The faces of Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and McLaren driver Lando Norris said it all in the deafening aftermath of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The relief was breaking across those respectively long furrowed brows. A sudden pressure release squirting uplifting and cooling air as if it were illicit water on inner tyre tread.
The 2024 Formula 1 title is now essentially done, the relentless questioning of the contenders set to rescind, all with Max Verstappen’s superb win in Brazil. It soothed a championship battle that had got horribly ugly.
Verstappen was letting off steam of his own on the podium. Rejoicing in what is remarkably his first win since holding off Norris back in June’s Spanish GP. Once again, he had delivered magic at a wet Interlagos – one of F1’s best spectacles.
Verstappen’s first lap was indeed worthy of Horner’s “up there with Donington 1993” comparison. His confidence to immediately power around two cars at Turn 3 – where he’d shone so strongly here back in 2016, a performance that featured a pitstraight gaffe of which there was no repeat last Sunday afternoon – was superb.
That was allied with how well the Red Bull starts in low-grip conditions. And yet Verstappen’s confidence to pull dive after dive at Turn 1 knowing any race-ending contact would blow the title fight wide open with Norris starting ahead was impressively unwavering. Even for a man so iron in his desire to be forever unyielding.
Verstappen’s charge through the field was one of the performances of the season
Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images
His move to finally seize the race lead at the second post-red flag safety car restart from the race’s other star, Esteban Ocon, came out of nowhere. The world champion had lost ground as the Alpine powered away with Verstappen-esque poise on a very tough day for all involved. The Red Bull was so far back as the braking zone approached.
But Verstappen nailed it while Norris was slipping off the road in the background at Turn 1 under pressure from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – the only driver to offer the winner any resistance on his rise. In one corner the 2024 season was encapsulated.
Norris erred when perfection was needed. Verstappen commanded with an RB20 back on song. Leclerc showed more mettle amid Ferrari’s own wild performance swings these days.
And, in the brief battle before the red flag and Leclerc’s green-flag pitstop, hypocrisy raged…
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