Max Verstappen couldn’t have asked for a much more emphatic way to end a Formula 1 win drought stretching back more than four months than his outstanding drive to victory in a wet Brazilian Grand Prix.
And the fact his nearest points challenger Lando Norris went from pole to sixth – with an investigation still looming over him – surely means the title fight is no more.
How did their performances at Interlagos compare? Was this evidence that the 2024 F1 title is heading the way of the driver it should always have gone to?
Here’s what our team made of it:
Verstappen made rivals look a class below
Matt Beer
You may find some of Max Verstappen’s wheel-to-wheel racing a bit much. You may find the finger-pointing around whose wings are or aren’t bending in which manners or who might be doing what with water and tyres more petty and frustrating than technically intriguing. You may be thoroughly sick of polarised fanbases seeing conspiracy theories in every stewards’ investigation outcome or race control decision.
But you can’t argue with an all-time great F1 driver making almost everyone else (including, emphatically, their title rival) look like they’re a class below with a beautifully judged drive from 17th on the grid to a dominant first in track conditions ranging from horrible to abysmal.
A welcome reminder that F1 2024 is set for its rightful drivers’ champion, and a very satisfying way to cut through recent noise.
A masterclass in wet driving
Gary Anderson
They say that wet conditions are a great equaliser in car performance. Personally I’m not quite so sure but it does allow talent to stand out and anyone who survived this race without making an error needs a pat on the back.
Verstappen was exceptional from the word go but over those last 20-odd laps it was a masterclass in wet weather driving: he just hammered in fastest lap after fastest lap. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly drove brilliantly too and stayed out of trouble, with all three of them benefitting from being able to fit fresh tyres under the red flag while others had already lost track position pitting just that little bit beforehand.
George Russell and Charles Leclerc were so-so but I’m afraid Lando Norris didn’t live up to his dry performances so he was disappointing.
Unless Verstappen slips on a banana skin then I think this just clinched his fourth world championship.
Norris has a long way to go
Jack Benyon
Lando Norris produced two unforced errors in the race, but they alone can’t be labelled the thing that cost him the drivers’ championship as there have been a good few things you could give characterise that way in his season.
No matter who your favourite is, distilling it down to the basics, Verstappen has been the better driver this year, made far fewer mistakes in the Brazilian GP and generally, and has gone above and beyond what his car should have been capable of to constantly excel – especially when the odds have been against him.
Winning this race from 17th on the grid spells the end of the drivers’ title battle and it is justly deserved. Norris has a long way to go to reach this level. And not even reach this level, but to find it as consistently as Verstappen.
Can you imagine where Verstappen would be if you’d given him the McLaren from Miami onwards? Much further ahead, I’d wager.
