Category Archives: Cars

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Norris wins season finale at Yas Marina, as McLaren hang on to win Constructors’ crown despite opening lap Piastri-Verstappen collision; Ferrari come up just short with solid Sainz P2, Leclerc recovery to P3; Hamilton ends Mercedes career on high note with late pass on Russell for P4 after P16 start

Lando Norris capped off a breakout 2024 season with a victory under the lights of Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, the last race of the year, securing McLaren their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998, besting a game and revitalized Scuderia Ferrari for motorsports’ ultimate cash prize. Despite teammate Oscar Piatsri having his race ruined by an opening lap collision with an unnecessarily aggressive Max Verstappen, and despite Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz running a flawless race to take P2 and teammate Charles Leclerc putting in a heroic effort to surge from a P19 start on the grid to third place on the podium, Norris’s win provided team McLaren with the necessary margin to secure the crown in the season’s final round. Arguably the best driver in F1 from Round 6 on even with Verstappen clinching his fourth consecutive Drivers’ title, Norris earned 13 podiums and a career-high 4 victories, as the McLaren MCL38 drastically improved after a slow start and eventually overhauled the mighty Red Bull factory team, while simultaneously fending off the much improved Prancing Horses down the stretch. While there was no shortage of chaotic moments behind him, including an early Virtual Safety Car brought about when the second Red Bull of the star-crossed Sergio Perez couldn’t get re-fired after tangling with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas also on Lap 1, Norris controlled the race from the front at Yas Marina with seeming ease, cruising home to take the checkered flag nearly six-seconds ahead of Sainz.

Norris’s teammate Piastri had a challenging day to say the least. Starting from P2 in a Papaya front row lockout, he was unceremoniously punted by Verstappen while simply going for the apex at Turn 1. Piastri was then subsequently penalized for running into the back of Williams’ rookie Franco Colapinto just as the brief  VSC period was ending on Lap 23. That penalty was not assessed until after Piastri had pitted to doff his flat-spotted opening set of Medium Pirellis in favor of the Hards, meaning he would definitely have to come in again and serve it later in the race with less time to recover. In the end, Piastri was forced to mount a frantic charge through the midfield as the laps wound down in this 58-lap contest, finally securing P10 and a point with only four to go. Verstappen faced a similar race trajectory for his early transgression against the Aussie, the Red Bull ace’s lack of maturity surfacing once again in sarcastic comments about the stewards’ decision to penalize him despite clearly being 100% at fault. After serving his ten-seconds on Lap 30, Verstappen likewise knifed his way through back-markers and midfield runners en route to a P6 finish. So, yes, Verstappen has now won four Driver’s titles on the trot, putting him into the rarefied air of Formula 1 history. But one can only hope he takes this offseason to reflect a bit on just what kind of champion he wants to be and how he wants the world to perceive him — as a perpetual enfant terrible or a true ambassador of the sport?

It was a day of mixed emotions for the always classy Sainz, who kept it tidy and came home runner-up in his final race for the Scuderia. Sainz will head over to Williams next year but there is no doubt his quite solid campaign, where he scored 250 points and placed fifth in Drivers’, led to Ferrari’s significant second place in the Constructors’ ahead of the once-untouchable but now third place Red Bull team. Leclerc will also have much to be proud of looking back on 2024, even if he is still searching for his first F1 crown. The Monegasque finished with aplomb, and deployed all of his considerable skills to earn that remarkable P19-to-P3 result, picking up and amazing 11 spots on the opening lap alone before the VSC was deployed. Leclerc also finished third in the Drivers’ standing and will certainly be hoping Ferrari’s significant improvement continues in 2025.

