F1 Recap: São Paulo GP

F1 Recap: São Paulo GP

It has been a while since we have seen the F1 grid wearing the blue Pirelli boots, but the weather in Brazil refused to make life simple for the drivers. Ideally, if you are going to race in the rain, it would be beneficial to practice in the rain too; however, this weekend there was no shortage of poor and changing weather and racing challenges, and it really was anybody's race to win. However, this time around, another sprint race was at stake, and it significantly aided Lando Norris in his quest to challenge Max Verstappen's championship lead.

The clouds masked the sun as the drivers headed out for the first event of the weekend, sprint qualifying. Although the weather forecast threatened the green and blue tyres in the paddock, the track remained dry. McLaren needed a good result this weekend, and their pace immediately threatened the remainder of the field. Oscar Piastri set the fastest lap in Q1, and Norris responded in Q2 with a lightning-fast lap.

Ferrari responded in Q3, demonstrating that it had a high level of speed heading into the weekend. Unfortunately for the team in red, Piastri and Norris were the fastest duo on the dry circuit, while Verstappen couldn’t quite match the pace of the leading trio of drivers, slotting in behind Charles Leclerc in fourth.

With the sprint beginning on the warm Brazilian track, Verstappen needed to work his way to the front and mitigate the impact of any points awarded to Norris. Norris was still far from taking the title from Verstappen at this point in the championship, but his recent performances have shown that they pose a threat to the defending champion.

The conditions were perfect ahead of the 24-lap F1 express race, and the pressure was on for the leading two McLarens. Piastri was quick to close off his teammate, diving down the inside ahead of the first turn. Verstappen attempted to get the better of Leclerc in the first turn, and while his lunge down the inside was impressive, it wasn’t enough to defend against the Ferrari in turn two.

Only a few laps had passed before the McLarens built a sizeable lead. Meanwhile, Verstappen began to show signs of frustration as a result of Leclerc's elbows-out approach to defence. Only on lap 18, with DRS assistance, Verstappen finally managed to make it past the defensive Ferrari and begin his hunt for the McLarens ahead.

As the laps ticked by, Verstappen was closing in on his championship rival, and news of Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas stopping due to mechanical failure graced Norris’s ears. With the championship title in his sights and only three laps remaining, Piastri gave his teammate the lead and offered yet another obstacle in the path of the irritated Red Bull breathing down their necks.

This position swap by the lead duo couldn't have been timed better, as a yellow flag in sector two was applied almost immediately after Norris took the lead. The yellow flag quickly turned into a virtual safety car and ruined Max's ability to hunt down the two McLarens ahead. Fortunately for the McLarens, the racing resumed on the final lap, and all they needed to do was defend against Verstappen through the remaining couple of corners, which Piastri executed perfectly.

The McLarens took the win in the first race of the weekend, with Norris in the lead and Piastri in second. Max Verstappen finished third, followed by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. This was an impressive performance for the McLaren team and a promising start to the weekend for Ferrari, but the grey clouds loomed overhead and the following day proved to be disastrous for qualifying.

On a traditional race weekend, Saturday is reserved for qualifying, but the heavens opened that morning, making the track undrivable, leading to a postponed qualifying and a lengthy battle for the F1 grid. Unfortunately, Sunday proved to be just as treacherous, but the FIA deemed the circuit to be drivable.

It's rare that we see wet tyres on modern Formula 1 cars, with intermediates normally being sufficient for most wet weather scenarios. We can say with certainty that the sprint race results provide virtually no forecast for the soggy Sunday race. When the track is covered with rain of this magnitude, the drivers will need to re-learn the layout and lines, but this time without the opportunity for practice.

Qualifying for the main race saw its fair share of spills, with numerous drivers battling to find their brake markers. Lawson overshot the first turn, with Zhou Guanyu promptly imitating Lawson's irregular line, and Lance Stroll didn't take long to find himself off the tar. Unfortunately, Franco Colapinto, the local favourite and newest youngster on the grid, ended up in the barriers after his car's back end snapped out through a fast left-hander. He likely lacks the experience in an F1 car, especially in the wet, and although he was laying down excellent times, his qualifying run was cut short.

The sprint race winner struggled in the slippery conditions, nearly exiting in Q1, but Lewis Hamilton couldn’t escape the knockout time and was pushed to the back of the grid. Q2 brought with it a disastrous result for Ferrari and Red Bull as Sainz lost control and ended up in the barriers. This resulted in a red flag and less time for the remaining drivers to set rapid lap times. With 1 minute and 30 seconds left in Q2, the yellow flag waved once more. Lance Stroll was off the track again, but this time he was in the barriers.

Fortunately for Norris, his lap was unaffected, as he set the fastest lap yet, taking pole position. But this crash was shocking news for Verstappen, as he had yet to achieve a quick lap time. The yellow flag changed to red with a minute left on the clock, leaving Verstappen with a heartbreaking 12th place start for the race. Q3 offered the same conditions, and this time round Fernando Alonso came across the barrier early on.

