18-second lead over second place and setting the fastest lap of the race by over a second. Despite the “Mad Max” run the drivers were able to keep it clean other than a few drivers going a bit wide here and there.
In my opinion, this was one of the best races of the season and up there with one of the best races I have ever watched. It proved Verstappens excellence and that no matter where he starts when he needs to deliver he can. For Lando, It sort of proves the opposite, despite starting in pole position he finished sixth and some of that was due to some unfortunate timing of crashes throughout the race but his own mistakes played an equal part in his poor finish in the race. The Alpines are the real winners of this race as they got their first and most likely only double podium finish of the 2024 season. Bringing them from ninth in the constructors championship to sixth, a jump that is worth about 25 million dollars in prize money. This race also proved that despite the hype and promise of the many rookies on the grid this race experience still “rained” supreme as none of the rookies went without a spin throughout the race. Unless Verstappen has terrible luck in the closing races he has essentially sealed his championship win over Lando this race as he was able to improve his lead by a decent margin this weekend. November 22nd-24th the grid and company make their way back to the states as they hit the strip and duke it out under the lights. From the looks of this season it seems like between Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and Mclaren it’s anyone’s game.