Soon to be ex-Mercedes stalwart Lewis Hamilton will be hoping the same thing for the rejuvenated fortunes of the team from Maranello, since the seven-time champ will be crossing over to take Sainz’s seat and partner Leclerc next year. Hamilton had a vintage performance in Abu Dhabi in his final drive for the Silver Arrows, utilizing an opposite Hard-to-Medium tire strategy while starting from P16 after an unlucky Saturday qualifying saw him collect an errant bollard at an inopportune time. Hamilton ran an extra long opening stint on those Hards, making it all the way to Lap 35 before coming in for fresh Mediums and thereby over-cutting all but the top contenders to rejoin in P7 after a lightning stop by his pit crew. Lewis then skillfully hunted down as many drivers as he could on his both fresher and better performing Pirellis, including teammate George Russell on the last lap, to surge to a P4 finish and a thrilling end to one of the most remarkable driver and team partnerships in the history of the sport. Russell had to settle for P5 on the day but he can also be secure in the knowledge that he will be the undisputed team leader for mighty Mercedes in 2025, as they look to bounce back from a disappointing couple of years and rookie Kimi Antonelli takes over for Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly continued his fine run of form for suddenly surging Alpine with an impressive P7 result, helping the team take an improbable P6 in the Constructors’. Rookie Jack Doohan, who will take over the second car next season, replaced Esteban Ocon one race early and completed the event in P15. Nico Hulkenberg was also solid in his final race for Haas F1 before returning to Sauber next year, the veteran German pilot scoring a quartet of points in P8. And Fernando Alonso, who thoroughly bettered Aston Martin teammate (and the boss’s son) Lance Stroll all year long, did so again, making the most of his mediocre mount to sail home in P9, while Stroll continued to scuffle and finished out of the points in P14.

Top 10 finishers of the Abu Dhabi GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

58

1:26:33.291

25

2

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

58

+5.832s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

58

+31.928s

15

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

58

+36.483s

12

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

58

+37.538s

10

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

58

+49.847s

8

7

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

58

+72.560s

6

8

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

58

+75.554s

4

9

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

58

+82.373s

2

10

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

58

+83.821s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Final Constructors’ Standings are here.

Final Drivers’ Standings are here.

That wraps up an enthralling 2024 F1 season — have a great winter break and look forward to seeing you, along with all the new faces in new places, in 2025!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

McLaren lock out front row and gain decisive advantage in Constructors’ battle as Norris grabs pole, Piastri P2 at Yas Marina; Sainz P3 but Leclerc will start from rear after engine penalty and deleted lap in Q2, dealing blow to Ferrari’s hopes.

 

Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:23.682

1:23.098

1:22.595

16

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:23.640

1:23.199

1:22.804

16

3

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:23.487

1:22.985

1:22.824

16

4

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:23.722

1:23.040

1:22.886

17

5

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:23.516

1:22.998

1:22.945

15

6

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:23.548

1:23.086

1:22.984

18

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:23.678

1:23.283

1:23.132

19

8

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:23.794

1:23.268

1:23.196

19

9

77

Valtteri Bottas

Kick Sauber Ferrari

1:23.481

1:23.341

1:23.204

15

10

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:23.559

1:23.379

1:23.264

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 8 am Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if McLaren can lock up the Constructors’ or if fate and the Yas Marina Circuit have other plans!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Verstappen cruises to victory while chaos envelopes rest of field; Leclerc earns P2 ahead of Piastri as Ferrari close the gap to McLaren

A week after clinching his fourth consecutive Drivers’ title in Las Vegas, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen showed no signs of resting on his laurels at Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. Peeved about being penalized one grid spot for an incident with Mercedes’ George Russell during Saturday qualifying, Verstappen launched off the line like a man possessed when the lights went out to start the race. He quickly made short work of the pole-sitting Russell, exacting his desert vengeance swiftly while steaming into Turn 1. Russell also lost a position to McLaren’s Lando Norris, dropping the lead Silver Arrow down to P3 with less than a third of lap yet run. Meanwhile, there was carnage at the back of the pack, with Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg losing traction and ping-ponging off Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and rookie Franco Colapinto’s Williams. While Hulkenberg was able to drive away from the accident from the large runoff area at the apex of Turn 1 with only a puncture, Ocon and Colapinto were not as fortunate and a Safety Car was deployed to retrieve both stricken cars.

It was a quick clean up and the race restarted towards the end of Lap 4, Verstappen quickly pulling a decent gap over the pursuing P2 McLaren of Norris. Once again, there was contact towards the rear, with the RBs of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson and the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas all making contact with one another but all three also able to continue. Lawson was eventually penalized 10-seconds for causing that collision and then the stewards also busted Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for jumping the start, earning the seven-time champ a 5-second penalty. With all of the top contenders running slightly longer on their starting sets of Medium Pirelli tires due to that early Safety Car period, Russell became the first of the top ten to pit for fresh rubber on Lap 24, perhaps feeling the heat from the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri behind him and angling for an undercut advantage. But that gambit came to less than nothing when the Silver Arrows mechanics uncharacteristically botched the stop with a sticky rear right tire, leaving Russell helplessly stationary for an excruciating 7-seconds. When Russell rejoined on his new set of Hard compound tires, he found himself down in P11, behind several ostensibly slower cars and with a lot of work to do to pull himself back into the serious points.

