(photo credits - TSN)
Max Verstappen completes a chaotic weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, managing one of his best recovery drives from P17 to P1.
After struggling in the sprint race, finishing P3 until an after race five second penalty dropping him to fourth. The penalty comes as Verstappen didn’t follow the correct procedures under the safety car. During a safety car all must drive at “delta time” meaning every car must be doing a certain speed or they are gaining an unfair advantage. After the sprint race saw Brazil get hit with insane amounts of rain, causing qualifying to be delayed, then moved to Saturday.
Verstappen's luck didn’t improve Sunday morning. After multiple red flags stopping the session, in Q2 after Lance Stroll hit the barrier the FIA waited more time than needed to call a red flag. With Verstappen already in the drop zone, once the red flag was called, he had yet to put in a lap. Seeing Verstappen qualify P12, but due to a power unit change the Dutchman was given a five-place grid drop. Officially leaving Verstappen in P17 for the race.
With what looked like a weekend where Norris would run away with twenty-five points, saw a remarkable wet race win by Verstappen. Within the first lap the Dutchman had overtaken seven cars, and by the time the fourth lap came along Verstappen was within the top eight. As lap 32 ticked down, Verstappen was within the top five and hungry for more. But a red flag saw all cars return to the pit lane. Where Red Bull were able to change the tires. A little after the flag went green, on lap 40 Carlos Sainz crashed into the barriers sending out another safety car. On the second safety car restart Verstappen managed to snatch the lead from Ocon. After that the Dutchman ran off into the distance. Getting nine fastest laps and winning the race by over 20 seconds. Bring home a statement win, “simply lovely.”
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