Sao Paulo GP: Max Verstappen halts Lando Norris' title charge as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly cash in

The 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix showed what separates the good from the great, and the quite simply brilliant as Max Verstappen claimed one of his finest victories in F1.

The odds were very much in favour of Lando Norris taking a decent chunk of points out of Verstappen's points lead after he took a superb pole in the postponed qualifying that took place on Sunday morning, with his title rival starting down in 17th having been knocked out in Q2.

There was a feeling though that Verstappen would surge his way forward, but to the win? That seemed unlikely. After over two hours of intense racing in the rain though, an emotional Verstappen stood on the top step of the podium and is now on the brink of a fourth world title.

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A huge 62-point deficit is what Norris faces with just three rounds remaining, so if Verstappen finishes ahead of the McLaren driver at the next event in Las Vegas, on November 22-24, he will be confirmed as world champion again.

It is hard to say he does not deserve it though because his spectacular Sao Paulo performance showed why he must be ranked among F1's all-time greats.

Verstappen lands knockout blow

Not since the Spanish Grand Prix in June had Verstappen won a full race as Norris nibbled away at his lead and Red Bull were coming under increasing pressure.

When there is lots of off-track talk about your rival's rear wings, ride-height devices, tyres, that's when you know a title race has become serious and we had plenty of that over the last couple months between Red Bull and McLaren. Throughout all that, Verstappen largely maximised his car's results during his winless streak.

It seemed like the reigning world champion was close, perhaps not to breaking point, after he was unfortunate to miss out on Q3 on Sunday morning due to Lance Stroll's accident and the timing of the red flags, but there was a feeling that maybe the title was slipping away.

This came after Verstappen made a rare miscalculation in the Sprint when he went too quick when the Virtual Safety Car ended, so lost a position and dropped to fourth.

But, rain is seen as somewhat of a leveller in F1 as the great drivers shine. Many people will think back to Michael Schumacher's maiden Ferrari win at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton dominating at Silverstone in 2008. Verstappen already had his special drive to the podium in Brazil in 2016 but you can add this year's race in Sao Paulo to that list.

Christian Horner likened Verstappen's opening lap to Ayrton Senna's iconic first lap at Donington Park in 1993, when the Brazilian muscled his way from fifth to first.

While Verstappen's lowly grid spot meant his early passes were not for the leading positions, the way he danced around the outside of Turn Three past three cars, to get better momentum down the next straight too, was spectacular and he ended up from 17th to 11th after the first tour, then went straight down the inside of Hamilton into Turn One for good measure.

"It was an emotional rollercoaster because we knew we had a good car and the car was quick," said Horner. "Max's mental strength and attitude was outstanding, and I thought his start was electric.

"That first lap was up there with Donington 1993, around the outside of Turn Three. I think he passed six cars on the first lap. Then he was the only car that was really making progress, being able to pick cars off - and so late on the brakes into Turn One.

"Whether it was with Lewis, with Oscar Piastri, and then obviously at the restart with Esteban [Ocon]. Then he just controlled the race and pulled away with ease, at sometimes one second per lap. On a pretty dreary day, he shone pretty brightly."

You can't reach the natural ability of a racing driver, the touch and feel they have to stand on the throttle and turn the steering wheel, without pinpoint accuracy. That's why racing in the rain is so exciting.

It is so easy to make contact with another car or drop a wheel on a painted line and find yourself in the wall when pushing and coming through the pack. But Verstappen avoided that and showed why he is the best driver in F1 right now, and has been for at least a few years.

"Back in the day in go-karting, the guys that were good in the wet, they're good nowadays also in Formula 1," said Verstappen.

"It definitely is a thing that you pick up when you're younger, I think when you practise a lot. I think where we come from, it definitely rains a bit more than maybe in some other places.

"You go out there, you practise, you get more comfortable, and you are definitely tuning your skills to be better. And I think you carry that, you evolve and become even better. And you use that to your advantage."

Speaking of using things to your advantage, think back to the start of the race when Norris was part of four drivers who were under investigation for a start infringement.

Norris left the grid when the start was aborted but regulations can be inferred that he should not have done that as the "extra formation lap" signal was not given.

Verstappen was on this straight away and did not go for a long time, such is his awareness and intelligence under high-pressure situations such as the start.

The front row of Norris and George Russell were reprimanded and fined €5,000 for their error but it is situations like that where Verstappen is just so good at knowing the rulebook.

Norris' title challenge all but over

Forget car speed, strategy, team orders - all those things - it had appeared going in to this now-completed Americas triple header that the most important factor which would decide the title race was likely to ultimately be a mistake or misfortune.

When McLaren decided to pit Norris during Sunday's Virtual Safety Car, the rain intensity was increasing and a red flag felt inevitable. However, McLaren appeared to see that as a gamble so brought Norris in for fresh intermediates, just like Mercedes did with race leader Russell.

Both Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, plus Verstappen, all stayed out and when Franco Colapinto had a big crash in the last sector, the red flag was called and everyone could change tyres.

Afterwards, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella backed the decision, which saw Norris come out in fifth, with Verstappen in second.

