Max Verstappen all but wrapped up a fourth straight Formula 1 title with a drive from 17th to win a wet São Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen took the lead for good after a restart on lap 43 of the 69-lap race when he passed Esteban Ocon. Verstappen then pulled away from Ocon and the rest of the field as Lando Norris went off track in Turn 1 just before Verstappen took the lead and went on to win the race by just under 20 seconds.
The entirety of the race was run on a wet track as rain pelted the Interlagos circuit on and off throughout. Norris ended up finishing sixth after cutting Verstappen’s drivers’ championship lead to 44 points in Saturday’s sprint race.
Verstappen now provisionally leads Norris by 62 points with three Grand Prix races and one sprint race remaining. Given there are a maximum of 86 points available over the four events, it will be nearly impossible for Norris to win the title unless Verstappen inexplicably has trouble over the final three race weekends.
Norris’ deficit isn’t official, either. It could be larger. He and many other drivers began the race under investigation by race officials. We’ll get to that in a bit.
The race’s complexion changed immediately after a virtual safety car for Nico Hülkenberg’s stopped car on lap 28. Norris was trailing George Russell for the race lead when both drivers decided to pit for fresh intermediate tires as the virtual safety car ended.
That allowed Ocon, Verstappen and Pierre Gasly to pass them while they were in the pits. And just after the top two drivers pitted, a safety car was deployed for heavy rain.
As the safety car led the field, Franco Colapinto then lost control of his car and hit the wall on the main straightaway. That led to a red flag, and every team was brought down pit road.
In Formula 1, teams can change tires and make adjustments during the race stoppage. In essence, Verstappen and the two Alpine drivers got a free pit stop and restarted the race with fresh tires since they hadn’t pitted.
Verstappen was working his way through the field mightily before the red flag, too. The race win might have been out of reach, but he was in 10th on lap 2 and had been picking off cars one by one in the top 10 before the VSC for Hülkenberg’s car. Verstappen qualified 12th earlier on Sunday because of a red flag in the second qualifying round and was forced to start five places lower because of a penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine.
Unofficially, Ocon finished second and his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly was third. The finishes mean that Alpine have moved up into sixth in the constructors’ standings.
A wacky start
The race didn’t start as planned after Lance Stroll went off the track and clipped the wall on the formation lap.
Stroll’s car ended up beached in a gravel trap and was unable to go anywhere. As Stroll was stuck in the gravel, the rest of the field approached their starting positions on the grid.
F1 officials aborted the start, but did not instruct the drivers to leave their positions for another formation lap. Norris, starting on pole, pulled away from his spot along with Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson as many other drivers stayed stationary in their starting spots wondering what the heck had happened.
Eventually, every driver made another formation lap, but F1 officials noted Norris, Russell, Tsunoda and Lawson for start infringements. They could be penalized after the race.
After the field made an additional formation lap, teams got another 10 minutes to touch the cars like they would ahead of a normal start. During this period, the Mercedes crews of Russell and Lewis Hamilton adjusted the cars’ tire pressures while the tires were on the car. That is also a violation of F1 rules and was noted for a possible post-race penalty.
The host of investigations means that it may take hours for the race results to become official. Meanwhile, Hülkenberg was disqualified from the race after marshals pushed his car to get him unstuck from a drain and he continued on. Once a car receives assistance to get back going, it’s deemed out of the race.
São Paulo Grand Prix unofficial results
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
3. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
4. George Russell, Mercedes
5. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
6. Lando Norris, McLaren
7. Yuki Tsunoda, RB
8. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
9. Liam Lawson, RB
10. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
11. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
12. Oliver Bearman, Haas
13. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
14. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
15. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber
Not classified: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Franco Colapinto (Williams), Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), Alex Albon (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)