27. 2024 São Paulo GP: Verstappen schools the field in Brazilian storm

November 3, Interlagos

The Dutchman cruised, almost literally at times given the conditions, from 17th on the grid to victory on a circuit that more often than not resembled a lake after torrential downpours in Brazil. In doing so he became the first driver since Kimi Räikkönen in 2005 to claim victory from such a lowly starting position.

“The drizzle from the start became a monsoon, sending cars scattering”

By the time the São Paulo race rolled around, things were not going swimmingly for Red Bull. After making mincemeat of the opening half of the monster 24-race campaign with seven wins from the opening 10 races, Verstappen appeared to be cantering to a fourth world title. But things went backwards soon after as McLaren emerged as the car to beat, albeit with Lando Norris trailing Verstappen by 47pts having chipped away at the deficit. Prior to this race, Verstappen hadn’t won any of the previous 10 grands prix, finishing outside the podium places more often than not. Things appeared to be going the same way at Interlagos, with Verstappen managing only 12th in qualifying – which itself was delayed until race day due to torrential rain – and then being demoted a further five places after his car was fitted with its sixth engine of the season.

The drama began before the race did, with Lance Stroll binning his Aston Martin on the formation lap as the field got to grips with the soaked circuit on intermediate Pirellis. Start abandoned, the grid re-formed, only for four of the jumbled top five to then misinterpret a call from race control to begin their second attempt at a formation lap before the green light was shown.

A full quarter of an hour later, the race did finally get underway with George Russell’s Mercedes vaulting past pole-sitter Norris’s McLaren to lead as Verstappen began tip-toeing his way up the order. The conditions demanded precision in the extreme, and on the day nobody did it better than Verstappen who took full advantage of the Red Bull’s wet-weather prowess to quickly make up 11 places to run sixth after 10 laps.

This was when the weather really hit and the drizzle from race start became a monsoon, sending cars scattering as the now-worn inters struggled to cope. Nico Hülkenberg was first to go, beaching on the turn one kerbing and then earning himself the relative rarity of being black-flagged for receiving outside assistance from marshals to rejoin.

Russell and Norris pitted for fresh inters, which proved the wrong call as soon after the race was halted when Franco Colapinto smashed the barriers exiting the final turn after aquaplaning off in his Williams.

With Verstappen elevated to second in the melee and switched onto fresh rubber for the restart the signs were good. Even better when Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari to bring out a safety car to bunch the pack. At the restart, Verstappen scythed past Esteban Ocon’s Alpine to snatch a memorable win, becoming just the third driver to win a race having started 17th. Ocon was followed home by team-mate Pierre Gasly to score the Enstone-based Alpine team’s first double podium finish since Korea 2013 when it ran as Lotus-Renault. RL

Results

1st Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda), 2hr 06min 54.430sec, 87.32mph
2nd Esteban Ocon (Alpine-Renault)
3rd Pierre Gasly (Alpine-Renault)
Pole position Lando Norris (McLaren-Mercedes), 1min 23.405sec, 115.54mph