Written by Owen Bradley
Max Verstappen was victorious in a crazy F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, recording one of his best victories after starting 17th on the grid. Alpine completed the podium, with Esteban Ocon in second and Pierre Gasly third. The Interlagos circuit would be completely rain-soaked throughout the race to varying degrees, with a red flag coming out after Franco Colapinto crashed on the main straight.
Verstappen extends his lead in the championship over Lando Norris, who may face further penalties after an infringement at the start of the race.
Lance Stroll would end up in the gravel trap at Turn 4 on the Formation Lap, the Canadian losing control of his Aston Martin in the braking zone before even turning into the corner. The race start would be aborted. Lando Norris would drive under the aborted start, followed by the rest of the field soon after, with the FIA then investigating Norris for a race start infringement, as this counted as one lap completed.
George Russell would take the lead at the start of the race, starting in second gear and therefore maintaining a lower torque off the start, allowing for the car to roll rather than have more wheelspin at the start, which was vital on the wet asphalt. Russell would take the lead from Lando Norris on the run down into Turn 1.
Max Verstappen would make exceptional progress on the opening lap, overtaking multiple cars and ending up inside the Top 10 after just a couple of laps. Meanwhile, teammate Sergio Perez would spin on the exit of Turn 10.
Norris would close to Russell, but would never quite be within distance to overtake his compatriot, as the pair of them would open the gap to the RB's behind. Meanwhile, Verstappen would join the fight for third place, closing up to the back of Charles Leclerc, who ran in fifth place.
Leclerc and Verstappen would get locked in a battle for fifth, whilst the Alpine's ahead would battle with Tsunoda over third place. Leclerc would be the first driver to pit onto fresh Intermediate tyres, coming out just behind Lewis Hamilton, who struggled greatly in his Mercedes, locking up a few times at the final braking zone and running wide, something that became a frequent sight for many through the field.
Rain began falling heavier, with Nico Hulkenberg going off at Turn 1, the Haas became stuck on the drain and required assistance from the marshals to push the car back into the race, which is illegal. Hulkenberg would be Disqualified from the race.
Hulkenberg's incident would bring out a Virtual Safety Car (VSC), with Lando Norris and George Russell both coming into the pits and changing onto a fresh set of Intermediate tyres, thinking that they may gain an advantage from the VSC. However, the VSC had actually ended by the time they came into the pits.
Franco Colapinto would then have a huge accident on Lap 33, bringing out a red flag after crashing down the front straight, ending a frustrating weekend for Williams. This red flag enabled everybody to change tyres, subsequently meaning that Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly had gained places on Lando Norris and George Russell, with Ocon leading the race.
Under the red flag, it became clear that at the start of the race, both Mercedes cars had illegally been altering tyre pressures on the grid, crucially with the wheels bolted onto the car. Both Mercedes may even be Disqualified for this incident, with multiple post race penalties yet to be decided.
Norris and Russell had exchanged positions, before Norris would run deep at Turn 4, allowing for Russell to permanently get back ahead. Oliver Bearman would later spin off the road at Turn 6, before Carlos Sainz would then crash out of the race on Lap 40, after touching the white line whilst braking for Turn 8.
Another Safety Car would be deployed, bunching the field once again as visibility became even more difficult down the front straight. Esteban Ocon would get the race restarted again, but Max Verstappen would dive down the inside of the Frenchman into Turn 1, seizing the lead of the race.
Charles Leclerc would get up the inside of Lando Norris into the first corner, sending Norris into the middle of the track. Norris would go further to the right to avoid a potential crash with George Russell at Turn 1, running too deep into the first corner, rejoining the track in seventh position, just behind his teammate Oscar Piastri.
Piastri was carrying a 10-second penalty for earlier contact with Liam Lawson at Turn 1, the Australian sending a huge dive-bomb into Turn 1, making contact with the rear left of Lawson's RB and sending the Kiwi around on the exit of Turn 1.
McLaren would swap places, with Norris ahead of Piastri attempting to bridge the gap to Leclerc in front. However, Norris quickly became stuck about one second behind the Monegasque, unable to overtake the Ferrari driver and having to settle for sixth place. Piastri would also be unable to gain any further time, his 10-second penalty subsequently dropping him to eighth place, behind Yuki Tsunoda.
Verstappen would open a huge lead to nearly 20 seconds, taking a monumental victory, the Dutchman extending his championship lead over Norris, with a potential post-race penalty for Norris also inbound.
F1 Brazilian Grand Prix - Provisional Results
1st Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2nd Esteban Ocon, Alpine
3rd Pierre Gasly, Alpine
4th George Russell, Mercedes
5th Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
6th Lando Norris, McLaren
7th Yuki Tsunoda, RB
8th Oscar Piastri, McLaren
9th Liam Lawson, RB
10th Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
11th Sergio Perez, Red Bull
12th Oliver Bearman, Haas
13th Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
14th Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
15th Guanyu Zhou, Sauber
DNF Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
DNF Franco Colapinto, Williams
DNF Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
DNF Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
DNS Alex Albon, Williams
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