The race began to get downright bizarre on Lap 30 of the 57-Lap contest from Losail International Circuit when a wing mirror from Alexander Albon’s Williams fell off and lay stationary just before the end of the start-finish straight. While double yellow flags were deployed in that sector, the race director inexplicably did not deploy a Safety Car to retrieve the errant mirror and lap after lap the cars had to try and tiptoe around that dangerous bit of debris. On Lap 33, however, Bottas ran over it, sending shards of glass and carbon fiber across the track surface. On Lap 34, Hamilton and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz both sustained punctured tires as a result of running over that debris. On Lap 35, the Safety Car was finally deployed to clean up the jagged mess but it was far too late for those already disadvantaged by it. To make matters worse, Norris had failed to lift for the double yellows in that area while in hot pursuit of Verstappen a little earlier. The Dutchman immediately took notice and so too did the stewards, who soon announced they were investigating the McLaren man’s potential infraction.

When things had been cleaned up and the race restarted on Lap 39, it was once again Verstappen and Norris battling it out at the front, the Englishman getting much closer this time and running side by side with the Red Bull before backing out of the effort and living to fight another day, But once again there was trouble at the back, as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez spun violently and ended up unable to continue, as did Hulkenberg, who got beached in one of the gravel traps. It was another terrible day for Perez, who seems more than likely to lose his Red Bull seat due to his horrid drop in form in the second half of the season, which has cost the team dearly in their hopes of repeating as Constructors’ champs. When the race restarted once more on Lap 42, Verstappen swanned away this time, while Norris found himself under attack by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. While Norris was able to hold the Prancing Horse off to maintain second place, on Lap 45 the hammer dropped and Norris was assessed a race altering 10-second stop/go penalty, which relegated him to last of the runners in P15 when he emerged from the pits. Hamilton also received a second penalty, this time a drive through for speeding in the pits earlier, adding insult to injury for the proud Englishman on a day where nothing went right for him and he would score no points.

As for Norris, he desperately tried to get back into the points, his indiscretion costing the McLaren team in their fight against Ferrari for the all-important Constructors’ Championship. Leclerc was now firmly ensconced in P2 and ended up 6-seconds behind  the victorious Verstappen when the checkered flag flew, making it a very good day for the Scuderia and the Monegasque. Russell had seemingly recovered from his disastrous pit stop when he crossed the line in P3 but was assessed a 5-second time penalty for dropping back too far from the Safety Car during its final deployment. That promoted Piastri to the podium in P3, Russell being relegated to P4 on a frustrating day for the Briton. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had a superb drive to finish a very valuable P5, making the most of the rash of retirements and woes to other points contenders. Carlos Sainz further helped close Ferrari’s gap to McLaren to an eminently manageable 21-point deficit, while Norris clawed his back in the points with a late race pass on Bottas for P10 and also set the fastest lap en route to make it a pair on a day where much more seemed to be on the cards for him. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso gave a vintage effort to finish an impressive P7 in a car that was nowhere on the straights; Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu scored his and the team’s first points of the year with an excellent drive to finish P8; and the  lone surviving Haas of Kevin Magnussen also took valuable points in P9

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

57

1:31:05.323

25

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

57

+6.031s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

57

+6.819s

15

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

57

+14.104s

12

5

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

57

+16.782s

10

6

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

57

+17.476s

8

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

57

+19.867s

6

8

24

Zhou Guanyu

Kick Sauber Ferrari

57

+25.360s

4

9

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

57

+32.177s

2

10

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

57

+35.762s

2

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The 2024 season F1 finale is but a week away, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the visually stunning Yas Marina Circuit. Hope to see you then for yet more fireworks before we draw the curtains on what has been an enthralling season of motor racing at the sport’s highest level!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Verstappen denied pole after one-place penalty for impeding Russell, who’s promoted to P1 for GP at Losail; Norris and Piastri P3 & P4 for McLaren ahead of both Ferraris

