Max Verstappen’s championship drive leads F1 São Paulo Grand Prix winners and losers

On a soggy Sunday morning at Interlagos, Max Verstappen’s dreams of a fourth straight Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship seemed to be slipping away.

While weather pushed qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning, wet and rainy conditions persisted during the early-morning qualifying session. That session saw Verstappen eliminated in Q2, a victim of a red flag that came following a heavy shunt from Lance Stroll.

That saw Verstappen exit qualifying in P12, and with a five-place grid penalty coming his way for a new internal combustion engine, he would be starting Sunday’s main event back in P17.

Making matters worse? His rival in the Drivers’ Championship, Lando Norris, locked up pole position as Verstappen was left to handle post-qualifying media duties. As Verstappen aired his frustration over the inconsistent timing of the five red flags that eventually flew during qualifying, Norris was accepting the pole position award.

As the driver headed to the grid a few hours later, Verstappen faced a brutal reality. If the starting grid held — with Norris taking a win and Verstappen finishing out of the points — the McLaren driver could have cut Verstappen’s lead in that title chase to just 19 points.

That’s when Verstappen climbed into an RB20 that was at best the third-fastest car on the grid, lined up at the back of the field, and with his back against the wall turned in a drive for the ages.

Verstappen sliced his way through the grid, working up into P9 by Lap 5, P6 by Lap 15, and P2 by Lap 30, when a Safety Car took to the track. Verstappen remained in P2 following another Safety Car, brought out by Carlos Sainz Jr.’s spin into the barrier. When the race restarted, Verstappen grabbed the lead from Esteban Ocon and did not look back. While it looked as if the weather — as well as the chaos that was the São Paulo Grand Prix — would throw one more wrinkle at Verstappen.

All he did was click off fastest lap by fastest lap, racing away from the field for a dominant, and epic, win. A victory that not only saw him pull away from Norris in the title race but put one hand on the Drivers’ Championship trophy. Verstappen can technically clinch the title the next time out, at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

At the moment, Verstappen is not thinking about that.

“I mean, this was now, of course, looking at it, it was incredibly important because in a way I was expecting to lose points today,” said Verstappen in the FIA Press Conference after the race. “So from now, I just want clean races to the end. I’m not thinking about clinching the championship in Vegas or whatever. I just want clean races.”

Verstappen might not be thinking about clinching the title in Las Vegas, but his drive for the ages on Sunday in São Paulo put him in a position to do just that. On a season that has seen Verstappen challenged unlike a year ago, when he already had the title in hand when he arrived in Las Vegas, Sunday offered perhaps the biggest challenge yet. Starting behind almost the entire grid, in difficult conditions, Verstappen did what champions — what legends — do.

Respond.

Verstappen’s response was one for the ages and not only made him a winner on Sunday, but it might also make him the winner come Abu Dhabi.

Here are the full results from a chaotic São Paulo Grand Prix, as well as some more winners and losers from Sunday’s F1 action:

Winners: Alpine

A few weeks ago in Austin, the silence in Alpine’s garage was deafening.

The team was kind enough to allow me to be in the garage during qualifying for the F1 Sprint Race, with a headset on so I could hear the team’s radio communications. But while the power units roared, the garage was rather quiet, as Esteban Ocon was eliminated in Q1, and Pierre Gasly was eliminated in Q2. Soon the only sounds were those of the team members packing things up, to get ready for a debriefing session.

There was no silence to be found in Alpine’s garage Sunday in São Paulo.

For the first time since 2013 — when the Enstone-based operation was racing under Lotus’ branding — Alpine enjoyed a double-podium finish. Ocon came across the line in P2, with Gasly behind him in P3.

It’s incredible. It’s incredible for the whole team. We had such a tough season. We struggled to score points,” said Gasly trackside to Rubens Barrichello after his podium result, the fifth of his F1 career. “In these conditions, everything was possible. We believed it until the end. Two cars on the podium. I don’t think anyone would have got that on that bingo card, you know, ahead of the season. So it’s just fantastic.”

Alpine banked a tremendous haul of points as a result, tacking 33 points onto their season-long tally. That vaulted the Enstone-based operation up into sixth, all the way from ninth where they started the day.

Instead of a fight with Williams for eighth, Alpine is now in the hunt for sixth with Visa Cash App RB F1 Team.

A tremendous result, especially given how they began the year.

In addition to the time spent in Alpine’s garage in Austin, I had the chance to sit down with Gasly on the Wednesday ahead of the United States Grand Prix. The driver was candidly honest about how the team’s year began.

“It’s been very tough. You know, on one hand, we knew it was going to be a very difficult start already back then in January, we knew the car wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” said Gasly to me last month. “And yeah, it was just kind of a flop in Bahrain when we qualified both guys on the last row.”

Sunday in Interlagos, Alpine saw both guys on the podium.

An incredible turnaround from where the year began.

Losers: McLaren

On the bright side, McLaren left São Paulo still leading in the Constructors’ Championship, holding a 593-557 advantage over Ferrari. Max Verstappen’s win pulled Red Bull to within 36 points of McLaren in that race, as Verstappen and company now have 544 points on the year.

Holding a lead with just three race weekends left is where you want to be.

But in reality, Sunday could have been so much more for McLaren, and for Lando Norris.

Norris began the day in pole position, and with Verstappen starting down in P17 it gave the British driver a tremendous opportunity to deliver a statement drive and pull to within potentially 19 points of Verstappen in the title race. Needing something special to happen to keep his title chances alive, Verstappen’s bad luck in qualifying and five-place grid penalty, coupled with Norris’ pole position, was just that chance for the McLaren driver.

