The outcome of the Brazilian Grand Prix swung on the decision made by the leading drivers on whether to pit when the rain intensified around half-distance.
George Russell and Lando Norris tried to take advantage of a Virtual Safety Car period to take fresh sets of intermediate tyres to see them through the downpour. Behind them, Esteban Ocon and Max Verstappen stayed out, and the subsequent red flag cemented their position at the front of the field.
All of the drivers appeared to be taken by surprise at how far the conditions deteriorated before race control intervened by sending out the Safety Car. Even that wasn’t enough to prevent a crash some drivers, notably Russell, warned about.
As always the challenge of a rain-hit race put the greatest strain of all on the communication between the drivers and their race engineers. Here’s how four of the front-runners coped with it, and the effect it had on their races.
Russell
| Dudley | Gap 0.8. Expecting heavier rain. |
| Russell | Yeah it’s already raining heavily now. |
| Russell | If it keeps going like this not too sure how long the inter will go for. |
| Russell | Struggling on this tyre now, mate. |
| Dudley | Yeah affirm. Just had a double yellow turn one, that has cleared. |
| Dudley | Pit window is very busy at the moment, George. |
| Dudley | Rain intensity… |
| Russell | Interrupting Starting to aquaplane. |
| Russell | Struggle to keep this thing on the road mate, it’s really bad |
The Virtual Safety Car is deployed in response to Hulkenberg’s crash. Russell has already passed the pit lane entrance by this point.
| Dudley | So there’s yellow, double yellow turn one, Hulkenberg. |
| Dudley | So be on standby we are in both windows here. So Hulkenberg beached at turn one, double yellow. |
| Dudley | VSC, VSC so delta positive. |
| Russell | I think this is almost red flag conditions now, mate. So much rain. |
| Dudley | Yeah, affirm. It is getting heavier and it’s only going to get heavier than this. |
| Russell | It’s absolutely chucking it down now, aquaplaning on the straights. |
As Russell completes a lap under the VSC, Mercedes prepare to bring him into the pits. Russell isn’t keen. He also warned about the rising water levels at turn 13, where Franco Colapinto later crashed.
| Dudley | Understood. So currently boxing for inter tyre. |
| Russell | I think it’s going to go red, mate. This should go red. We can’t keep the car on the road like this. There is going to be big crashes. Big puddle through 13. There will be a crash there. I think… |
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