'Norris' hopes crushed by Verstappen performance for the ages'

Lando Norris’ already slim world title hopes were crushed at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix by a performance for the ages from Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver won from 17th on the grid. It was a masterclass, a day when he was head and shoulders above his rivals. And what he had achieved was not lost on him.

It was, he said, “definitely the best” of his 62 wins. Few would argue. It was a drive to be ranked among the greatest wet-weather drives in history. “I really believe we’ve witnessed one of the great drives in F1 today,” his team principal Christian Horner said.

It was a fitting way finally to end a victory drought for Verstappen that dates back to the Spanish Grand Prix in June - 11 races ago.

Although Norris was closing in slowly in the intervening period, and did so again with victory in the sprint race in Sao Paulo on Saturday before the chaotic events of a soaking Sunday, Verstappen’s fourth world championship never really looked under that much threat. The lead he established with seven wins in the first 10 races of the season was too big for that.

But there can be no doubt now. Verstappen’s stunning win, along with Norris’ sixth place, extended the Dutchman’s lead to 62 points. There are only 86 still available in the remaining three races.

If Verstappen leaves Las Vegas in three weeks’ time with a 60-point advantage, he will be champion. Even if he cannot manage that - and he may well not, as Norris and Ferrari might be fancied to beat Red Bull there - the title will surely be won a week later in Qatar.

Verstappen described the events of his Sunday as “rollercoaster”. “My emotions,” he said, “have been from almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race.”

The anger came from some bad luck in qualifying, moved to Sunday morning because of heavy rain on Saturday afternoon. Red Bull sending him out late in the second session combined with the unfortunate timing of a red flag to leave him 12th, and knocked out after the second session.

That became 17th on the grid because of a five-place grid penalty for using too many engines. With Norris on pole, following an excellent performance in a car with which he was never that comfortable in the wet, things did not look good.

Verstappen went into the race, he said, “expecting to lose points”.

But events started to turn his way at the start. Norris dropped a place to Mercedes’ George Russell, and Verstappen’s progress from the back was electrifying.

Up six places in the first lap, he was by lap 12 on the back of a four-car group fighting for third, with Russell and Norris only eight seconds up the road. With rain still falling, and heavier showers expected, the race already looked winnable for Verstappen.

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

“But soon, I was passing a few cars, and I had always one lap or two laps of free air. I was always the fastest on the track.

“So, I knew that, ‘OK, we are quick. I just need to try and pass the guys to try and have a run to the front.’

“I felt comfortable in the car. I feel comfortable in the wet anyway, but then when the car is also performing, it just doubles up and you can really pick up the pace.”

The race turned for him in a five-lap period as the rain began to intensify at around one-third distance.

Russell and Norris pitted for fresh tyres under a virtual safety car, worried their rubber was too worn to cope with more water on the track. That gave the lead to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, with Verstappen right behind him.

Red Bull and Alpine gambled on staying out. This, Verstappen said, was “very sketchy” on tyres running out of tread. But the virtual safety car turned into a full one, and then as that led the field around, a red flag, when Williams’ Franco Colapinto became the latest of several drivers to crash in the slippery conditions.

That gave Ocon and Verstappen a ‘free’ tyre change. Ocon led the first restart comfortably. But then there was another safety car, for another crash. At this restart, Verstappen sent it from a long way back on the brakes into Turn One, took the lead, and was away.

He never likes to talk about the championship, or the meaning of races in that context, but even he had to acknowledge that this was “incredibly important”.

“From now,” he said, “I just want clean races to the end. I'm not thinking about clinching the championship in Vegas or whatever. I just want clean races.”

Did Norris and McLaren drop the ball with their pit stop? Both Norris and team boss Andrea Stella said not.

“It was the right time to box,” Norris said. “No regrets, just unlucky. (Being able to change tyres at a red flag) is a silly rule that no one agrees with but you will always agree when it benefits you.

“Every driver has said that they don’t agree with it and wanted it changed, but it’s a rule. You win some, you lose some. It has benefited them, so well done to them.”

