Seventeen times Max Verstappen in twenty races. The pace of the world champion, also confirmed at Interlagos, is simply unstoppable, now the objectives are to rewrite records covered in dust, such as the percentage of victories in a season. Verstappen, with his success in the Brazilian Grand Prix, toppled a record that had remained unbeaten since 1952, when Alberto Ascari won six out of eight races, 75%. Even if Max doesn’t win in Las Vegas and Yas Marina, a hypothesis that today seems unlikely, he will still have won 77% of the races played. Nowadays, to comment on Verstappen’s victories we resort to comparison with history, there is no longer much to say about the present.
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, won the Brazilian GP
Red Bull dictates the law, but while the margin over Ferrari and Mercedes has remained the same as at the beginning of the year, there is a team that is getting closer. The gap that today separates McLaren from the world champions is smaller than the gap that its opponents have against McLaren itself. Verstappen led the race without any particular anxiety, but Norris allowed himself the luxury of never losing sight of him, and for Max it was a novelty to see the silhouette of those following him remain in the mirrors.
Lando confirmed himself as second for the sixth time in the last eleven races, and the place of honor (as seen from his attitude at the end of today’s race) is starting to get close to him. In other periods there would have been talk of a driver ready to take advantage of a misstep, but with Verstappen and the Red Bull of 2023 it is a hope destined to remain so. However, there is a lot of good in McLaren’s growth, both in terms of what it is achieving in this second part of the season and in view of 2024 now around the corner. Norris is on his way to finishing the world championship in fourth place, an incredible recovery if you consider that after eight races he only had twelve points to his credit.
After having overtaken Carlos Sainz, Lando has Fernando Alonso in his sights in the general classification. The upset would have already arrived at Interlagos if ‘Nando’ hadn’t decided to take the lead. He did it his way, helped by an Aston Martin revitalized by the return to the old (i.e. removing various updates from the single-seater) but with the exuberant added value guaranteed by his race conduct.
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates upon arrival in Parc Fermé
At 42, Fernando has probably left a couple of tenths along the way, but in terms of motivation he is the envy of the hungriest of rookies. All seasoned with a wealth of experience that allows him an all-round vision of the race, a mastery of the situation even when he is led to believe that there is little time to think. Putting it all together, Alonso managed to keep a faster Red Bull behind him, simmering Perez and making the winning move just when third place seemed lost. The motivation of this perennial boy is the heritage of Formula 1, with the helmet on his head Alonso will always be a protagonist until he decides that the helmet will stay at home.
Charles Leclerc crashed the Ferrari on the formation lap due to a hydraulic failure
The Brazilian Grand Prix was instead bitter for Ferrari, which for the second time in four races started with only one single-seater, and very bitter for Mercedes, by far the worst seen in a season which was already exhilarating. For Leclerc, almost in tears in front of the microphones, the disappointment was enormous, given that all the work of the weekend had been aimed at a race that got out of hand before he even started it. For Hamilton and Russell the race was a long agony, ending early for George and ending for Lewis under the checkered flag in a miserable eighth position. In both garages, a countdown that will expire under the checkered flag in Abu Dhabi is now conceivable. To turn the page hoping for a better 2024.
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