Verstappen’s new triumph in Brazil, Norris is closer than ever

Max Verstappen dominated the Brazilian GP and initially fended off the attacks of Lando Norris in the McLaren MCL60. However, during the 71-lap race, the Englishman managed to stay close to the Dutchman and match the pace of the Red Bull RB19 – in a GP where all the front runners started on the soft tires and at the first pit on the medium -Tires changed Stop and then soften it again in the second step.

The podium behind Verstappen and Norris was closed by the great Fernando Alonso after a thrilling battle with RBR’s Sergio Perez. Perez was behind the Spaniard for two thirds of the race and managed to get within a second with 14 laps to go.

A few laps later, Czeko entered the Aston’s DRS and managed to overtake Fernando on the brakes in the first corner on the penultimate lap. But the Spaniard didn’t have the last word and fought off Perez to surprisingly overtake him on the straight before Turn 4. The two finally crossed the finish line, just 53 milliseconds apart!

The Interlagos game started very episodically. More precisely from the formation lap. There, an engine problem in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari locked the rear wheels, causing the Monegasse to end up in the guardrail and retire before he even reached the starting line.

When the red lights went out, Verstappen moved away from pole position and behind him Norris and Hamilton overtook the two Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso. However, behind them there was an accident between Hülkenberg, Magnussen and Albon at the same time.

Hülkenberg became sandwiched between the Haas and Williams drivers, causing him to touch Magnussen, who in turn overtook Albon. In the collision, the latter two ended up on the escape route with damaged cars and also broke the rear wing of Piastri’s McLaren – while the left rear tire of the Williams ultimately broke the rear wing of Ricciardo’s Alpha Tauri.

There was a break of around half an hour to clear the track of debris and repair the barriers. The restart would be static and Piastre and Ricciardo would start at the pit exit due to repairs on their cars.

At the restart everything was clear and Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Alonso, Stroll took the first five places. The two leaders soon began to pull away from Alonso and built a lead of around 8 seconds. It was clear that this would be a two-pit stop race, with soft, medium and soft rubber used in each stint.

Norris attacked Verstappen for a moment, but then he also had to control his pace to protect his tires. The first pit stops were opened by Mercedes, who had a nightmare race with all types of tires. The leaders lined up together on lap 27, while Perez previously managed to overtake Russell and Hamilton and move up to 4th.

At the first pit stop, Alonso had an 8-inch difference with Cheko and so he was a little late to make his first pit stop so that he would have fresher rubber for the continuation. In the middle stint, Norris kept his gap to Verstappen to 5 minutes as the two continued their tire maintenance race, moving at a similar pace.

The standoff between the two leaders began with Verstappen on lap 56. Norris stayed on the track, perhaps with the intention of just making a pit stop, but on the fresh soft rubber he had saved for last, Max was on the lap about 2.5 inches faster. The Englishman from McLaren made his second pit stop two laps later.

Meanwhile, Perez tried to undercut Alonso and when the Spaniard reacted, their lead narrowed significantly. Originally it was 3.5 inches and was soon reduced to one second. Until Perez entered Aston Martin’s DRS zone in the final 12 laps. The two were unerring and their battle culminated in two overtaking maneuvers – first by Perez and finally by Alonso – in the last two laps.

Mercedes’ rapid drop in performance in the middle stint on the medium tire meant that Hamilton was also overtaken by Saint, Gasly and Tsunoda – although the Englishman on the soft tire regained 8th place from the Japanese in the third stint. Russell trailed Lewis throughout the race and was quicker at times, but played the team game before having to retire shortly before the end due to a mechanical problem.

In front of everyone – in 5th place – was Lance Stroll, who, like Aston Martin, needed today’s good result to reverse the bad mood that had developed at Silverstone due to the failures of the last few months. Rounding out the top ten were Tsunota and Ocon, while the two Alfa Romeos retired due to mechanical problems.

After the Brazilian GP, ​​the 21st and penultimate Formula 1 race of the year will take place in Las Vegas, the sport’s return to the gambling city of Nevada, USA after decades. The game will be played there on Saturday evening, i.e. in the early hours of the morning in Greece, over the three days from November 17th to 19th.