Starring marks for Verstappen, Gasly and Sainz as Interlagos epic provides surprise podium, overtakes and team-mates colliding
Tuesday 19 November 2019 14:44, UK
What a Brazilian GP for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was dominant in qualifying, topping Q1, Q2 and Q3, and then masterfully dealt with every issue thrown his way in a chaotic race - including pit-lane drama and wheel-to-wheel battles with a six-time world champion - to secure his first victory since the summer break.
Verstappen barely put a foot wrong throughout the weekend and it wasn't just his pace which was impressive, but the calmness during the race as drama ensued around him. Even after losing his early lead thanks to a Mercedes undercut and a Williams unsafe release, Verstappen only needed one lap to swat away Hamilton with ease. He then dealt with two Safety Car restarts expertly, overtaking Hamilton into Turn One on the first and then keeping his lead on the second. He cruised to the chequered flag from there.
Now, as Sky F1's Paul Di Resta stated, "it's up to Red Bull and Honda to give him a [title-challenging] car in Australia next year". Will he be Lewis Hamilton's main rival in 2020?
Rating out of 10: 10
Three months ago, Pierre Gasly was dropped by Red Bull, just 12 races into his stay with the front-running team. On his first race back with Toro Rosso in Belgium, not only did Gasly score points, but he did so just hours after the death of his great friend, F2 driver Anthoine Hubert. That says a lot about Gasly's character, and this podium, the first of his F1 career, was just-rewards for a driver who in recent months has shown the form that earned him the Red Bull seat in the first place.
Gasly topped the midfield throughout the weekend at Interlagos, thrashing team-mate Daniil Kvyat, and although it wasn't until the first Safety Car when anything other than seventh looked possible, Gasly was in the right place to capitalise. The Ferrari crash lifted him to fourth, Hamilton's pit-stop gave him third, while the Alex Albon-Hamilton crash then allowed Gasly to speed into second place. Remaining calm and focused in the midst of a Hamilton charge on the final lap, Gasly was aided by a Honda engine as he out-paced the Mercedes to the line and seal a remarkable result for himself, and his team. Cue one of the most emotional team radio outbursts of the season.
"It's the best day of my life," said Gasly afterwards. If he keeps performing like he is, Red Bull will be taking note.
Rating out of 10: 10
What a difference a day makes for Carlos Sainz. An engine issue on his first lap of qualifying subjected him to a back-of-the-grid start in the race and from there, the Spaniard must surely have been thinking that even getting into the points would be a tough ask. But long into the Interlagos night, Sainz was celebrating the most unlikely of podiums, the first of his five-year F1 career and McLaren's first since 2014.
The list of cars Sainz overtook in his stint makes for impressive reading - Russell, Kubica, Kvyat, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ricciardo - and then Sainz was well-placed after his first, and in the end, only, stop. He was fortunate with the timing of both Safety Cars, but after McLaren gambled by keeping him out while other rivals pitted, Sainz did brilliantly to hold cars on fresher tyres behind on the two restarts. He crossed the line in fourth - which was already a miraculous result - before Hamilton's penalty lifted him into the top three.
For a driver who has been so consistent, and more importantly fast, since his breakthrough, this had been a long time coming.
Rating out of 10: 10
His race wasn't filled with overtakes, but Kimi Raikkonen was signed to be Alfa Romeo's lead driver for consistent performances like these. He may be 40, but the Finn isn't slowing down yet.
Raikkonen did extremely well to get into Q3 and from there, his race was about strategy. He was ninth after the first Safety Car, that quickly turned into seventh, while he was then up to fifth following the Ferrari crash. Fifth became fourth following the chequered flag.
Fourth and fifth is a superb result for Alfa Romeo, and one they surely couldn't have seen coming given their recent form.
Rating out of 10: 8
Raikkonen was backed up ably by Antonio Giovinazzi, the improving Italian who was recently re-signed to the team. Giovinazzi's race was similarly dictated by strategy, although he did well to keep a charging Daniel Ricciardo at bay in the closing stages.
Rating out of 10: 7
Daniel Ricciardo would have been fearing the worst for his race when he clashed with Kevin Magnussen, which rightly landed him a penalty. He was plum last after that, so in truth needed a Safety Car to get back in contention.
Running 15th at the time of Valtteri Bottas' DNF, Ricciardo, with overtaking his speciality, quickly rose through the field and by the time of the second Safety Car, he was in a great position. He goes home with sixth, a great result, although the Australian may be slightly miffed that he didn't get past an Alfa Romeo or two.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
It's not often you see Lewis Hamilton collide with another car, let alone pick up a penalty, but a frantic end to a pulsating race saw Lewis become "impatient", in the words of Sky F1's Martin Brundle in his latest column.
Perhaps Hamilton was driven to that by his scrap with Verstappen. Try with all his might - and Hamilton insisted he was getting the maximum out of an under-performing Mercedes in Brazil (a statement backed up by his qualifying, and advantage over Bottas) - the six-time champion just couldn't keep up with the Red Bull star. That led to Mercedes making two questionable strategy calls, the second of which dropping Hamilton to fourth with two laps to go, meaning he would have to pass two cars to even get back to where he was before. Although Hamilton dispatched Gasly with ease, he was too eager to find a gap up the inside of Albon and shunted into the other Red Bull at Turn 10. He sportingly accepted full responsibility afterwards, apologising to the young Thai.
