Max Verstappen Wins; Alpine Double Podium in Brazil

Max Verstappen made his way from 17th place to first in São Paulo on November 3, 2024. Pierre Gasly (3rd) and Esteban Ocon (2nd) gave Alpine a double podium. (Photo by Mark Thompson | Getty Images)

SÃO PAULO – Max Verstappen made his way from 17th on the grid to claim first place at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday after being winless since the Barcelona Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly filled the remaining podium positions to give Alpine a double podium.

The wet conditions in Brazil brought a tricky weekend for most of the grid, Verstappen included. After a poor qualifying result and a fourth place sprint finish, Verstappen proved that he belongs at the top of the championship leaderboard with his comeback from the back of the grid to win. 

“I was just very motivated to get a good race and just let the race pan out and see what happens,” said Verstappen in the post-race press conference. “Because in a wet race, always some crazy things can happen.”

Verstappen started at the back of the grid, but with his skill in wet conditions and the team’s strategy, Verstappen capitalized on the red flag caused by Franco Colapinto’s crash on Lap 32. This red flag put an end to Williams’ weekend as Alex Albon was withdrawn due to damage in qualifying. 

The red flag allowed for Verstappen and both Alpine drivers to get a free pit stop due to both teams waiting to use their pit stop later on. 

However, this free pit stop was not the only condition that helped the top three scorers. At the aborted start, both Alpine drivers and Verstappen avoided the penalties handed out over the aborted start by staying put on the grid. 

Due to waiting to pit until the red flag, Alpine had its best result of the season. Gasly made his way up from 13th to claim the final spot on the podium alongside his teammate Ocon. 

“It’s been tough, obviously, this season, but we’ve always tried to push the team in the right direction to never give up. And on a day like today, even when the car has misbehaved for the majority of the season, everyone tried to put the A game, and it was just an historical day for the team,” said Gasly in a post-race press conference. “So very proud for everyone working in the team to achieve such a performance.”

While Alpine had a great result, other drivers were not as lucky, such as McLaren’s Lando Norris. Norris started on pole, but was handed a reprimand and a $5,000 fine as the FIA reported that “[t]he driver left the grid although the aborted start signal was given.”.

Mercedes’ George Russell was also given the same consequences as he closed out the front row of the grid.

Lando Norris, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda made up the top three starters for the Brazilian Grand Prix on November 3, 2024. Norris and Russell both received a reprimand and a fine for not abiding by the aborted start guidelines. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli | Getty Images)

“Although the signal was appropriately given, the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap,” said the FIA in Document 84. “As the driver was on the front row of the grid, this triggered following drivers to take similar action. At some point, the Race Director, realizing that for practical reasons all cars would now need to do an extra formation lap, gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.”

The aborted start was not the only reason penalties were handed out, though. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri received a 10-second penalty due to causing a collision with RB’s Liam Lawson. Piastri went on to apologize to Lawson during the red flag and said that the penalty was “deserved“.

Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri battled it out on track in Brazil on Nov. 3. Piastri and Lawson collided during the race, and Piastri recieved a 10-second penalty for the collision. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

São Paulo’s consistent chaos continued as Nico Hulkenberg of Haas was given a black flag for “receiving physical assistance” after he got stuck in the gravel trap and the marshals helped him out. 

Haas had an unconventional weekend as well due to Kevin Magnussen falling ill and Oliver Bearman stepping in to drive for the weekend. Bearman went on to finish the race 12th. 

While the rain brought many challenges on Sunday, Saturday had rain delays, resulting in qualifying being moved into Sunday morning. 

Despite the weather issues on Saturday, Brazil hosted a complete sprint race weekend. Norris and Piastri claimed a McLaren 1-2 with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc filling the third step on the podium. 

After Ferrari’s strong performances in Austin and Mexico, Leclerc secured fifth place, and Carlos Sainz suffered a DNF after crashing about halfway through the race. 

Red flags waved throughout the weekend in Brazil as crashes continued due to inclement weather. The battle for the championship continues in Las Vegas on November 21-23, as the grid competes in the first of the last three races of the 2024 season.