Flawless. Unimpeachable. Masterclass. There are such a lot of phrases you possibly 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 Components 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 by way of the sphere on a day when no person else may discover a approach to move. Full cease, this was championship-level driving. Within the moist, with out DRS to assist.
I depend myself amongst Max’s greatest haters. For years I’ve been pissed off by his stone-faced killer mentality, utilizing his automobile as a weapon within the fog of struggle. 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 honest and provides approach 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 all the things he needed to to be able to climb as excessive as doable and take benefit when his opponents faltered.
This race was a shit present from starting to finish. Rain pushed qualifying from Saturday to Sunday morning, and moist climate circumstances meant lots of the so-called finest drivers on the planet couldn’t maintain their vehicles pointed in the correct route. Max was caught out in Q2 with a late crimson flag whereas he was on a flyer and obtained bumped to twelfth on the grid. The crew selected to vary his energy unit, incurring a further 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 perfect 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 approach 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 circumstances, Max managed to maintain his automobile on the island. After all Max’s unbelievable drive was helped by some severely good luck and a few technique from the crew. 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 observe to second behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. All of it fell his manner when Williams driver Franco Colapinto crashed laborious beneath security automobile circumstances, 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 move. 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 capable of maintain him off for the remaining laps of the Grand Prix, as Max was merely the quickest man on the observe on that day in these circumstances.
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 massive a niche from the sphere as he presumably may. When it got here to the checkered flag, Max had set 17 quickest laps, every time going quicker than his earlier because the observe dried out and his gas burned off. In the long run he completed 20 seconds away from Ocon in second. It was actually a race for the ages, and doubtless clinched the 2024 title for Max, barring any vital failures within the last three races of the season.
This race was completely Lando Norris’ to lose, and he did rattling close to all the things he wanted to do to be able 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 observe place he had. I nonetheless don’t like Max, and hoped somebody could be able to problem him this yr, however I feel this race just about proves that Max deserves to be champion once more this yr. 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 kind. They are saying rain is the nice equalizer.
