It seemed like he had forgotten about winning. That is why Max Verstappen celebrated the last victory in the puddles of Interlagos with a mixture of overflowing euphoria and contained rage, accumulated by a drought of 10 races, more than four months without climbing to the top of the podium.
The Dutchman broke his historic bad streak, the worst he had experienced since 2020 (11 races without winning), with a superb victory in São Paulo, on a soaked track, built on a championship comeback: he climbed from 17th place in the grid first at the finish line. It is the best comeback in the last 24 years and the third best in all of history.
Overtaking recital
Verstappen overtook the entire grid, from 17th to first place in the 69 laps of Interlagos and ended up leaving his immediate pursuer, Ocon, 20 seconds behind.
What Verstappen did in Interlagos was stratospheric, only within the reach of the very great. The situation was the most ideal for Lando Norris to cut a good handful of points: the Englishman came out in the pole and the Dutchman 17th (due to his 12th place in the classification and 5 penalty positions due to engine changes).
But the McLaren driver sank in the puddles – from the start, in which George Russell stole his wallet – and Verstappen grew bigger, smelled the blood like a shark, and ended up sweeping away, surpassing all his rivals on the track. in the 69 laps, and leaving the second, Ocon (Alpine), almost 20 seconds from the finish line. An outrage. A recital of ambition, aggressiveness and daring.
The third best comeback
The 16 positions recovered are the best climb since Barrichello in Hockenheim in 2000 (17 positions), and the third in history
You have to go back to 2000, at the German GP in Hockenheim, to find a comeback in positions to victory better than Verstappen’s. It was Rubens Barrichello with the Ferrari F1-2000, with which he climbed from 18th on the grid to first.
There is only one better comeback than those two, of 21 positions. It was that of the Northern Irishman John Watson, McLaren driver, who in 1983, at the Long Beach GP, started 22nd on the grid and ended up winning after 75 laps over Niki Lauda and René Arnoux.
Since then, great drivers have left great comebacks to remember: Alonso climbed 14th in Singapore 2008 (from 15th to 1st), Kimi Räikkonen recovered 16th in Japan 2005 (from 17th), Lewis Hamilton climbed 13th positions at Germany 2018 (from 14th), and before them, Michael Schumacher gained 15 places at Belgium 1995.
Championship ball in Las Vegas
Verstappen will be able to be champion in the next GP if he does not lose more than two points with Norris
The victory and the best lap of the race at Interlagos gave Verstappen the maximum score of 26 points, while Lando Norris did not go beyond 6th place (8 points), which allowed the leader to accumulate 18 more points and extend his advantage to 62.
With this income, the Dutchman will be able to be four-time champion in the next Las Vegas GP on November 24, when there will be only 60 left between the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs. To do this, Max only needs to not lose more than two points to Norris in Las Vegas.
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