Max Verstappen was left to battle for the victory on the front row by himself, with only Lando Norris for company, after Charles Leclerc crashed on the formation lap. This made for an eventful Brazilian Grand Prix.
While the closest competitor, Lando Norris, looked truly amazing on Bonfire Night, Max Verstappen emerged victorious in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
But while Brits were setting off rockets in their back gardens, the Brazilians have been celebrating their Day of the Dead holiday. So it was perhaps fitting that Lewis Hamilton declared that he cannot wait to lay his W14 car to rest after a dismal weekend for Mercedes in Sao Paulo.
George Russell and Hamilton had significant tire degradation, and even with the DRS engaged, their large rear wing made them slow on the straightaways. It implied that Verstappen was never in danger from either of them during the race.
In fairness, not many others were either. After putting the wheels off his McLaren to pursue the champion, Norris was the only one with the pace to keep Verstappen honest, settling for second place. After Aston Martin scrapped their upgrades and went back to the basics, Fernando Alonso came very close to joining them on the podium. He held off Sergio Perez late in the race to take third place.
There was a false start of sorts to the Grand Prix as first-corner crash which caused damage to several cars led to the race being stopped. There was so much debris on the road and damage to the barriers that it was safer to bring out the red flags.
And Charles Leclerc hadn’t even been involved in that start after crashing on the formation lap. He blamed a hydraulics failure over the radio, but later went back on that as he spoke to reporters about what had happened.
The restart was less chaotic, but not great for Hamilton. He had enjoyed a great launch off the line to move up to third on the first occasion, but this time Alonso got the better of him to move up into the podium positions at his old F1 rival’s expense.
That left Russell behind his team-mate and the younger Brit was keen for the Mercedes drivers to work together. But Hamilton apparently didn’t get the memo as he pulled out of DRS range, leaving Russell exposed to the lurking Perez.
As the Mexican swept by, he was less than impressed and wondered why Hamilton had not extended more assistance to him. Hamilton was overtaken shortly after, as the Red Bull driver who was under fire appeared to be returning to his previous form while competing in Sao Paulo.
After the first round of pit stops, Verstappen was in the lead, but Norris was holding him back. Given that the McLaren had already departed DRS range, it was all the more amazing that the team was only three seconds behind Red Bull at their first pit stops.
But the McLaren pit crew was slightly slower and Verstappen took full advantage to extend that to more than five seconds after the first lap on their fresh tyres. Alonso in third was already more than 10 seconds adrift and on older tyres as it became clear that this was going to be a two-horse race.
Verstappen and Norris were going quicker than everyone else by more than half-a-second per lap, underlining how much better they were than everyone else throughout the entire Brazilian GP weekend. Alonso was more than 20 seconds adrift of the lead. Hamilton and Russell were falling back all the time.
Despite his outstanding efforts, Norris would require a safety car in order to overtake Verstappen at the front. However, it never materialized, and the Dutchman easily made it to the finish line, compelling the British woman to accept her role as a bridesmaid once more.
Russell was instructed to stop the car before he even reached the finish line. Mercedes clarified that there was a risk of an instant engine failure due to his high oil temperatures, which were only going to get worse. On the penultimate lap, Perez overtook Alonso, but in a dramatic photo finish, the Spaniard returned the favor and finished third.
Full 2023 Brazilian Grand Prix result
1.Max Verstappen – Red Bull
2.Lando Norris – McLaren
3.Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
4.Sergio Perez – Red Bull
5.Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
6.Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
7.Pierre Gasly – Alpine
8.Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
9.Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
10.Esteban Ocon – Alpine
11.Logan Sargeant – Williams
12.Nico Hulkenberg – Haas
13.Daniel Ricciardo – AlphaTauri
14.Oscar Piastri – McLaren
DNF: George Russell – Mercedes; Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo; Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo; Kevin Magnussen – Haas; Alexander Albon – Williams
DNS: Charles Leclerc – Ferrari