Instead, Norris had to watch Verstappen celebrate a win for the ages, and was left to wonder what might have been.

“A tough afternoon,” said Norris following the race. “Pitting under the [virtual safety car] was pivotal but it was the right time to box, and we were unlucky that the Red Flag followed soon after, so I have no regrets about stopping when I did. With the Red Flag rule regarding tire changes, some days you gain, and some days you lose, it just is what it is. These things happen in racing. The main thing now is that we keep our heads down and prepare for the next one as a team.”

Norris expanded on the bad luck when speaking with Sky Sports.

“They [Red Bull] got lucky on a rule that no one agrees with. Probably they agreed with it today but every driver has disagreed with it in the past. Today it benefitted them, it could have benefitted us if we just stayed out, but that’s a stupid thing to think of. Just a bit unlucky today, nothing more. Of course, disappointing.”

And on his title rival, Norris added: “[Max] drove well. He got a bit lucky but that’s life.”

Teammate Oscar Piastri had his own bit of bad luck, as he was dropped to eighth despite finishing seventh. The reason? A ten-second penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson.

“A tricky afternoon but we got points with both cars, and we’ve stayed ahead in the Championship. We just lacked pace and the weather caused havoc, so there wasn’t much more we could have done,” said Piastri. “We’ll review it all this evening but I’m looking forward to a bit of a reset and we can then go again in Vegas. We’ve still got a lot of work to do in the final three races.”

McLaren still controls their destiny in the Constructors’ Championship race. But Sunday offered them a tremendous opportunity to take control in that fight, as well as giving Norris a chance to truly put the pressure on Verstappen down the stretch.

Instead, they are left to wonder just what could have been.

Winners: VCARB

Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

One of the more shocking results from qualifying Sunday morning, beyond Verstappen’s stunning Q2 elimination?

Seeing Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson up in P3 and P5, respectively.

It was a tremendous qualifying session for the team at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, far and away their best of the season. While they could not convert those starting positions into a massive haul of points, VCARB came home with a double-points finish, with Tsunoda finishing seventh, and Lawson ninth.

That was good enough to pull VCARB to within two points of Haas in their title fight. However, as noted above it is now Alpine who sit sixth in the standings, thanks to a tremendous day from Ocon and Gasly.

Still, it was a result worth celebrating over at VCARB.

“We had an amazing qualifying this morning. It was an incredible job from the drivers and Team where we were consistently topping the timesheets throughout qualifying. The strong performance is a testament to the hard work that everyone is doing,” said Team Principal Laurent Mekies.

“The race was a rollercoaster. We knew it was going to be tricky and dependent on the weather conditions. We were in a very strong position in the first half of the race, with Yuki holding onto P3 with incredible pace alongside Liam defending amazingly,” added Mekies. “Our race was affected when the red flag came out however; it diminished both drivers’ advantage, but that’s part of racing in these conditions. We came away with eight points, which is a great result. Congratulations to Max on a brilliant drive and well done to Alpine, even if the points they scored today will make for an even closer fight for us over the final three races. It’s still very close, and we had a fast car this weekend. We now have 19 days before the final triple-header of the season, and we will be working flat out at home to build on the upturn in performance we have seen in the past two races and extract every second from the car. We’ll be fighting hard in Las Vegas.”

Losers: Haas

With both Alpine and VCARB taking a step forward in the scramble for sixth, someone had to take a step back.

That someone was Haas.

It was a tough day for both Oliver Bearman — who was stepping in for an ailing Kevin Magnussen — and Nico Hülkenberg. Bearman was hit with an early ten-second penalty for causing a collision with Franco Colapinto, a decision which Bearman did question in the aftermath. The reason? Bearman drove into the back of Colapinto and while the Williams driver was able to proceed without an issue, it was Bearman who suffered a spin and lost time.

Ultimately, Bearman had to settle for a 12th-place result.

As for Hülkenberg, he was given a black flag and did not finish the race. The Haas driver slid off the track and into the gravel, and when race officials helped him get out of the trap, he was given the black flag by race control for getting assistance on the track.

Add that together, along with Alpine leaping ahead of them — and VCARB pulling to within two points of them — in the standings and you have a tough day at the track for Haas.

“It’s been a very tough day for the team, we didn’t perform today, and others scored heavily. Operationally, we didn’t maximize everything here so that’s something we need to take home and review,” said team boss Ayao Komatsu. “A slight positive was that Ollie’s pace on inters – and part of the race with Nico – was actually better than what we thought we could achieve, so that’s a small positive that we can improve the performance of the intermediates. We have to look ahead for the last three races; we have decent pace in the dry, so we need to reset and refocus. We need to get the best out of the car and everyone for the next three.”

Winners: Everyone

Let’s take the race results in São Paulo and put them aside for a moment.

Everyone was a winner on Sunday.

Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix brought to a close the triple-header through the Americas, which brought the grid from Austin to Mexico City and finally Brazil. Making matters harder was the fact that Sunday got off to a very early start. With qualifying getting underway at 7:30 a.m. local time, team members were at the track in the early hours, getting everything in motion for a long day of race action.

Beyond that? Consider what some teams faced, such as Williams, Ferrari, and Aston Martin: A race against the clock to get cars ready for the Grand Prix itself after qualifying accidents.

Finally, a word of acknowledgment for all the volunteers, marshalls, race officials, and everyone who needed to put in extra work to pull off Sunday’s race in difficult conditions.

Tremendous work everyone. Enjoy the three-week break. You have more than earned it.