Verstappen wins from 17th in Sao Paulo rain chaos

Max Verstappen climbed up from 17th on the grid to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, one of his greatest victories taking him to the brink of a fourth world title.

Rival Lando Norris of McLaren had a difficult race, finishing sixth after a couple of key errors, to fall 62 points adrift of Verstappen with 86 still available in the final three races.

Verstappen will become world champion if he leaves the next race at Las Vegas on 23 November with a lead of at least 60 points.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly took the final two podium places to transform Alpine’s season and move the team up from ninth in the constructors’ championship to sixth.

A chaotic, incident-strewn, wet race that involved a red flag, two safety car periods and a series of crashes and incidents will be remembered for a victory that was not only Verstappen’s 62nd, but one of the greatest wet-weather victories of all time.

Just as remarkably, it was his first win since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, and it owed everything to a driver at the top of his game, and a team making the right strategic decision at the right time.

In treacherous conditions, Verstappen was in a league of his own, putting in a drive that underlined why he is regarded by so many in Formula 1 as the best driver in the world.

The Dutchman had qualified 12th, and was demoted to 17th because of a penalty for exceeding his engine allowance with a new power-unit for this race, but wasted no time in establishing his credentials as a potential winner.

As Norris, who had started from pole position, lost the lead at the start to the Mercedes of George Russell, Verstappen gained six places on the first lap, and by lap 12 was up to sixth.

There, he became stuck in a train involving RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The race began to turn as the rain intensified towards one-third distance.

Leclerc pitted for fresh tyres on lap 24, searching for extra grip, and a virtual safety car period on lap 28, prompted by Nico Hulkenberg spinning his Haas, tempted RB to pit Tsunoda, and Russell and Norris followed him in the next time around.

Alpine and Red Bull gambled on staying out. And Ocon, who had qualified an excellent fourth and run strongly from the start, assumed the lead from Verstappen and Gasly, who started 13th.

The decision was made, despite now torrential rain and the cars on worn intermediate tyres, because the teams were gambling on a red flag.

The risk paid off. First the full safety car was deployed, to control the field as drivers fought their cars, then Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams through the kinks at the start of the pit straight on lap 32 and the red flag was thrown.

Russell shouted his frustration over the Mercedes team radio, saying: “I told you we should stay out.” A more rueful Norris acknowledged that events had given Ocon and Verstappen the chance to bank track position, and to change their tyres for free.

When the race restarted, in still very wet conditions, Ocon survived a first restart to lead for five laps before Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari on the entry to Turn Eight, Laranja, to bring out the safety car again.

This time, Verstappen seized his chance. Ocon braked early for the first corner at the restart and the Dutchman dived for the inside to claim the lead.

He began to cruise off into the distance, setting a series of fastest laps, pulling out an eventual winning margin of 19.5 seconds in the final 26 laps of the race.

Verstappen said: “My emotions have been a rollercoaster, with the red flag in qualifying starting P17 I knew it was going to be a really tough race. We stayed out of trouble, we stayed calm and we were flying. All these things made this possible.”

Ocon and Gasly were comfortable in second and third places for the rest of the race, even though Russell finished on the tail of the second Alpine.

Norris, though, saw his already slim title hopes, prompted by a strong performance from McLaren through the summer and early autumn and difficulties for Verstappen, finally effectively expire.

The McLaren lost a position to Russell, slipping down to fifth, at the first restart by running wide at Turn Four, and then at the second made another mistake, running off track at Turn One and slipping down to seventh, now also behind Leclerc and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

McLaren soon ordered Piastri to let Norris by, but the Briton was able to make no further progress and finished sixth, behind Russell and Leclerc.

Norris said: “Just unlucky. Sometimes it just goes your way. Nothing we did wrong. I don’t care what people say.

“Staying out was not the right thing to do, it shouldn’t have been red-flagged [at that time]. But there was crash in the end the caused the red flag. You take a gamble. It has paid off for them. It’s not talent, it’s just luck. A bit unlucky.”

The initial start was aborted after Lance Stroll spun his Aston Martin on the formation lap. But instead of stopping and waiting on the grid, as the rules require, Norris set off on a second formation lap, taking most of the rest of the field with him. He was later fined €5,000 (£4,200) for his error.

Russell, Tsunoda, Ocon and Liam Lawson are also under investigation for the same reason.

Tsunoda, who had run strongly in third place for so long before his pit stop at one-third distance, took eighth, ahead of team-mate Lawson, and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who at least scored a point after a desperate weekend for the seven-time champion.

Mercedes were investigated for adjusting their cars’ tyre pressures when the tyres were already on the cars in the red-flag period. They were handed a €5,000 (£4,200) fine for each car.