Flawless. Unimpeachable. Masterclass. There are such a lot of phrases you can use to explain Max Verstappen’s run from seventeenth to the race victory on Sunday, however someway none of them are sufficient. This was, I imagine, the defining race of Max Verstappen’s profession in System 1, and presumably the defining race of F1 historical past. I’ve by no means seen something fairly like this. On a day when each different driver on the grid was caught up in unforced error after unforced error, Max merely put his head down and screamed via the sector on a day when no one else might discover a solution to cross. Full cease, this was championship-level driving. Within the moist, with out DRS to assist.
I rely myself amongst Max’s largest haters. For years I’ve been annoyed by his stone-faced killer mentality, utilizing his automobile as a weapon within the fog of battle. He is aware of that he can dive-bomb different drivers and are available out smelling like a rose as a result of they’ll race truthful and provides solution to him. It’s a ruthless and cutthroat driving model. I didn’t prefer it when Senna or Schumacher did it both. However none of that was on show final weekend in Brazil as Max did every part he needed to with the intention to climb as excessive as potential and take benefit when his rivals faltered.
This race was a shit present from starting to finish. Rain pushed qualifying from Saturday to Sunday morning, and moist climate situations meant a number of the so-called finest drivers on the planet couldn’t maintain their automobiles pointed in the precise route. Max was caught out in Q2 with a late crimson flag whereas he was on a flyer and received bumped to twelfth on the grid. The workforce selected to alter his energy unit, incurring an extra five-place penalty, giving him the seventeenth beginning place. A driver beginning seventeenth or worse has solely gone on to win the grand prix 5 instances within the sport’s historical past, and this one might be the very best of all of them.
By the tip of the primary lap Max had already moved up into the factors paying positions, getting an unbelievable begin from the second the lights went out. Admittedly Max gained a place earlier than the race even began as billionaire dipshit nepo child Lance Stroll spun on his solution to the grid and beached the automobile within the gravel by his personal doing.
All through a virtually five-hour Grand Prix pockmarked by security automobile and crimson flag situations, Max managed to maintain his automobile on the island. In fact Max’s unbelievable drive was helped by some significantly good luck and a few technique from the workforce. Whereas the leaders pitted for brand spanking new intermediate moist climate tires, Max stayed out and waited for race management to cease the race as extra rain fell, leapfrogging from fifth on the monitor to second behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. All of it fell his method when Williams driver Franco Colapinto crashed onerous beneath security automobile situations, bringing out the crimson flag and garnering him (and Ocon) a free tire change.
Ocon managed to carry Verstappen off for some time, however a restart on lap 43 of 69 noticed Max go down the within at flip one and transfer into the lead with a clear cross. From seventeenth to the lead in 43 laps is mighty spectacular. I feel even when Lando Norris and George Russell had not pitted for recent tires and waited for the crimson flag as Max had, they nonetheless wouldn’t have been in a position to maintain him off for the remaining laps of the Grand Prix, as Max was merely the quickest man on the monitor on that day in these situations.
Settling that argument was the masterclass of driving that Max placed on throughout the closing phases of the Grand Prix. As soon as he’d discovered the lead of the motor race, he set about pulling as huge a niche from the sector as he presumably might. When it got here to the checkered flag, Max had set 17 quickest laps, every time going sooner than his earlier because the monitor dried out and his gasoline burned off. Ultimately he completed 20 seconds away from Ocon in second. It was actually a race for the ages, and possibly clinched the 2024 title for Max, barring any important failures within the closing three races of the season.
This race was completely Lando Norris’ to lose, and he did rattling close to every part he wanted to do with the intention to lose it. He failed to carry the lead from pole on the primary lap (once more) and McLaren made a foolish technique error to lose what monitor place he had. I nonetheless don’t like Max, and hoped somebody could be able to problem him this 12 months, however I feel this race just about proves that Max deserves to be champion once more this 12 months. Yeah, he had a recent engine and a fortunate pit cease, however after ten races and not using a win, this was a powerful return to type. They are saying rain is the nice equalizer.
