Month: November 2024

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen drove a brilliant race in a wet Interlagos event and the championship leader recovered from P17 to come home first. A pure masterclass drive.

Alpine scored an awesome double podium with Esteban Ocon second and Pierre Gasly third ahead of early leader George Russell, which promote the team to sixth in the constructors’ standings.

Lando Norris came home sixth – despite starting on pole – behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but the McLaren driver faces a post-race investigation for a surreal aborted start incident over two hours earlier in the heavily disrupted contest. In the end, the stewards decided to fine and a reprimand for not following the correct procedure at the start.

The first start was aborted when Lance Stroll went off at Turn 4 on the formation lap and damaged his Aston Martin before getting it stuck in the gravel, after which Norris led several cars off the line again in reaction to an “Aborted Start” message, while Verstappen from P17 on the grid was among a separate group that waited for green lights before going around again.

A 10-minute delay then followed, after which Russell jumped Norris on the run to Turn 1 from second on the grid, while Verstappen moved his way through several cars to run P11 at the end of the first lap.

He continued to carve his way through the field for most of the first half, with a series of bold dives/overtakes at Turn 1, where the defending champion was super confident on the brakes in his RB20.

At the front, Russell and Norris pulled clear of the chasing Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon and Leclerc, but the McLaren could never get close to make an attack on the leading Mercedes.

By lap 15, Verstappen had reached Leclerc at the end of the chase group, but he then became bottled up behind the Ferrari in a similar manner to Norris.

Leclerc was a surprise early stopper with a huge increase in rain coming as the clouds got heavier around lap 24, which eased Verstappen’s progress.

The race was then altered significantly when Nico Hulkenberg spun off at Turn 1 with Russell on lap 27, which led to a virtual safety car under which several cars far back in the pack pitted and then the leaders came in at the end of the lap 28.

But this was just as the VSC was ending with the Haas moving again after getting pushing assistance from four marshals and so when Ocon and Verstappen stayed out – plus Pierre Gasly from further back in the other Alpine – they cycled to the lead as Russell and Norris dropped down, along with Tsunoda who had been jumped by Ocon pre-VSC.

The rain was really coming down at this point, with Norris taking advantage of Russell going steady into Turn 4 on lap 30 to final get by and while he shot towards Gasly and Verstappen the safety car was called and the race neutralised.

Under this, Franco Colapinto crashed and a near 25-minute delay ensued – during which Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly were able to switch to more intermediates without losing their places and Hulkenberg was black-flagged for being pushed backwards in the Turn 1 runoff and rejoining.

At the restart for the race’s second half, Ocon easily dropped Verstappen and then raced to a 3.3 seconds lead within a few laps.

But Carlos Sainz crashing slowly on lap 39 meant another safety car, after which Verstappen brilliantly jumped Ocon at Turn 1 at the restart – despite the Alpine appearing to once again initially nail his getaway.

Behind, Norris slid off at Turn 1 under attack from Leclerc, who also moved ahead of Russell, before the Ferrari driver went off at Turn 4 a few laps later and ceded fourth back to the early leader.

Verstappen then checked out with a series of fastest laps to lead by over three seconds with 20 laps to go, with Max constant lowering of the pace meaning he was a extending his lead to 19.3 seconds by the flag despite the rain briefly getting heavier again in the closing stage.

Ocon finished a chunk ahead of Gasly, who held off Russell to the finish, with Leclerc fifth and Norris seventh – losing significant ground to Verstappen, who scored his first Grand Prix victory since June’s Spanish race.

Oscar Piastri – who waved Norris through after his teammate’s second restart off – was seventh on the road by eighth in the results after a 10-second penalty he had accrued for colliding Liam Lawson pre-red flag.

Lawson took ninth after holding off Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez late on – the RB driver and the second Red Bull clashing again while the Mercedes driver was amongst those off the road at various stages.

Alex Albon did not take part as a result of his huge crash in qualifying.