Rating out of 10: 7
Eighth place is by no means a disaster, but Lando Norris was understandably frustrated that he was unable to capitalise on the chaos. Especially when his team-mate secured an overdue McLaren podium.
Strategy didn't quite pan out for Norris - he pitted just before the Safety Car and a stint on the hard tyres didn't help - but in truth the young rookie didn't have the pace of Sainz during the race. He even let his flying team-mate through at one point to help him out.
Still, his points did help secure fourth in the constructors' championship for McLaren.
Rating out of 10: 7
Sergio Perez is usually the master of taking advantage of opportunities in races like these but unfortunately for the Mexican, he didn't get that chance in a car which was powered by an unusually under-performing Mercedes engine.
"We lacked speed on the straights, which meant that we got overtaken easily and couldn't fight back," said Perez, whose two points were rather flattering considering his pace.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
Compared to his team-mate, Daniil Kvyat had a nightmare at Interlagos. He was knocked out in Q1 and then didn't really make any headway until the final two laps, when he overtook three cars to get into the points. "A difficult race," he said afterwards. Too right.
Rating out of 10: 6
After qualifying in the top-10, along with his Haas team-mate, Kevin Magnussen admitted Brazil felt like a "missed opportunity". He lost positions early on, as has been the norm for the team this season, and his race then got even harder after he was clumsily clattered into by Ricciardo, which dropped Magnussen back to 19th. He was up in 10th ahead of the final Safety Car restart but just couldn't keep the Toro Rosso at bay.
Rating out of 10: 6.5
It says a lot about the carnage of Brazil that George Russell almost scored his first F1 point despite starting 19th and not overtaking a driver other than his team-mate. The final Safety Car brought him into play and Russell fought like crazy, but making a move was always going to be difficult in that Williams. "It was nice to be in the mix and fully fighting in the closing stages," said the Brit, who can secure his 100 per cent qualifying record for the season over Kubica in Abu Dhabi.
Rating out of 10: 6
You've got to feel for Romain Grosjean, who actually had a pretty strong weekend. He qualified up in eighth and was running up in seventh moments before the first Safety Car. Haas opted to keep him out and he quickly lost four places at the restart, and when Grosjean finally did stop again the Ferraris crashed soon after. That second Safety Car dropped him out of points contention.
"We just didn't get any luck," said Grosjean. "We were doing the race of our life, we were hanging on in there in P7 with a car that doesn't deserve that."
Rating out of 10: 7
So close to a first F1 podium for Alex Albon, who had another up-and-down weekend. He was off the pace compared to Verstappen throughout, 0.4s off in qualifying, and half a minute down in the race before the Safety Cars. But then his race came alive, and upon the first restart he showed that fearless racing Red Bull love.
Albon darted around the outside of Sebastian Vettel and was then hunting down Hamilton before the next stoppage, after which he was holding his own with the Mercedes before he was taken out. So cruel, but Albon will surely get many more podium opportunities.
Rating out of 10: 8
A bizarre race for Nico Hulkenberg, who just couldn't find pace after starting 13th. "I don't really know what happened today and I just couldn't seem to make progress," said the German, who is set to bow out of the sport after Abu Dhabi.
"It was fun with some battling, but it just wasn't happening for me today."
Rating out of 10: 5
He got ahead of Russell early on but then normality resumed for Robert Kubica, who is facing a qualifying whitewash at the hands of his rookie team-mate.
Rating out of 10: 5
Oh, Seb. He was on form again in qualifying, and nicely poised in the race, but his Sunday ended in drama. You could sense that Sebastian Vettel, who started second but quickly dropped back to third, was frustrated even before his skirmish with his team-mate, as Ferrari chose not to pit him under the Safety Car for fresh tyres.
That meant he was under threat from Albon, who passed him at the first time of asking into T1, and then Leclerc. Leclerc also got ahead at that corner, but Vettel got a much better run on the backstraight and the overtake was most certainly on. Although Ferrari won't blame either driver, yet, for the subsequent clash and double puncture, if anyone was at fault it was surely Vettel, who edged over the left towards Leclerc, seemingly trying to squeeze him into the next corner but not realising how close he actually was. An avoidable collision, and more unwanted scrutiny for F1's four-time champion.
Rating out of 10: 6
After starting 14th, Charles Leclerc impressively charged through the midfield with plenty of passes into T1, which is where he also got ahead of his team-mate. Soon after, his race was over. Credit to Leclerc as he handled his post-race interviews with maturity, but he must be bitterly disappointed as a podium was well and truly on here.
Rating out of 10: 7
Lance Stroll, knocked out in Q1 again, was in a decent position after the first Safety Car in the race, sitting just behind Carlos Sainz. However, he was forced to retire after picking up damage when running over the Ferrari debris.
Rating out of 10: 5.5
Valtteri Bottas was off the pace all weekend compared to Hamilton and it was his stoppage that led to the first Safety Car and a bonkers end to the race. That was Mercedes' first reliability-forced DNF of the season.
Rating out of 10: 6
