COMEBACK KING!

SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX 2024

photo credit: automagazine.pt

MAX VERSTAPPEN BACK AT THE TOP STEP OF THE PODIUM AFTER 10 RACES!!!

Max drove one of the best drives of his live at the Sao Paulo circuit. He fought through the pack from P17 to come and win the race. His awestriking driving and a well executed strategy made him unstoppable, making him win by 20 seconds. He proved everyone wrong and showed that he is still the man to beat.

He extended his championship lead to 62 points from 44 points, which somewhat ensures the    championship now. With 3 races to go, it is close to impossible for Norris to now win the world championship. 

Even though Max won, Alpine were the talk of the paddock. They finished P2 and P3 with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly respectively. No one expected Alpine, a team who have been slow all season and at times looked like the 9th fastest team, to finish ahead of the likes of the Ferraris, McLarens and Mercedes'. Both their drivers were sublime in the wet. Ocon went from P4 to P2 and Pierre came all the way from P13 to P3, an unexpected feat by an Alpine car and driver.

McLaren just did not have the pace of Saturday. They changed their rear wing back to an old spec higher downforce wing due to the wet circuit, but after doing so, they never looked like they had the fastest car on track. To aggravate their suffering due lack of pace, the Safety car and Red flags also did not work in their favor at all. At the end, they finished P6 and P7, a result they did not expect at all. Due to this Norris now has close to no chance of winning the Drivers World Championship. 

Mercedes had a contrasting race for both their drivers. George Russell started the race in P2 and took the lead down at turn 1, where he stayed in lead  until the heavy rain came pouring down and then Safety Cars and Red flags just ruined their race as they did not work in his favor similar to what  happened with Norris. Yet he fought back through and came to finish P4 a decent race for him, even though a win or P2 was what they had anticipated. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton was struggling throughout the weekend, starting in P14 and tried to fight his way through, yet he was not fast enough to just blast past the whole pack. At the end, he drove well with what he had and somehow even after that chaotic race managed to score a point and finish ahead of Sergio Perez who went home pointless.

The VCarb team were the other miracles from Sao Paolo grand prix. Starting P3 and P5, and finishing P7 and P9. Liam Lawson finished P9 even though he was rear ended by Oscar Piastri and lost heaps of positions, which shows us how good was his pace and what could have been if he had not been rear ended.

The Haas team could not carry forward their momentum of the past few races and went home pointless, breaking their streak of point scoring races. Bearman was given a 10 second time penalty for colliding with Colapinto which in the eyes of all the F1 community seemed not justified as it had not hindered Colapinto at all. His race was not all smooth sailing, he made a few errors here and there, but it was expected of a rookie who has never driven an F1 car in the wet. Nico Hulkenberg had been given a black flag (Disqualification) during the Red Flag period as he had continued on after getting assistance by the marshals, which infringes the rules. 

It was a horrible day for Aston Martin and Williams team. Lance Stroll went off and beached his car in the gravel on the formation lap, resulting in him not starting the race at all, even after the mechanics working so hard to repair the car after the qualifying crash. Fernando finished P14 out of the 15 finishers, a horrible result for a team like Aston Martin. For Williams, Alex Albon did not even start the race due to the qualifying crash he had just 3 hours before the race, which made it impossible for the mechanics to repair the car at all in such a short period of time. Colapinto on the other hand crashed the car during the Safety car period which resulted in  a red flag. A horrible race for Williams, from which they got no benefit, but got a huge repair bill for both cars. At this point the Sauber team also seems to have given up hopes as whatever they do, they somehow seem to fall short of scoring points always.

Sao Paolo like every year gave us a race that will be remembered for years to come.

Next on we head to Sin City, Las Vegas. A night race with never ending straights and heaps of overtaking. Will it live up to its hype and produce a stellar race. Will the lights, fireworks and showmanship win over the hearts of the fans? There is only one way to know this... by seeing the next race at LAS VEGASSSS!!!