Formula 1 Racing

Seven things we learned from the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix

Verstappen was in a league of one as he rose from 17th to victory

We were due a mad one, weren’t we? There’s usually at least one Formula 1 race per year which goes off-script, usually thanks to a few lashings of rain, and Brazil gave us this year’s instalment of a break with the usual competitive order.

Despite the trials and tribulations of qualifying – held on Sunday morning thanks to the Saturday downpour – Max Verstappen transcended the conditions to eclipse his own 2016 triumph at Interlagos with a drive that has given him the match point and the advantage in this year’s title fight.

PLUS: The 10 unseen factors critical to Verstappen’s Brazil F1 rise

The rain also gives the lesser lights a chance to shine, and the likes of Alpine and Yuki Tsunoda produced assured drives in Brazil – albeit with varying degrees of pay-off. Let’s delve into what we learned at this year’s Brazilian race.

1. Verstappen pulls out one of his – and F1’s – greatest drives to dispel recent furore

Verstappen was in a league of one as he rose from 17th to victory

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Simply lovely. Verstappen’s trademark (literally and figuratively) phrase perfectly encapsulated his Sunday afternoon endeavours in the rain, which concluded with a victory that enters the pantheon of great wet-weather drives.

There’s Ayrton Senna at Donington 1993, Damon Hill at Suzuka ’94, Michael Schumacher at Barcelona ’96, Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone 2008, Verstappen’s earlier Brazil entry in ’16 – now, Brazil 2024 must be included among them. Does it surpass them all? That’s up to you, dear reader – it’s entirely subjective.

Personal opinion, but the continued pre-weekend debate about Verstappen’s Mexico actions was getting tiring. He’d got his penalties and responded defiantly to the questioning on Thursday, but sometimes it’s better (albeit in a desperately cliched phrase) to ‘do the talking on-track’. That’s where a wet Brazil race washed away the sour taste of the previous weeks.

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