Over the opening two legs of F1’s triple header tour of the Americas, Max Verstappen’s uncompromising, unforgiving defending from championship rival Lando Norris had drawn criticism from fans, rivals – and eventually the stewards.
So when the world champion was slapped with dual penalties in Mexico for bullying the McLaren off the circuit twice in half a lap, the team’s CEO Zak Brown fired some pointed words Verstappen’s way.
“Max is such an awesome racing driver, I just don’t think you need to drive like that,” Brown said in the aftermath of a heated race in Mexico City. “Just drive like the world champion that you are.”
Flash forward a week later, Norris was poised to turn the pressure on his rival to critical levels. Just a handful of hours after he’d grasped his seventh pole of the season in a postponed Sunday morning qualifying session, Norris sat with his back to the wall on the Interlagos grid, psyching himself up for the most important two hours of his motorsport career to date.
Norris was out to do damage. While Verstappen, starting all the way down in the 17th grid slot, was focused on damage control.
The race start had been moved 90 minutes earlier the evening before. Not to avoid the rain, but the worst of it. As the mechanics evacuated to the sides of the track, all 19 cars taking the start sat with intermediate tyres. But with a cell of rain lurking just south of the circuit approaching the Senna Esses, drivers would have a long and difficult afternoon ahead of them.
The severity of the challenge lying before the drivers was made clear on the formation lap. After Norris led George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Liam Lawson and the rest of the field away, Lance Stroll demonstrated how risky every corner and every braking zone would be as his car suddenly snapped right under braking for Subida do Lago, sending him spearing right and skidding slowly into the wall. Although Stroll got his Aston Martin going again, he tried to rejoin the circuit by driving through the gravel trap, which did its job by holding his car in place and forcing Stroll into possibly most embarrassing retirement of his career.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
It was clear to all watching the race could not start, but for the next three minutes confusion reigned. Drivers were warned the start would likely be aborted, but it was not until the remaining cars had lined up on the grid that race control finally flashed…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…