Stella said both McLaren drivers had asked for fresh tyres and he would rather take the shorter pit stop that comes with a VSC than risk not finishing - especially with the constructors’ championship, which the team still lead, as a “priority”. It’s always easier, he said, to gamble when you are behind and see an opportunity to take the lead.

Norris did, though, acknowledge what had been lost.

“George probably feels like he won the race today,” he said. “He deserved it more than anyone else. I probably would have finished third, realistically. It’s tough.”

Russell did indeed feel that way.

“From the cockpit,” he said, “it was very clear it was going to be a red flag or safety car, because the conditions were undriveable. The rain was not easing. I could see the black cloud above me.”

He said he resisted the call to pit, until he was over-ruled by trackside operations director Andrew Shovlin.

“It was ‘box’,” Russell said, “and I said: ‘Stay out.’ It was ‘box’ again. I said: ‘Stay out’, and then it was box again. I said I wanted to stay out and the last one you have to go for it. Sometimes you have to trust your gut.

“Today, who knows if we could have won? But if we didn’t pit we would have been leading at the restart. And the first 30 laps controlling the place with Lando behind. We had good straight-line speed as well. P2 would have been a minimum.”

That last remark was a tacit acknowledgement of Verstappen’s performance. And Norris went further even that.

“Max would have probably come through anyway and beaten us,” he said. “Just unlucky, nothing more than that. I made a couple of mistakes that cost me a couple of positions in the end.”

Stella put a brave face on it, taking the responsibility for those errors - locked brakes - away from Norris, saying it was a problem with the car.

“The constructors’ was always our priority,” Stella said. So this doesn’t change anything. When it comes other the drivers, I don’t think for Lando there was any particular pressure, we were enjoying this quest.

“Sometimes from outside it may come across like there was an error there. When you lock the tyres with a car like today, I am not looking at the driver, I am looking at why the car keeps locking the tyres.

“Mathematically we are still in the championship. For Lando and Oscar (Piastri) we will go and try to win the next races.”

And Stella emphasised what McLaren have achieved this year in emerging as the likely teams’ champions.

“Since we delivered lap time to the car in Miami,” Stella said, "McLaren have outscored by far every other competitor. We had the best car at a few events, not all. So the team and drivers operated at a very high standards.

“We take these high standards as a positive, as the foundation to keep building and to keep building you have to look at what you haven’t done perfectly.

“At the moment, we are extremely happy with what we have been able to achieve and the standards at which we have been operating throughout the season.”

The other story of the day was the remarkable two-three finish for Alpine, whose previous best finish was ninth. They started the day ninth in the championship and limping to the end of a terrible season, and ended it sixth.

Ocon was outstanding in qualifying fourth and running competitively all race. And Gasly - who also benefited from not pitting at the crucial time - climbed up from 13th on the grid.

Alpine have had a tumultuous last two seasons. And although they have been progressing in recent races after starting the year as one of the two slowest teams, they certainly never expected this.

In addition to providing a timely boost to the team, there was also a touching moment between the drivers.

They have a long history, Ocon and Gasly. Once childhood best friends, they are far from that now, as they admit and everyone in F1 knows. But both acknowledged that this day was a special one for them, the team, and their personal relationship.

“We’ve had our stories at times,” Ocon said, “but it's been incredible to do that last formation lap. A lot of flashbacks came back to my memories, when we were racing on the wet in go-karts, when we were young, even in the snow with the slick tyres, we were both racing together and waiting for the podium or the win to come.

“And today, yeah, it tastes a bit like that. So, yeah, beautiful story from where we come from. And, yeah, that one will for sure forever stay engraved.”

Gasly added: “I don't think anyone can understand. You know, it's a very personal relationship between Esteban and myself. We've been going through so much. It's just that we've had our ups and downs.

“All these times we've had, like over winter, -5C outside, we were the only ones showing up at the go-kart track, going out in the rain, in the snow, slick tyres, nine, 10, 11 years old. And we've really practised these conditions.

“And on a day like today, I can tell you this actually made the difference, all that practice. I remember us getting back in the truck trying to get warm after a few laps because we were absolutely freezing.

“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.”