Verstappen secures his first win in Brazilian GP since June

Max Verstappen secured an impressive victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix, moving up from P17 to claim his first win since June. With a change in weather, the race was full of incidents with Alpine showing a strong performance with a double podium finish.

The chaos began even before the race started, as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll spun out during the formation lap, leading to confusion about the aborted start. Pole-sitter Lando Norris took some cars away while others stayed on the grid. Consequently, Norris, George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, and Liam Lawson will face an investigation for a violation of the start procedure after the race.

F1 Brazilian GP: Verstappen’s chaotic victory

When the race finally got underway, George Russell from Mercedes made a strong start, seizing the lead from McLaren’s Lando Norris, while Verstappen began his climb up the grid. As inconsistent rainfall continued, the race was interrupted by a red flag on Lap 32 due to a crash involving Franco Colapinto in the Williams. This incident came shortly after Russell and Norris lost their positions by pitting just as a Virtual Safety Car period came to an end.

The race restarted with just over half the distance left, Esteban Ocon was in the lead, followed by Verstappen and Pierre Gasly. However, after another restart caused by a crash involving Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Verstappen quickly took the lead and was undefeatable, leading to win by a margin of 19.477 seconds.

Verstappen told the media, “I don’t even know where to start because my emotions today have been from almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race. I was just very motivated to get a good race and just let the race pan out and see what happens. Because in a wet race, always some crazy things can happen.”

He further said, “This one is definitely much more crucial than back in the day. There I had nothing to lose. I was not in a championship fight and I was coming from the back after the strategic mistake we had. Now there was a lot more at stake. So I had to be more controlled, and more aware of the championship. So for me, definitely this one is the best one (of the two).”

A good day for Alpine, as both Ocon and Gasly gave an impressive performance, finishing in P2 and P3, securing a double podium that helped their team make a leap from ninth to sixth in the constructors’ standings.

F1 Brazilian GP: Rest of the Pack

Russell finished fourth followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively as he lost ground to Verstappen in the championship standings. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri crossed the line in seventh but received a 10-second penalty for colliding with Lawson, which dropped him to eighth. This moved Tsunoda up to seventh, giving RB double points finish as Lawson placed ninth. Lewis Hamilton secured the final point for Mercedes after making his way up the field and holding off a fast-charging Sergio Perez in the closing stages, who finished in P11. 

Ollie Bearman finished 12th for Haas after a busy afternoon that included some off-track incidents and a 10-second penalty for colliding with Colapinto. Valtteri Bottas came in 13th for Alfa Romeo, followed by Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin and Zhou Guanyu from Alfa Romeo, who were the last classified finishers.

Both Sainz and Colapinto retired from the race due to their crashes. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg received a black flag just before the restart after needing assistance from marshals when he returned to the track following an earlier off.