Shortly after racing resumed, Alex Albon had a big moment, as his brakes locked up at the end of the start/finish straight, sending him spiralling out of control and into the barriers. This meant that whoever was on their hot lap at the time had only one last opportunity at pole. Liam Lawson was the first to cross the line with a provisional second-place start, which was quickly overthrown by his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Esteban Ocon couldn’t quite match Tsunoda’s time and fell into the third position while Norris extended his lead on pole. Russell followed but fell short in second.

Due to the unfortunate qualifying cancellation the day prior, the race was now on. I can only imagine how fatigued the drivers were before the main event, but the Brit in orange was upbeat ahead of time. The cars lined up on the grid, already drenched in rain, with Norris leading the way, George Russell in second, Yuki Tsunoda in third, Esteban Ocon in fourth, and Liam Lawson in fifth.

On rare occasions, the formation lap proves to be more than just a slow lap around the track—well, at least for Stroll. The Canadian failed to make it to the starting line as he spun into the barrier before the race began, forcing the start to be aborted and a second formation lap to commence once the debris was cleaned up.

Max Verstappen is a competitive man with hawk-like eyes, and he was quick to inform his team about Norris' early start to the formation lap, despite starting 12th on the grid. Nevertheless, the cars lined up on the grid after another wet formation lap.

As the lights went out, the rain had stopped, but the track remained saturated. Russell had a blinding start, beating Norris to the first turn. The two RBs teamed up against Ocon's Alpine, with Yuki maintaining his third-place position. Unfortunately for Lawson, he fell back to fifth, with Alonso now applying the pressure.

Further back in the pack, Verstappen was already on the charge, making light work of Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton in the first two laps, while the two youngsters came together. Oliver Bearman's late braking manoeuvre resulted in him colliding with Colapinto and receiving a 10-second penalty.

By lap 6, Verstappen was already looking for his next victim and made quick work of both Pierre Gasly and Alonso and was now in eighth, and by lap 11, he had overtaken Piastri and Lawson. Both unfortunate drivers were clearly in disbelief by Verstappen's speed, and a lapse in concentration by Piastri made him clip Lawson, sending Lawson into a spin. Piastri too was awarded a 10-second penalty.

The rain had stopped by lap 25, and the track had begun to dry, but Brazil's tropical climate had other plans. It dashed another driver's hopes in the form of Nico Hulkenberg on lap 27 and produced another virtual safety car. Intermediate tyres are more adaptable and durable than slicks, and they can be driven continuously throughout the race as long as the track remains cool and wet. In wet conditions, it is not mandatory for the cars to stop and/or use two different tyre compounds; however, the decision was made to bring in Russell for a new set of tyres in the hopes of improving the lead car's predictability in the corners.

To ensure there was no advantage given to the leading Mercedes, Norris also pitted for a set of intermediates, but in the process gave Verstappen a massive leap closer to the front of the grid. During the stop, Ocon, Verstappen, and Gasly overtook the two leaders, with Verstappen rapidly closing in on Ocon, who now led the race.

The rain was pouring down at this point, and the track was almost impassable. Norris managed to overtake Russell, but now had some catching up to do. Lap 32 brought devastation to Colapinto as he found the barrier in spectacular fashion. Meanwhile, Hulkenberg once again spun but avoided any damage. Unfortunately for Hulkenberg, though, the marshals pushed him back out onto the track, and he was gifted a black flag for marshal assistance.

Lap 34 saw a big moment for Norris, now sitting in fourth. He overshot a braking zone and left the track, providing Russell with an opportunity to overtake the lead McLaren. Bearman was less fortunate and spun through a fast right-hander and lightly touched the barriers. Just a few laps later, Sainz suffered the same fate, losing control of his car and crashing into the wall at high speed, resulting in another VSC.

Ocon still led the race after the virtual safety car disappeared, but now Verstappen was closing in. A massive dive down the inside of turn one gave Verstappen the lead, but a few cars back, Norris locked up and left the track, giving his teammate his sixth-place position. Team orders played a role, and at this point in the season, it came as no surprise that Piastri gave Norris the position back. After an exciting race, the pack began to break up, with Verstappen crossing the finish line in a clear lead, followed by both Alpines, with Ocon leading the way.

Whether you love him or hate him, Verstappen proved that his dominance over the past few years was more than just his car. To come from 12^th to first in the most treacherous racing conditions we have seen in a while demonstrates just how talented this Dutch driver really is. It was a spectacular display of control and speed, which left McLaren kicking themselves at the decision to pit. What a race and what a result, with many thousands of rands worth of carbon fibre retrieved from the barriers.

Find the race results here on F1's official website.

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