🇧🇷 F1'24: R21 - Statement Sunday

When is a result not just a result? When the final classification only gives a small amount of the total context?

Brazil 2024 might well be the dagger in Lando Norris’ title charge. A moment of hope after winning the sprint via an assist from Oscar Piastri, and seeing Max Verstappen be demoted to fourth, clawing back another point.

Then the qualifying session comes and Max goes out in Q2, combined with a five-place grid penalty and the incumbent world champion was starting 17th, facing a weekend of damage control.

Then, somehow, Max Verstappen and Red Bull… returned.

Max Verstappen: Write me off at your peril

Verstappen won the race in São Paulo, racking up fastest lap after fastest lap, taking the top step for the first time in 2024 since the Spanish Grand Prix.

The win, and Norris’ 6th place finish means Verstappen is 62 points ahead of his rival with one triple header and a sprint left - a maximum of 86 points left. If Norris doesn't outscore Verstappen by three points in Las Vegas, then the Dutchman wins his fourth world title.

And this victory was the perfect statement. Yes, getting help from a red flag and - along with the Alpines - picking up a free pit stop after Franco Colapinto destroyed his Williams. Even Verstappen’s biggest fans would not have predicted victory as the lights went out for the second time.

Until the race, Verstappen was on the wrong side of the red flag in Q2, knocking him out. He took a penalty in the Sprint for a VSC infraction and looked visibly frustrated.

But the second stint of the race was dominant, channelling his anger towards his eighth Grand Prix win of the season. 

Alpine: Take it to the bank

While Verstappen made one statement, the bank statement at troubled Alpine suddenly looks a lot happier. A double podium for Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly gave the team 33 points for the weekend, catapulting them to sixth in the Teams’ Championship - potentially a $50m difference if they can hold off Haas and VCARB with the points left on the table.

It is difficult to state just how important this is for the team, who can’t seem to go a week without a sale rumour, or an F1 insider claiming that this will be the week where they confirm their new engine supplier. For a team that has seen uncertainty and turmoil across their body of work this year, supplemented by results that have seen Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly largely trail around the back of the grid, this must have been some release at the Brazilian afterparty and when they arrived home.

It’s the first time Alpine have achieved a double podium, and the first for this team in any incarnation since Korea 2013 when Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean came in behind Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull. Just to clarify, that double podium came at a track F1 doesn’t race at any more, by two drivers who don’t race in F1 anymore, achieved by Lotus, which - you guessed it - don’t race in F1 anymore.

The world has changed. Speaking of which…

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso: I’m a multi-time world champion, get me out of here!

For Hamilton and Alonso, both gave the impression that they could not wait until the end of the season.

Lewis Hamilton seemed happiest this weekend when he was behind the wheel of a McLaren, rather than one of his farewell races in a Mercedes. He struggled with the car all weekend, struggling onto a point in tenth - a beneficiary of the retirements and his trademark determination. What made it even more surprising is that Hamilton, in what is a second home race, is normally excellent in wet conditions. The 2008 British Grand Prix a statement victory of his own on his way to his first World Championship.

But this was a world away from success and with a triple-header to come before he trades in silver for red, this race is not going to make the best bits montage. The Mercedes appears to now be a clear fourth of the front runners, with the early summer wins in Austria and Silverstone a distant memory, not to mention the domination on split strategies at Spa before Russell was disqualified.

Without having seen anything about 2025, I am confident Hamilton will finish higher than 10th at Interlagos in his first Ferrari race there.

As for Fernando Alonso, he is not leaving on a liferaft, but the cavalry is eventually coming to him. Someone on that care package may need to be a chiropractor. Alonso finished the race for his mechanics, thanking them over the team radio after bouncing around Brazil for the race duration.

His care package comes in the form of Adrian Newey, who can’t join until March 2025, and no doubt his experience and knowledge will instantly jump start an Aston Martin team that feels as though it’s maybe one or two steps away from greatness, but Newey is a big aerodynamic part of the puzzle. It will be fascinating to see how Alonso and Newey interact and work with each other.

Williams: When it rains, it pours

This is one of the worst racing days for Williams this century. As well as seeing rivals Alpine leapfrog them and give themselves a points cushion, Williams countered with three crashes in one day, withdrawing a driver from a race and a set of mechanics that are hopefully on overtime pay.

What makes it worse is that since they placed Franco Colapinto in the car for half a season, they seem settled? Alex Albon has been adjusting to actually having a rival in the same car and Franco Colapinto was the most popular Argentine in Brazil since… well, since anyone? The South American fandom is real, and if Gabriel Bortoleto goes to Sauber, Interlagos will be an incredible sight. As for this weekend though, this was an example of everything going wrong all at once. It was never going to be this season for Williams, and even with Carlos Sainz joining, 2025 will still not be the finished article. 

There is a long-term plan for the team, and the next time they score a podium, I hope they look back at this result as a reminder of what they’ve come through.

F1: We can still do instant classics

This was one of the best Formula 1 races I can remember. I am biased towards wet races that have a red flag in the middle of them, with Canada 2011 my favourite race of all-time.

This had absolutely everything, and came at a time of the season when it helped all but settle the top of the order. Like a US election, you can’t call these things too early, but this was the perfect storm (literally?) for F1, with chaos and danger mixing with risk and elegance. 

^ Have a read of something completely different…

The script was there, and even though this 20-strong ensemble cast are masters of improv, the majority of them recited their (racing) lines and didn’t try to steal the show. It meant that everyone who did well got some time in the spotlight, a collective adding up to more than the mere sum of the parts, and even though some of the cast didn’t break a leg and make it on stage, those that appeared on stage all were understudies to this year’s star in Max Verstappen.

With three races and a sprint to go, Formula 1 will have a hell of a job to better what we saw in Brazil.