McLaren’s Brazilian Blow: Team Struggles to 17th on Grid at F1 Brazil Grand Prix

[The Epoch Times, November 4, 2024](Comprehensive reporting by Epoch Times Reporter Wang Youzhi) On November 3, local time, the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix was held at the José Carlos Passe circuit on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Red Bull Dutch driver Max Verstappen started 17th on the grid and put in a consistent overtaking performance to win the championship. Two French drivers from Renault’s Alpine team, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, finished second and third respectively.

Brazil’s bad weather causes repeated rain wars

The Grande Premio do Brasil (F1 Brazil) has been held since 1973. Starting in 2021, the event will be renamed the “Grand Prix of São Paulo”. The race was held at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace track, formerly known as Interlagos, located on the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil, named after the famous Brazilian F1 driver Autodromo José Carlos Pace who died in a plane crash in 1977. Named after J. Carlos Pace.

The Passe Circuit is a very challenging track, with a total length of 4.309 km, running in a counter-clockwise direction and featuring 15 corners, including a combination of high-speed straights and complex curves. The track has ups and downs and the combination of fast and slow sections places high demands on the driver’s skill, racing performance and tuning. The track includes the famous “Senna Corner” – a complex continuous curve area named after the legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna. Drivers need to have precise control skills to pass smoothly from here.

Besides the main race, this competition also has an additional sprint race. Australian driver Oscar Piastre of McLaren was first in qualifying for the sprint race, with his team-mate Lando Norris second and Ferrari Monaco driver Charles Leclerc third and Verstappen fourth.

On November 2, 2024, at the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race, Norris won the championship and teammate Piastre finished runner-up. The duo helped McLaren break Verstappen’s monopoly on sprint races this season. The picture shows the moment when the two McLaren cars start from the front row after the start of the sprint race. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

In the sprint race, the two McLaren cars started on the front row, with Piastre and Norris cooperating with each other and taking the lead to ensure they took the top two positions. In the end, Norris won the championship and teammate Piastri finished second. The duo helped McLaren break Verstappen’s monopoly on sprint races this season. Third-placed Verstappen was given a 5-second penalty for a race-time violation and dropped his ranking to fourth. Leclerc was third.

Due to bad weather in São Paulo, poor visibility, severe waterlogging on the track and fading lights, qualifying for the main race was postponed for the following day for safety reasons. However, the rain did not stop and qualifiers were still conducted in rain. As a result, these rain races often result in accidents with five ‘red flags’ in a row.

In the end, Norris won the pole position, with Mercedes British driver George Russell second and Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda third. Verstappen was penalized five places due to the engine change and will start the race from 17th place.

Verstappen started 17th and won the championship

When the race started on Sunday, there was no rain in the area and all drivers started on semi-wet tyres. After the start of the race, Russell passed Norris at Turn 1 and raced to the front. After just two laps, Verstappen improved his ranking to 11th. After that, the Dutchman became the focus of the track as he chased wildly and put in constant overtaking performances. On the 11th lap, Verstappen moved up to sixth.

On November 3, 2024, in the main race of the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull Dutch driver Max Verstappen started 17th on the grid and made consecutive overtaking plays to win the championship. The footage shows Russell driving his Mercedes to the front to overtake Norris after the start of the race. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
On November 3, 2024, in the main race of the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull Dutch driver Max Verstappen started 17th on the grid and made consecutive overtaking plays to win the championship. The image shows Russell driving a Mercedes car to lead the early stages of the race. (Rudy Kerajevoli/Getty Images)

On lap 22, Leclerc’s car spun while turning a corner, allowing Verstappen to see an overtaking opportunity behind him. Subsequently, he attempted several overtakes, but the Ferrari driver stubbornly defended his fifth position. On lap 25, Leclerc was still using semi-wet tyres, and after returning to the track took 2.6 seconds, he was temporarily in 13th place.

On the 27th, with heavy rain on the track, and Hulkenberg stuck in the Turn 1 area, the Virtual Safety Car was activated, and the drivers took the opportunity to pit. In lap 29, Virtual came out of the safety car, leading, Ocon and Verstappen still hadn’t pitted and Ocon started to lead. As time went on, with more water on the track and Russell’s car suspected of having brake problems, Norris took the opportunity to overtake his rival.

On the 30th, due to heavy rain, security vehicles were deployed to control the field. On the 32nd, Colapinto suffered a serious accident during the safety car and the race was suspended by a “red flag”. This time, Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly, thankfully, waited until the “red flag” appeared and the tire change was completed.

Later, the race resumed with a rolling start. After the race restarted, Norris went wide in the corner and passed Russell. On lap 39, Sainz hit the wall and retired, triggering the safety car again. The race restarted on lap 43, and Verstappen overtook Ocon at Turn 1 and took the lead. Norris ran off the track in Turn 1 and dropped to seventh after returning to the track.

The following race evolved into Verstappen’s individual performance and he maintained a very good rhythm and constantly refreshed the “fastest lap”, fully demonstrating the strong advantages of Red Bull racing in the rain battle. The gap between him and second-placed O’Connell gradually widened, with the advantage reaching more than 15 seconds.

In the end, Verstappen, who started from 17th place, crossed the line first and won his 8th championship of the season and 62nd of his career. The win made Verstappen the first driver in F1 history to win from 10 different starting positions. Ocon and Gasly, the Alpine team’s two French drivers, joined the podium together, finishing second and third respectively.

On November 3, 2024, in the main race of the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, two French drivers Ocon (Esteban Ocon, left) and Pierre Gasly (Pierre Gasly) of Renault Group’s Alpine team got a surprise and finished runner-up and third. place respectively. (Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images)

Drivers ranked 4th through 10th at this station with respective points are: Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Piastre, Lawson and Hamilton. Chinese driver Zhu Guanyu finished the race in 15th place, ranking last among all finishers.

After this stop, Verstappen consolidated his leading position with 393 points, making him the annual Drivers’ Champion immediately following the next stop, the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Norris is second with 331 points, 62 points behind Verstappen in third with 307 points. In the team standings, McLaren finished second with 593 points; Red Bull Racing finished third with 544 points.

Editor-in-Chief: Zheng Huang#

McLaren’s Brazilian Blow: Team Struggles to 17th on Grid at F1 Brazil Grand Prix

Brazil’s bad weather causes repeated rain wars

Verstappen started 17th and won the championship

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