In the Brazilian GP of the Formula One World Series, an exceptionally high number of driver errors and incidents were seen on the wet track.
20:03•Updated 20:11
Leading the Formula One World Series, Red Bull Max Verstappen emerged from the 17th starting grid with a skillful performance to become an overwhelming winner in the Brazilian GP. At the same time, Verstappen increased his World Championship lead to a perhaps decisive 62 points before the last three races.
For Verstappen, the victory was the eighth of the F1 season and the 62nd of his career, but he had not won a GP in the previous ten races.
The duo of the French surprise team, BWT Alpine Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly took the podium to accompany the Dutchman. The gap to Verstappen grew to 20 seconds at the end. Prior to this, Alpine had gathered only 14 points in 20 gp, but grabbed as many as 33 points from Sao Paulo.
Mercedes George Russell finished fourth, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fifth.
British coach by Lando Norris the world championship experienced a big setback. He started from the pole, but after some small mistakes, he only finished sixth in the race, ahead of the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda and McLaren’s second driver Oscar Piastria.
In the restart of lap 43, Norris got off to a bad start and lost decisive positions in terms of the final result, while at the same time his worst competitor Verstappen shot to the top for the first time in the race.
McLaren leads the teams’ World Series by 36 points ahead of Ferrari. Third place Red Bull is 49 points behind the leader.
Bottas put aside his best finish of the season
On the wet Interlagos track, five drivers fell into easy and miraculous driving mistakes. Competing for the world championship of teams, Ferrari experienced a setback when Carlos Sainz Jr. slipped his car into the safety barriers on the 41st lap – for the second time on Sunday, being a famous aborter.
Sauber’s speed was also not enough in the rain to meet the level of the other teams, but Valtteri Bottas did what he could, driving his car to the finish in 13th, which is next to the Finn’s best finish this season. Team mate Guanyu Zhou was the last driver to finish – 15th.
The race also needed a restart on the 33rd lap because Williams Franco Colapinto crashed his car into the wall on a wet track, even though there was a safety car on the track. At that point, Verstappen, Ocon and Gasly gained a significant advantage in the race, which had a favorable effect on the final results of the entire trio.
Next up is the Las Vegas GP on November 24th.
Brazil gp results (teletext) here
WC points here