Verstappen wins from 17th as Brazil investigation hangs over Norris

Max Verstappen won a chaotic Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix from 17th on the grid ahead of the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly – while Lando Norris finished seventh and faces a starting procedure investigation.

On new intermediates, Verstappen made up numerous places at the start (with only 17 cars on the grid and Carlos Sainz in the pitlane).

Along with then-leader Ocon, Verstappen stayed out while others pitted during a very brief virtual safety car to inherit second place and, when red flags were shown on lap 32 for Franco Colapinto’s crash, he and Ocon would be gifted a ‘free’ pitstop for fresh inters.

Ocon led until a lap 43 safety car restart for Sainz’s crash four laps prior – and Verstappen wrestled the lead away from the Alpine. He then dominated and took the fastest lap to boot.

Pierre Gasly started 13th but chose to forego a VSC pitstop like Verstappen and Ocon, inheriting third and completing the podium in a similar manner to his team-mate Ocon.

George Russell, who led for much of the first half of the race, finished fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc and Norris, while Oscar Piastri was seventh over the line but was demoted to eighth behind Yuki Tsunoda having picked up a 10-second penalty for clashing with Liam Lawson (who finished ninth).

Stroll’s pre-race off puts Norris result under threat

There was drama even before the race kicked off as Lance Stroll locked up his rear tyres on the formation lap and tapped the barriers at Turn 4. In an attempt to recover, he beached his car in the gravel.

Stroll’s formation lap mistake led to an aborted start. However, Norris would be investigated for peeling off the grid despite that message – as was Russell, Tsunoda, and Lawson.

Pre-race disarray meant only 18 cars took the start – and there were just 17 cars on the grid, with Sainz starting from the pitlane for taking a new power unit after his qualifying crash.

The aborted start and the extra formation lap initiated by Norris meant the race distance was shortened to 69 laps.

Mercedes is also under investigation for changing its cars’ tyre pressures on the grid when the race start was aborted.

How Verstappen won from 17th

Despite taking pole position on Sunday morning – in a qualifying session punctuated by red flags – Norris lost the lead off the line.

As became clear in the 2016 iteration of this race, Verstappen excels in these conditions. He was the biggest mover at the start – up to 12th on the first lap and 11th at the expense of Hamilton at the beginning of lap two.

Verstappen caught up to Leclerc in the battle for fifth on lap 22 but couldn’t pass the Ferrari. But rain began to fall more heavily and drivers were faced with a call of whether or not to pit.

Ferrari blinked first and made the call for Leclerc to stop on lap 25, switching to another set of intermediates. Nico Hulkenberg followed suit soon after but the track was now soaked.

The Haas driver then went off at the first corner on lap 27 with his car seemingly beached – and the virtual safety car was deployed.

Piastri took the chance to pit, followed by a train of cars – but the six cars ahead of him had already passed the pit entry.

Hulkenberg got going again and the VSC was then rescinded. However, race leaders Russell and Norris pitted just as the green flag was flown – and Ocon inherited the lead instead, with Verstappen in tow.

Colapinto pitted for intermediates during the VSC and crashed heavily at Turn 11, bringing out a red flag and giving the busy Williams mechanics even more work to do after repairing his car (but not Alex Albon’s) after qualifying crashes.

During that stoppage, Hulkenberg was deemed to have received assistance from marshals to recover his car and he became the first driver to receive a black flag since Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa were both shown one in the 2007 Canadian GP.

Ocon led the restart away and built up a healthy lead with the relative luxury of clean air but when Sainz crashed out on lap 39, the safety car was deployed again.

Verstappen prised the lead from Ocon’s grip on the lap 43 restart, while Norris went off track and rejoined in seventh behind Piastri, before being allowed back through for sixth.

Verstappen then extended his lead to nearly 20 seconds and took the fastest lap, stretching his legs in the drivers’ championship standings.

Alpine meanwhile leapfrogged Haas, RB and Williams in the constructors’ standings with its double podium.

RB takes points but Perez loses out

Tsunoda qualified third but he pitted for wet tyres during the VSC, a decision that pace-wise had paid off until the red flag was shown.

That red flag gave him the chance to return to intermediates but he could not show the same pace as he’d done early in the race and he had to settle for eighth, which became seventh when Piastri’s penalty was applied.

Starting fifth, Lawson made the same call to pit for wets as Tsunoda. He shrugged off previous contact with Piastri and a wheel-banging battle with Perez on lap 55 to take ninth.

Both RB drivers are however also under investigation alongside Norris and Russell for starting procedure infringements.

After that wheel-to-wheel contact with his RB rival, Perez – who’d earlier spun unassisted to last place on lap one – went wide and lost 10th place to Lewis Hamilton.

Ollie Bearman had a messy race thanks to contact with Colapinto early on – which led to a 10-second penalty for the Haas stand-in – and then the Briton slid off on the lap 33 restart. He tapped the barriers on lap 37 after sliding off once again, and ended up 12th.

Fernando Alonso slid off track during the lap 43 restart but recovered a 15-second deficit to catch up with Zhou Guanyu and overtake the Sauber driver to finish 14th. The veteran thanked his team before the race was over for fixing his car following a qualifying crash but complained that the bumpy resurfaced track was giving him a backache.

Sauber couldn’t capitalise on the chaos and again finished point-less with Valtteri Bottas 13th and Zhou last in 15th.

Investigations surrounding four drivers and Mercedes put the final standings in doubt, however.