One flash, and Lando Norris’ dream surely died on a wet track as slippery as a chancellor’s promise.
It was lap 43, Max Verstappen was second with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon ahead of him, and Norris fifth and barely clinging to his world championship hopes. The safety car was withdrawn.
Two things happened almost exactly simultaneously. Verstappen, as confident as a laser, drove to the inside into turn one to claim the lead he was never going to lose. And right behind him, Norris, whose previous mistake had left him in fourth place, lost control and ran away. He dropped two more places, before finishing sixth.
Now it must be stated without the slightest hint of contradiction that Max Emilian Verstappen, 26 years old, is the best motorsport driver on the planet today.
He started from 17th on the grid to triumph through the water queues on the undulating Interlagos track, where doom lurked on every precarious inch of the re-laid but potholed asphalt.
Max Verstappen put in a brilliant performance in the Brazilian rain to win in Sao Paulo
Spray flies off Verstappen’s car during Sunday’s wet Brazilian Grand Prix.
Alpine had a magnificent day in the rain: Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finished second and third
“He was a bit lucky,” Norris said in a rude comment, referring to Verstappen being granted a free tire change under a red flag.
More pertinently, you can’t start on pole and lose ground to a weapons-grade talent starting 16 spots behind you. Unfortunately, Norris has handled his title opportunity dating back to Miami in May like it was a bar of soap.
That harsh reality is clearly expressed in the mathematics that now stares Norris in the face like a hall of mirrors. He is 62 points behind Verstappen. Only 86 remain on the table heading to Las Vegas, where, if Verstappen finishes ahead of the Briton, he will be guaranteed his fourth consecutive world title on November 23.
It would be the best title of his quartet, for achieving it despite the scandal at Red Bull. In a car that has fallen. In the midst of a McLaren resurgence.
After taking the lead, Verstappen purred forward as if his sunroof was down on a country road. His margin of victory over second-placed Ocon was 19.4 seconds, as this craziest race ended two and a half hours after it began. Pierre Gasly, in the other Alpine, took third place.
As for Norris, who ran off not once but twice, he asked his teammate Oscar Piastri to give way to him, under instructions, on lap 46 to secure his sixth place finish. McLaren may not be interested in asking him to play Jeeves opposite Norris’ Wooster again.
Since Kimi Raikkonen, in Suzuka, Japan, in 2005, no one has come this far, also in 17th place, to ambush victory.
Only twice before had a driver come from further back to victory: Rubens Barrichello in Hockenheim, Germany, in 2000, from 18th place, and John Watson in Long Beach, California, in 1983, from 22nd place.
But it wasn’t a good day for Lando Norris as his hopes of catching Verstappen took a big hit.
McLaren driver Norris had started from pole but finally crossed the finish line in sixth place.
Williams driver Franco Colapinto crashed before the red flag was raised in Sao Paulo
Verstappen photographed celebrating his impressive victory at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Verstappen’s entry into the pages of history confirms him as a true champion. Norris is not. Maybe one day it will be; it may never be.
In the end, Verstappen celebrated with his fellow mechanics and girlfriend Kelly Piquet, hugging, shouting and pumping his fists. It was a relief, because even his elastic nerves were strained a little by Norris’s incremental forays into his leadership. The Dutchman’s previous victory came in June in Spain, a worrying 10 races ago.
The first question of the afternoon had been whether Norris could contain George Russell, the second starter, when the lights went out. History was against him. Six of seven times he started from pole, he gave up the lead on the first lap. Make it seven out of eight. Norris fought for traction and the Mercedes pulled ahead on the inside.
All eyes turned to the back of the grid and what that warrior Verstappen could achieve. He was unlucky in qualifying when a delayed red flag after Lance Stroll spun his Aston Martin cost him another fastest lap. He qualified 12th before an engine change sank him five places lower.
“I went from wanting to destroy the garage after qualifying to winning the race,” he said of his rollercoaster of emotions.
He was confident from the start, taking three cars on the outside of Turn 3 and running up to 10th on the second lap when he passed Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Then he filleted Fernando Alonso from Gasly and Aston. Next, Piastri in the other McLaren. His defense was scarce and Verstappen swept like a cavalcade.
Liam Lawson, at RB for the Red Bull junior team, was never going to stop him. The champion rose to sixth place in a flash.
Colapinto’s car was lifted and then removed from the side of the track by a large truck
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz also crashed in Sunday’s race amid wet and wild conditions.
The safety car came into action several times during Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Dutchman Verstappen (right) pictured overtaking Ocon en route to victory in Brazil on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc was now ahead of Verstappen. The Ferrari man fought back valiantly at the start of lap 22. “He’s pushing me towards the white lines,” Verstappen complained in a comment that will be filed under “I” for irony. Anyway, Leclerc soon pitted and Verstappen was fifth.
At the front, Norris felt that the task of overtaking leader Russell was beyond his car’s reach. “I’m struggling to overtake, I’m very slow on the straights,” he said.
Norris became nervous. He asked if he should pit to overtake Russell. He boxed, like Russell, who finished fourth, on the same lap 28. It was a mistake, as it turned out. Verstappen was left out, as was Ocon. The strategy paid off when combined with genius.
The 25-minute red flag period, two safety cars and untold spins shook the senses. But despite everything, with 17th fastest laps, Verstappen arrived as if he came from Olympus.