So a champion’s drive by Verstappen. After many critics complaining his aggressive driving in COTA and Mexico, this result is the best response. Despite starting P17 after a tricky qualifying and grid penalty for a power unit change, the Red Bull driver rise to the top to take a masterclass victory.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:06:54.430
2 Esteban Ocon Alpine +19.477s
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +22.532s
4 George Russell Mercedes +23.265s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +30.177s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +31.372s
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB +42.056s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +44.943s
9 Liam Lawson RB +50.452s
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +50.753s
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull +51.531s
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +57.085s
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +63.588s
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +78.049s
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +79.649s
Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
Franco Colapinto Williams DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNS
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNS

Lando Norris took an important championship moment with pole position at Interlagos as title rival Max Verstappen got caught out by a red flag.

George Russell will start second for this afternoon’s brought-forward race for Mercedes, with Yuki Tsunoda third for RB as Verstappen’s engine-change grid penalty means he will start P17 – behind Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in Q1.

In Q3, Norris led with a time of one minute, 25.631 seconds after the first runs on the intermediate tyres, with the cars fuelled to run long as the teams expected the fluctuating rain to intensify again.

Lando improved this to one minute, 24.158 seconds to head Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, before Fernando Alonso became the second Aston Martin driver of the session to crash out – the double champion losing his car through the plunging Turn 11 left at the end of the middle sector.

The drivers lined up to try again with seven minutes left on the clock and their first efforts back on track did not make any improvements as they built tyre temperature – Russell, Piastri and Tsunoda all having moments, the latter two spinning.

But before any purple sectors could be registered, Albon crashed hard at Turn 1 – appearing to brake on the wet white line while also wondering if he had a brake problem. A spin into the barriers wrecked the rear of his Williams and causing a fifth red flag.

Afterwards, the teams took two different approaches, with the McLarens fuelled to do two laps and improving the pole time with both – first to one minute, 24.092 seconds and then finally to confirm pole with one minute, 23.405 seconds.

Piastri did not improve on his first go and then locked up at Turn 1 and went off on his final lap, which meant the drivers that were kept in the garage for extra time with their inters in the tyre blankets and time for just one run, were able to gain.

First Liam Lawson got up to second before he was shuffled down to fifth by Tsunoda and Norris, while Esteban Ocon – a two-lap runner for the final efforts – sneak into fourth for Alpine.

Charles Leclerc ended up sixth as the lead Ferrari having got to Turn 1 with a yellow flag activated for Piastri’s off on his final lap, with Albon nudged down to seventh but still ahead of Piastri.

The crashed Astons of Alonso and Lance Stroll ended up with the ninth and tenth positions – the latter not taking part in Q3 due to his early incident in Q2.

That was a momentous mini-session for the title contenders, as Norris sat in P11 and on the verge of a shock exit when Carlos Sainz crashing at Turn 1 halting his progress – Norris having also struggled on the full wets used in Q1, before Piastri led the switch to inters in the middle segment.

But Norris was able to gain on his first lap out of the pits on the inters when Q2 resumed and then go even quicker, while Verstappen did not improve and along with his teammate, Sergio Perez, was shuffled down into the drop zone.

Both Red Bull drivers were then caught on the wrong side of a second red flag called with less than a minute less – caused by Stroll crashing at Turn 3.

That also eliminated Valtteri Bottas in P11 – the Sauber driver’s best qualifying result since he was P10 in China – the already out Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen led Q1, where Franco Colapinto crashed halfway through, which meant a tricky end to the session for the rest as the rain increased and the times only really began to improve right at the end.

Norris squeaked through in P15, while Lawson’s late improvement knocked out Hamilton, who was furious with “this damn car”.

Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg also failed to progress in a session when Bottas had made an unsuccessful switch to inters before the red flag. Valtteri’s teammate Zhou Guanyu had the chance to knock out Norris but the Sauber driver’s final lap was only good enough for last.

So a mixed up grid thanks to the wet weather with five red flags. The championship battle gets interesting with Lando Norris at the top with his rival Max Verstappen at the back. The postponed qualifying has certainly made this exciting and the race is next.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:23.405
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:23.578
3 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:24.111
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:24.475
5 Liam Lawson RB 1:24.484
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24.525
7 Alexander Albon Williams 1:24.657
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:24.686
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.998
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time
11 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:26.334
12 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:28.158
13 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.406
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:29.614
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.31.150
16 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:31.229
17 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.771*
18 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:31.270
19 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:31.623
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:32.263
*Five-place grid penalty for power unit change

Lando Norris scored valuable championship points by winning the sprint race at Interlagos following team orders from McLaren to switch position with Oscar Piastri.