After being skunked in earlier Sprint qualifying and the Sprint race, where he only placed P8 for a measly one point, newly crowned four-time Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen found another level late in Saturday Qualifying for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season. On the super high-G, low grip Loasail International Circuit, Verstappen set the fastest lap by some .055-seconds at the tail end of Q3, surging ahead of the highly competitive Mercedes of George Russell. But the stewards later determined that the Red Bull ace had dawdled a bit too much in front of Russell earlier in the lap, thereby affecting the Briton’s preparation efforts for a final push. Verstappen was demoted one position for the infraction and that promoted Russell to P1 for tomorrow’s race. McLaren continued their stout efforts to hold off Ferrari and Red Bull for the Constructors’ crown, with Lando Norris qualifying P3 and Oscar Piastri P4 after that duo had already won the Sprint race, where Norris allowed Piastri to pass him for the win under team orders in the short 19-lap race. Ferrari saw their cars split on the grid, with Charles Leclerc only good enough for P5 and Carlos Sainz then bettered by the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, P6 to P7.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar Grand Prix:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

1

Max Verstappen*

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:21.579

1:20.687

1:20.520

22

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:21.241

1:21.069

1:20.575

28

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:21.578

1:20.983

1:20.772

22

4

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:21.821

1:21.121

1:20.829

22

5

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:21.278

1:21.000

1:20.852

26

6

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:21.637

1:21.095

1:21.011

27

7

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:21.447

1:21.199

1:21.041

26

8

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:21.608

1:21.208

1:21.251

19

9

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:21.675

1:21.425

1:21.425

22

10

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

1:21.891

1:21.387

1:21.500

26

*Verstappen penalized one place for impeding Russell in Q3

Complete qualifying results available at Formula1.com.

Revised starting grid is here.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 11 am Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Results & aftermath

Verstappen steals show in Vegas to clinch fourth consecutive title with fifth-place finish, as Russell dominates to win & Hamilton fights back from P10 for Silver Arrows 1-2; Ferrari outscore McLaren on bad day for Papayas

Even on a night where his Red Bull was nowhere near the fastest car, Max Verstappen managed to outshine all the other drivers by doing just enough under the bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit to earn his fourth consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship and vault himself into the truly elite company of the all time great pilots of the sport. With his closest rival, McLaren’s Lando Norris, unable to get to grips with the very slick street track in the cool desert night conditions of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Verstappen put paid to the young Briton’s title dreams by finishing P5 to Norris’ P6, mathematically bagging the 2024 Championship with two rounds still to go. Certainly the most challenging title tilt for the Flying Dutchman since his epic and controversial showdown with Lewis Hamilton in 2021, Verstappen nevertheless prevailed by banking the early domination of winning seven of the first ten races to start the season. He then outperformed the increasingly mediocre Red Bull to nurse his championship lead through waves of onslaught by not only the incredibly improved McLarens but also the strong-finishing Ferraris and Mercedes. In fact, it was Mercedes who dominated here in Vegas, with their soon to be team leader, George Russell, romping through the race weekend as clearly the favorite on pace after taking an assured pole in qualifying on this challenging and surreal 6.2 kilometer street track. Russell controlled the Grand Prix from the front when the lights went out and never relented despite the unpredictability of a two-stop tire strategy necessitated by unexpected degradation for all the runners. But Russell proved masterful in his tire management and went on to take the relatively easy victory. And while Verstappen didn’t even make the podium, for all intents and purposes that was irrelevant. Once again, he made the most of his dominant efforts and then maximized his results when on the back foot, even under severe pressure from the Norris-McLaren challenge in the latter third of the year. It all ended up in yet another Max Verstappen championship and The Dutch Master has now sealed a four-year stretch of dominance equivalent to that of Sebastien Vettel in a previous generation of Red Bull chassis and power unit (2010-2013). He also joins Michael Schumacher (7), Hamilton (7),  Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Alain Prost & Vettel (4) as the only drivers to earn four titles or more in F1’s now seventy-four year history.

