Max Verstappen rose from 17th on the grid to take a potentially pivotal victory in a wet-weather thriller of a Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, extending his World Championship lead to 62 points with three rounds remaining.
Lando Norris finished sixth after starting from pole position, an ill-timed red flag after a pit stop seeing him drop behind Verstappen in a race which upset the form book at Interlagos, with Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly taking a stunning double podium for Alpine – trebling the team’s points tally for the season in the process.
Max Verstappen wins chaotic Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos
After the dramatic Sunday morning qualifying session in wet conditions saw Max Verstappen line up 17th after his five-place grid penalty, Norris had a fantastic opportunity from pole position to make inroads into his World Championship lead, dependent on the Red Bull driver’s recovery.
A mixed-up grid behind him saw Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson all among the top five, with George Russell on the front row alongside the McLaren driver – and Alex Albon unable to start after the damage to his Williams in qualifying was too much to fix in time for the race.
But as the lights went out for the formation lap, however, Lance Stroll – just as both Aston Martin drivers saw their cars repaired before the race, saw his brakes lock up heading towards Descida do Lago and beaching his car in the gravel, ending his race before it started – which saw the start aborted and another lap take place to keep the cars cool.
Mechanics were allowed back onto the grid after the aborted start, but Norris, Russell, Tsunoda and Lawson were placed under investigation for a starting procedure breach – moving off the line when the start was aborted and yellow lights were shown, not green.
On track, however, a second formation lap followed and the Brazilian Grand Prix would finally be able to get underway, with raindrops in the air at Interlagos.
Russell got the better launch of the two Brits and led into the Senna S for the first time, with Tsunoda holding off Ocon in third – and Lewis Hamilton with Verstappen in tow making significant inroads.
Verstappen dived down the inside of Hamilton into the Senna S after the first lap was complete to move into the points – up seven places in one lap after a clever move around the outside of Curva do Sol at the start – while Hamilton had already made up three places of his own, while Sergio Perez spun in the second sector to drop himself to the back of the field.
The World Championship leader set about his rise through the field, with Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso quickly dispatched as Verstappen rose up to eighth, though Oscar Piastri would be next up on the road by lap 7.
But three laps later, the Red Bull driver made another late move into the Senna S that paid dividends for him, diving to the inside as Piastri kept the outside line as Verstappen kept up his pace as comfortably the fastest driver on track in the early stages.
Hamilton’s struggles in his Mercedes continued, reporting bouncing in his W15 before going off at the final left-hander of Juncao. He was able to rejoin, but Franco Colapinto in his hastily-rebuilt Williams swept past to the cheers of the huge contingent in attendance at Interlagos in support of him.
But at the end of lap 24 and rain coming down further, Leclerc was the first driver to gamble on a pit stop – pitting for fresh intermediates as the showers intensified at Interlagos, getting back out on track in 12th place.
A spin for Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 1 by lap 28 saw a Virtual Safety Car deployed, prompting a flurry of other pit stops – with Perez opting for the full wet tyres, as news emerged that both Mercedes cars were under investigation for adjusting tyre pressures on the grid ahead of the second formation lap.
Russell and Norris both pitted as the VSC period ended and Hulkenberg re-emerged on track, and Norris made a move on Russell into Descida do Lago by lap 30 to take what would have been a net race lead – but with Ocon in the lead, Verstappen second and Pierre Gasly third, none of which having pitted, the full Safety Car was deployed due to the worsening conditions.
It would not be long before a red flag, though, after a huge crash for Colapinto on the rise out of the final corner, getting wheelspin as he climbed up the hill and colliding side-on with the barrier, climbing out of his Williams unscathed.
“I guess everyone can just change tyres for free now, huh?” Came the radio message from Norris, who now sat two places behind his World Championship rival on the road as the drivers pulled into the pit lane.
One driver who would not take the eventual restart would be Haas driver Hulkenberg, who was given a black flag for receiving assistance to rejoin the race by marshals after his earlier spin which had prompted the VSC period at Turn 1 – with four marshals pushing his car back before he was able to get moving again, which was a disqualifiable offence under the regulations.
A rolling restart would follow for lap 33 of what was already a highly-dramatic shortened 69-lap race at Interlagos, with Ocon leading Verstappen, with Gasly, Norris and Russell rounding out the top five.
But after an even start among the top three, Norris ran deep at Descida do Lago, which allowed Russell back through into fourth on the road, with multiple drivers going off-track at different moments as they felt their way around a much wetter Interlagos.
Before the drivers could settle into a rhythm, the Safety Car was out again by lap 40, with Carlos Sainz crashing backwards into the barrier under braking into the right-hander of Turn 8, getting onto the wet white line and losing grip, having previously crashed out in qualifying himself.
But with another restart to navigate, there was a different outcome this time as Verstappen got the jump on Ocon to take the lead from the Alpine driver, taking the apex into Turn 1 in an identical move to several that he had managed during the race.
In the background, however, McLaren driver Norris ran deep into the Senna S and dropped back several places, rejoining in seventh place in what turned into a potentially pivotal swing for points in the title race in the space of a few seconds.
Verstappen set a succession of fastest laps to build a gap to Ocon and Gasly – a double podium on the cards in what would be a huge result for Alpine in the context of their season – with Russell on their tail.
The Mercedes driver harried Gasly and stayed within a second of the Alpine, but further back, Red Bull’s Perez made contact once again with Lawson – the VCARB driver protesting Perez “drove into the side of me” as he looked to overtake in the first sector.
But with Verstappen earning his first race victory since the Spanish Grand Prix 11 rounds ago, his points difference to Norris now makes him hot favourite to retain the World Championship once more.
With an investigation to come for Norris and multiple others’ apparent start infringement, along with Mercedes’ supposed tyre pressure change at the second formation lap, the results as they stand could well change again in the coming hours.
Brazilian Grand Prix 2024: Race classification
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:06:54.430 69 laps
2 Esteban Ocon Alpine +19.477
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +22.532
4 George Russell Mercedes +23.265
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +30.177
6 Lando Norris McLaren +31.372
7 Yuki Tsunoda VCARB +42.056
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +44.943
9 Liam Lawson VCARB +50.452
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +50.753
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull +51.531
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +57.085
13 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +63.588
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +78.049
15 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +79.649
Did not finish
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari – crash impactFranco Colapinto, Williams – crash impactNico Hulkenberg, Haas – disqualified, marshal interventionLance Stroll, Aston Martin – did not start, formation lap incidentAlex Albon, Williams – did not start, qualifying damage