Piastri was saved from a late race challenge by Max Verstappen by a virtual safety car.

However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.

At the start, polesitter Oscar moved across to cut off Lando’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third position.

The McLaren duo moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.

Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap sprint, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his teammate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first ten laps ended.

Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next stage before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.

But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.

Max quickly gained on Lando’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.

The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.

Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.

On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.

But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.

There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.

When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5 seconds, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.

Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement. Post sprint, the stewards added a five-second time penalty for not obeying the VSC and getting too close to Piastri on the restart. This drops Max to fourth and promoting Charles to P3.

Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards teammate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Mexico race winner having been dropped quickly in the early laps.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.

Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.

So a tense race from McLaren due to the radio messages to switch positions. In the end, the places was swapped and Lando Norris scored the maximum points which is valuable in terms of the championship.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 29:46.045
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.593s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.656s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +6.497s*
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +7.224s
6 George Russell Mercedes +12.475s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +18.161s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +18.717s
9 Liam Lawson RB +20.773s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +24.606s
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +29.764s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +33.233s
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +34.128s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas +35.507s
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB +41.374s
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +43.231s
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +54.139s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +56.537s
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +57.983s
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
*Five-second time penalty

Oscar Piastri beat his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take pole position for the sprint race at Interlagos, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

The McLaren drivers dominated sprint qualifying and took very different approaches to SQ3 compared to their rivals.

Elsewhere, there was a shock SQ2 exit for Lewis Hamilton, while Sergio Perez could only take the changed chassis on his Red Bull RB20 to P13 and Oliver Bearman again impressing for Haas.

In SQ3, the McLarens came out very early once on the softs they had all run for the opening two sessions, with rain clouds steadily building up and track temperatures dropping.

But with softer softs for the 2024 event here, the McLarens had no trouble firing them up, nor keeping the alive on the resurfaced track.

Norris went to the top with a lap time of one minute, 08.928 seconds with his first run, with Piastri trailing him before they quickly returned to the pits before having another attempt on the same set of softs.

Piastri used his second attempt to head Norris by 0.029 seconds with a lap time of one minute, 08.899 seconds, with Norris abandoning his second go after producing a poor middle sector compared to his first attempt.

The best of the single-effort runners in SQ3 was Leclerc, with Verstappen slotting in behind in fourth and Mexico Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz fifth.

Then came George Russell in the remaining Mercedes runner in SQ3, as Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Bearman rounded out the top ten.

Bearman might have done better had he not had a big moment in the Senna S and gone so wide in Turn 2 that he had his time deleted for track limits, before staying on a lap that would not count despite having time to back off and go again, plus with the soft tyres apparently capable of doing multiple laps here.

At the end of SQ2 Norris was looking in dominant form at this stage, Bearman and Lawson got through with just a single flying lap in the middle segment compared to most of the rest, while Nico Hulkenberg only had one shot too and he failed to progress.

Hulkenberg was knocked out around the big fallers in Hamilton and Perez, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas also eliminated for Williams and Sauber respectively.

Perez’s exit came after he failed to complete his final outlap in time and so was ordered to park his car in the pits by Red Bull.

In SQ1, which Norris also topped, Colapinto’s last-attempt improvement knocked out Alonso, who had previously jumped from the drop zone with his second and final run on the mediums.

He was joined in exiting at the first hurdle by Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, who all set personal bests on their final fliers before being shuffled back, plus Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

So a surprising pole for Oscar Piastri to jump his McLaren teammate to take the top spot in sprint qualifying. The sprint race is going to be fascinating as the two title contenders are in the top four.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:08.899
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.928
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.153
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:09.219
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:09.257
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.443
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:09.622
8 Liam Lawson RB 1:09.941
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1.10.078
10 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:09.629
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.941
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:09.964
13 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:10.024
14 Franco Colapinto Williams 1:10.275
15 Valtteri Bottas Haas 1:10.595
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:10.978
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.052
18 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:11.121
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:11.280
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:12.978