Russell was never really under threat for the win, such was his pace, but Silver Arrows teammate, Lewis Hamilton, needs a vintage drive to vault himself up the standings from down in tenth on the grid after a totally disastrous Friday night qualifying effort. Such was the surprising pace of the Mercedes W15 here, though, that Hamilton was able to steadily push up to the front and towards his teammate, dusting off Norris, both Ferraris and Verstappen along the way in impressive fashion, and come home a remarkable P2 behind Russell. That made it an amazing race weekend for Mercedes, even amidst the obvious tensions within the team due to Hamilton’s long simmering defection to Ferrari next season. And speaking of the Prancing Horses, while they had nothing for the Mercedes duo and their ability to mange their Pirelli tires better than any other cars in the field, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc did manage to come home best of the rest in P3 and P4 respectively. With Norris only able to secure P6 and teammate OscarI Piastri struggling en route to P7, it was bad news for McLaren but great news for the Scuderia in the tussle for the all important Constructors’ Championship. McLaren’s overall advantage shrunk to 24 points over Ferrari, an imminently manageable deficit with two rounds remaining. It could certainly go either way but, at least in Las Vegas, Ferrari looked on the ascent, or at least they were able to manage their struggles much better than McLaren, the braintrust and drivers of the latter team coming away nonplussed by their sudden lack of performance. It remains to be seen whether that trend will continue at the next race in Qatar at the much more conventional Tilke-designed Lusail International Circuit.

Top 10 finishers of the Las Vegas GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

63

George Russell

Mercedes

50

1:22:05.969

25

2

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

50

+7.313s

18

3

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

50

+11.906s

15

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

50

+14.283s

12

5

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

50

+16.582s

10

6

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

50

+43.385s

9

7

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

50

+51.365s

6

8

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

50

+59.808s

4

9

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

50

+62.808s

2

10

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

50

+63.114s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time for the penultimate round of 2024 from Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. While the Drivers’ Championship is done and dusted courtesy of King Max, there’s all to play for in the supremely valuable Constructors’ Title. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can overhaul McLaren for the top spot or, with a little bad luck to both those rivals, Red Bull just might sneak back into contention!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Russell lays down dominant late lap for pole in Vegas while Hamilton struggles in P10; Ferrari’s Sainz P2, Gasly pulls P3 out of the bag for Alpine; Red Bull’s Verstappen only P5 as he closes in on fourth championship

Las Vegas Strip Circuit

Top 10 qualifiers for the Las Vegas GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:33.186

1:32.779

1:32.312

25

2

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:33.484

1:32.711

1:32.410

24

3

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:33.691

1:32.879

1:32.664

25

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:33.446

1:33.016

1:32.783

23

5

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:33.299

1:33.085

1:32.797

21

6

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:33.592

1:33.099

1:33.008

20

7

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

1:33.789

1:33.089

1:33.029

25

8

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:33.450

1:33.024

1:33.033

21

9

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:33.920

1:33.114

1:33.062

17

10

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:33.225

1:32.567

1:48.106

24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix starts bright and early beginning at 1 am Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Verstappen can clinch or Norris can live to fight another day!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of São Paulo — Results & aftermath

Verstappen recovers from P17 start to take masterful victory in the rain at Interlagos; McLaren & P6 Norris miss out with pit strategy, as Alpine capitalize on chaos to score surprise double podium with Ocon & Gasly

It was a tale of two polar opposite moods for Red Bull’s points-leading Max Verstappen in the quest for his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship and McLaren’s Lando Norris on his hunt for his first crown on a hectic, rain affected São Paulo Grand Prix. With Saturday qualifying postponed until Sunday due to torrential downpours, conditions were not that much better this morning, leading to multiple red flags and crashes. But it was also completed and set the race grid for just a little later in the day, with Norris soaring to take the pole while Verstappen was hampered by a red flag in Q2, thereby bounced in P12 and then handed a 5-spot grid penalty for engine component changes. That meant the Flying Dutchman was mired down in P17 to start the race, while his chief challenger started from P1. With the rain moderate on the formation lap,  Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll spun off the circuit, leading to confusion and a false start before the grid was reorganized for the proper beginning of the race. When the lights finally went off, Norris lost P1 to the ambitious Mercedes of George Russell, who made the superior getaway, while Verstappen set about picking off back markers and improving his position as much as possible. The modern Rainmaster did just that, and by Lap 11 he had already passed the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri for P7, with ambitions for even greater results.