"Lando already said he needed a new set of tyres," said Stella. "The rain was increasing and there was a VSC, so it was perfect conditions to pit because you want to put your car on the best tyres for the next stint.

"You want to finish the race because you don't want to aquaplane on tyres that are worn. For us, this was a very sensible call.

"When you are behind, you see those ahead of you who have pitted and see an opportunity to take the lead and stay out but you rely on a red flag, otherwise it will be difficult after the VSC for those cars when they restart on old tyres, with that amount of water."

McLaren were in this position though because Norris was stuck behind Russell for 30 laps, while clearly having more pace in hand.

For the sixth time this year, Norris failed to lead after the opening lap when starting on pole position. With no DRS in the rain and having clear visibility ahead of you being paramount, the British driver was on the backfoot but it all came about because of a poor launch compared to Russell. That's surely one area where Norris and McLaren must improve for next year.

Had Norris retained the lead off the start, he surely would have opened up a nice lead and been able to pit under the VSC and still come out in first place.

The minor mistakes that followed in the second half of the race are understandable because Norris had to go for it to make something happen as he saw his title challenge fade away against the mighty Verstappen.

Alpine's astonishing double podium

Alpine have had a torrid season which has seen significant management chances, including the return of Flavio Briatore and Oliver Oakes becoming team principal.

Esteban Ocon had already announced in the summer that he will leave the team for Haas and who could have imagined he would finish a race in second to Verstappen in 2024.

At one point, when the rain was torrential, Ocon was opening up a lead over Verstappen as the Alpine just came alive in the rain, with team-mate Gasly also holding off Russell at the end to give the team their first double podium under Renault ownership since 2006.

"I'm not sure that is a reality or still a dream. But I smell champagne, so I think it is reality!" said a delighted Ocon. "But it was an incredible day. Who would have thought, first of all, that we were going to qualify fourth, where we qualified.

"We were very, very quick in these conditions. It really levels out the field in here. And it feels great to be just able to fight with other cars, to fight with the guys that are at the front as well. And it shows that we've still got it.

"When there's an opportunity, we are always there to be able to take it. Yeah, we were leading the race at some point. That was a special moment. I was pulling away from Max in that first restart. It was going super well.

"Unfortunately, at the end, a reality check came back and Max was still better than us. But, it feels extremely great and even greater now because we've had a difficult couple of races lately where things don't really work the way we want for us. But it clearly shows, you know, that we've still got it when it's not all about the car and it's also about driving."

Ocon and Gasly were not exactly best of friends after a karting incident when juniors and it was a surprise to see them became team-mates at Alpine from 2023.

They have had a few tense scraps in the midfield over the last 18 months and neither driver has been able to really impress the wider audience until now, due to Alpine's poor performance which saw them down in ninth in the Constructors' Championship.

Alpine have now leapfrogged up to sixth with three events to go, ahead of Haas, RB and Williams.

"This does help us to keep the confidence going in the team," said team boss Oakes.

"Since I arrived after the [August summer] shutdown, I could see already the build-up to Austin with the sort of tempering of expectations, because it has been really hard to develop a car, especially in-season.

"In Austin, I was sort of full of praise for the fact we brought performance to the car and it was nice to back that up in another way with points in Mexico. And then I think here to see another improvement on that - it definitely does help.

"Credit to everyone at Enstone and Viry, because for them, it does mean a lot. You can see that. The drivers didn't put a foot wrong in tricky conditions."

A day full of crashes on one of F1's longest days

A dramatic Sunday morning qualifying at 7.30am local time in Sao Paulo, the earliest qualifying ever, saw five red flags for five crashes, with Alex Albon's huge accident forcing him to pull out of the Grand Prix, such was the damage.

You have to feel for Williams' mechanics after Colapinto also crashed twice, once in qualifying and then in the race. Given the budget cap restraints, it could be a very tricky final few weekends for Williams to navigate through.

As for Colapinto, there has been a lot of conversations about a potential move to Red Bull-owned RB next year but talk may change following a torrid Brazil.

No one wants to see a big accident and the tricky conditions were a reminder of just how difficult it is to drive in the wet on an old-school track which punishes the smallest of mistakes.

Carlos Sainz's two accidents, first at Turn Two in qualifying, then at Turn Eight in the race, were from minor errors but in a split second he was facing the wrong way and out. This is from a driver who dominated the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend just a week earlier.

"I had two crashes that I honestly cannot explain very well. It's very unpredictable, this car this year has been extremely difficult to drive in the wet," he said.

"At the same time apologies for the team for the two mistakes and obviously it cost us, but starting from the pit lane it's not like we were going to get a lot of points, so, yeah, we'll turn the page and come back stronger."

Ferrari are 36 points behind McLaren in the Constructors' Championship which is likely to be the big focus come the Abu Dhabi finale in December.

Las Vegas should suit their car but they must take their opportunities from now on, with Charles Leclerc only fifth in Brazil, albeit ahead of Norris and Piastri.

No matter who has the best car on the Las Vegas Strip in a few weeks, you can never ever doubt Verstappen.

Formula 1 returns after a three-week break with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 22-24, live on Sky Sports F1. Get Sky Sports F1 to watch every race and more live