Max Verstappen underlined his potential as a champion of the future on Sunday with a commanding victory for Red Bull in an astonishing and crash-hit Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
The 22-year-old Dutchman twice passed newly-crowned six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling contest that had two safety car interventions and saw the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc clash and retire, before clinching the eighth victory of his career.
His third win this season also made up for his disappointment in last year’s race in Brazil when he looked certain to win before a late accident wrecked his hopes of victory.
He made the most of pole position and finished a dominant winner ahead of his former Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly, now with Toro Rosso, as they delivered a Honda-powered one-two for the Japanese company for the first time since the heyday of local hero Ayrton Senna.
Frenchman Gasly came home 0.062 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who finished third for Mercedes but was demoted to seventh following a post-race stewards’ investigation after crashing with luckless Thai driver Alexander Albon, the man who replaced Gasly at Red Bull, in the final laps.
Hamilton’s demotion gifted McLaren’s Carlos Sainz his first Formula One podium, subject to several other stewards’ inquiries.
“Lewis was very quick,” said Verstappen. “So I had to keep pushing all the time. He pitted early so we had to be on top of our pit-stops and we had a good move on him.
“I could control the race with the tyres I had, so, for me, it was unbelievable. It was a lot of fun out there and great to win the race.”
Vettel, Leclerc summoned
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto has called drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc to a clear-the-air meeting after their collision wrecked the team’s hopes in Sao Paulo.
The pair, who collided while fighting for fourth place, were forced to retire from the race, leaving Ferrari embarrassed and pointless and the drivers arguing about who was to blame. “There will be time (for us all) together at Maranello to understand what happened,” said Binotto.
“It’s not for me to blame them, it’s for them to recognise it.” Both cars were damaged and forced to retire in the incident, which came after a Safety Car restart when Vettel ‘closed the door’ on a challenging Leclerc.
It resulted in Ferrari’s first scoreless race since the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix and refocused criticism on the team’s habit of generating self-inflicted damage — and the fractious relationship between their drivers.
“I have not reviewed yet, I don’t want to do it yet,” insisted Binotto. “I think doing things in the heat of the moment, we may have the wrong conclusion.
“I heard both drivers, but they will come as well together to discuss again what happened and there will be time for the team to analyse all the video and the data.
“Whatever will be the judgement, more important is we are disappointed and sorry for the team.
“But first, the two drivers should be sorry for the team — as it has been a very small crash with big consequences...
“They are silly things that should not happen.