The dilemma for all the drivers soon became when exactly to come in for fresh Pirelli wet weather tires. Ferrari were the first to pull the trigger, calling Charles Leclerc in for new Intermediates. While Norris debated making that move with his race engineer, the rain began intensifying again. When Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg brought out a Virtual Safety Car with a spin and temporarily getting stuck off track, both Norris and Russell pulled the trigger on their first pit stops. But Hulkenberg was quickly helped to get running again by the over eager marshals, for which the German was eventually black flagged from the race, and the VSC ended just as suddenly as it began, leaving Norris & Russell unable to take full advantage of the field’s previously reduced speed. With the rain now pelting down on Interlagos, a Safety Car was deployed on Lap 30 to slow things down to a safe pace. But very soon after rookie Franco Colapinto binned his Williams after hydroplaning, which brought out a Red Flag stoppage on Lap 32. Under Formula 1’s quirky rules, that meant that the entire field was entitled to a free change of tires while stationary in the pits, putting all those who had already stopped at a major disadvantage. 

For Verstappen, that was just the stroke of luck he needed and when the race resumed, he trailed only the unlikely leader, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Another Safety Car was deployed on Lap 43 when Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari, putting the Spaniard’s difficult weekend in Brazil out if its misery a week after his triumph in Mexico. When racing resumed on Lap 43, Verstappen got the jump on Ocon and took a lead he wouldn’t relinquish by the time the full 69-laps were in the books. Meanwhile, Norris ran wide on that same restart and found himself plummeting down to P7. Verstappen scampered away to the tune of an eventual 19.47-second final advantage over Ocon and took an astonishing win in São Paulo to earn his first victory since Round 10 in Spain back in June. But Norris was only able to gain one more place when all was said and done and finished P6. It was a huge shift in momentum back to Verstappen in the championship hunt and a blow to Norris, who now trails by 62-points with only  three races remaining. While the timing of the pit stop and the eventual Red Flag really hurt Norris, Verstappen made his own luck with a superb drive in the rain and an improbable and historic comeback victory after that lowly P17 start. This may well have been the race that ends up defining the 2024 season and secures Verstappen’s fourth consecutive title when the final story is written in the F1 history books.

Top 10 finishers of the São Paulo GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

69

2:06:54.430

26

2

31

Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

69

+19.477s

18

3

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

69

+22.532s

15

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

69

+23.265s

12

5

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

69

+30.177s

10

6

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

69

+31.372s

8

7

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

69

+42.056s

6

8

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

69

+44.943s

4

9

30

Liam Lawson

RB Honda RBPT

69

+50.452s

2

10

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

69

+50.753s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

After an absolutely bonkers conclusion in Brazil to a three races in a row triple header, the teams finally get a breather. The next race is three weeks hence, as the Formula 1 circus travels back to the United States for the Las Vegas Grand Prix under the gaudy lights of the strip and the Sphere. With momentum now swinging firmly back towards Verstappen after his heroics in São Paolo today, Norris and McLaren will look to regroup and get their man back into his now long shot Drivers’ Title hunt. Who knows how things will go in this most unpredictable Formula 1 season? But there is one sure thing — rain will definitely not be a factor in Vegas. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of São Paulo — Qualifying results

Norris takes pole amidst carnage of delayed, rain soaked, red flag-affected Quali in Brazil; Russell fights to an impressive P2, Tsunoda a surprise P3 for RB Honda; Sainz crashes out, Verstappen & Perez also knocked out in Q2

Driver Alexander Albon walks away from his crash-damaged Williams

Top 10 qualifiers for the São Paulo GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.944

1:24.844

1:23.405

33

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:29.121

1:26.307

1:23.578

29

3

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

1:29.172

1:26.464

1:24.111

30

4

31

Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

1:29.171

1:26.206

1:24.475

31

5

30

Liam Lawson

RB Honda RBPT

1:30.758

1:25.654

1:24.484

30

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:29.839

1:26.097

1:24.525

29

7

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:29.072

1:25.889

1:24.657

28

8

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.114

1:25.179

1:24.686

28

9

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.207

1:25.035

1:28.998

21

10

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.580

1:26.334

19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Results & aftermath

Sainz overcomes early bobble to take dominant win in Mexico City; Leclerc P3 for surging Ferrari; Norris prevails in tete a tete with Verstappen, takes P2 while Max penalized 20-seconds for contact en route to P6 finish

The trajectory of the 2024 Formula 1 season was on full display on Sunday in Mexico City when the pole-sitting Ferrari of Carlos Sainz lost the lead to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the first corner of the opening lap of the Mexican Grand Prix. Had this been a race in the first third of the year, Verstappen would likely have scampered away to a dominant win after making that one move. But Red Bull’s rivals have never stopped improving and have relentlessly closed the gap to the previously supreme car on the grid. After a multi-lap Safety Car period that was necessitated by a race-ending accident between RB Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams Alexander Albon on that opening lap, Sainz hunted down Verstappen when the race resumed late on Lap 6, eventually passing the Dutchman to retake the lead on Lap 9 and then rapidly pulling out his advantage. Meanwhile, Verstappen became embroiled in a physical battle attempting to hold off his chief rival in the Drivers’ Championship, McLaren’s Lando Norris, that resulted in several wheel banging moments and Norris being forced wide and off the circuit. The stewards took a dim view of such aggressive behavior and Verstappen was first assessed one 10-second penalty for forcing another driver off track and then a second a few laps later for himself leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. That severely compromised Verstappen’s race and at his first and only pit stop he was forced to sit in the car with his pit crew stationary for a whopping 20-seconds while traffic whipped by down the start-finish straight. He eventually emerged in P15 and, while he was able to fight his way back into the points and a P6 result, it was physically impossible for him to ever return anywhere near the top  five finishers.

Meanwhile, with Sainz now leading comfortably for the duration of this 71-lap high altitude contest, Scuderia stablemate Charles Leclerc played rear gunner from P2 for the final third of the contest. Norris, his car thankfully undamaged from all the contact with Verstappen and keen to maximize his points advantage on the day over the penalized Red Bull leader, put the bit between his teeth and set about pulling Leclerc back into his clutches. After setting the fatstest lap of the race to that point on Lap 62, Norris was right on Leclerc’s gearbox. And with the second stint-set of Hard Pirellis now showing their age, Leclerc lost control while defending into the start-finish straight, nearly resulting in a huge shunt. The Monegasque’s fast hands saved his day but Norris was able to blow by and take that pivotal P2, holding it to the end of the Grand Prix. That whittled Verstappen’s points lead down to a doable 47 with just four races remaining. Red Bull’s woes were compounded by another shoddy performance from Sergio Perez, who sustained damage in a kerfuffle with RB’s rookie Liam Lawson, earned a 5-second penalty of his own for his trouble and then failed to score in P17 with a damaged car. With McLaren’s number two Oscar Piastri able to recover from a poor qualifying and a lowly P17 start on the grid up to a decent P8 finish, McLaren’s lead over Red Bull climbed to 29 points in the all important Constructors’ Championship.

Mercedes were the best of the rest, with Lewis Hamilton out-dueling George Russell in his newer spec chassis, P4 to P5.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexican GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

71

1:40:55.800

25

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

71

+4.705s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

71

+34.387s

16

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

71

+44.780s

12

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

71

+48.536s

10

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

71

+59.558s

8

7

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

71

+63.642s

6

8

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

71

+64.928s

4

9

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

70

+1 lap

2

10

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

70

+1 lap

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, as F1’s frantic triple header comes to its conclusion at Interlagos in Sao Paolo for the Brazilian Grand Prix. With Ferrari feeling the late season momentum, Red Bull on the back foot and McLaren closing in on a potential dual title, it’s all to play for with only with only four rounds remaining in the season. Hope to see you the to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Qualifying results

Sainz seals blistering pole time in Mexico City ahead of Verstappen & Norris; Leclerc P4 as Perez & Piastri get bounced in Q1

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:16.778

1:16.515

1:15.946

21

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:16.803

1:16.514

1:16.171

18

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:16.505

1:16.301

1:16.260

15

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:16.972

1:16.641

1:16.265

21

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:17.194

1:16.937

1:16.356

19

6

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:17.306

1:16.973

1:16.651

19

7

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

1:17.125

1:17.003

1:16.886

18

8

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:17.149

1:17.048

1:16.892

18

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:17.189

1:16.988

1:17.065

18

10

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:17.186

1:16.995

1:17.365

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s Mexico City Grand Prix airs live on ABC beginning at 4 pm Eastern here in the States. With the top three frontrunners so close on pace, look forward to seeing you then to find out how it all shakes out!