A fairly average race for 50 laps…and then absolute bedlam.
Max Verstappen took a commanding victory at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix as all around him – or certainly most – were losing their heads.
Verstappen led away from pole with Lewis Hamilton passing Sebastian Vettel for second place around the outside of the first corner. From there, it looked likely to be a tale of whether the young Dutchman could keep the newly-crowned world champion at bay. Mercedes had shown strong pace during race simulations in the practice sessions and, whilst never quite getting close enough for an overtaking attempt, Hamilton remained within touching distance throughout the first phase of the Grand Prix.
Mercedes triggered the undercut on lap 20 by pitting Hamilton and committing to a two-stop strategy. Red Bull responded a lap later but, via the combination of an unhelpful Williams pit release and a strong out lap from Hamilton, Verstappen emerged behind the Mercedes driver.
That would not remain the case for long, however. Hamilton had completely depleted his battery on his flying out lap and so was slow on the start/finish straight; Verstappen took the opportunity to fly past and regain his net lead.
The two drivers matched each other as they worked their way through backmarkers until, after another 20 or so laps, Mercedes attempted another undercut. This time with less success. Hamilton appeared happier on the medium tyres than he had been on the soft, though, and was closing the gap. But everything was about to be flipped on its head.
Whilst trying to find a way past Charles Leclerc for fourth, Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes engine overheated and the Finn ground to a halt – the first mechanical retirement for Mercedes this year – which, despite some good parking, brought out the safety car. Mercedes told Hamilton to do the opposite to Verstappen; the Red Bull driver came in and so Hamilton stayed out, but almost immediately began to question the decision to leave him vulnerable on older, harder tyres.
His fears were quickly proven to be well-founded as, despite Hamilton’s best efforts to catch him out at the restart, Verstappen flew by once more before the first corner. Alexander Albon also made a great move to jump past Vettel, before starting to pressure Hamilton, with the Ferraris close behind. But not for long.
With five laps remaining, Leclerc dived down the inside of his teammate at the first corner but Vettel stayed close behind and pulled alongside on the following straight. As he passed, he drifted left, Leclerc did not move fast enough, there was slight tyre-to-tyre contact and Ferraris race quite literally fell apart.
Leclerc’s front left suspension was broken and Vettel was also parked up with the damage caused by a rear right puncture within a lap. As is tradition, both drivers blamed each other. (More on that later.)
This brought about another safety car. This time Mercedes gambled and brought Hamilton in, dropping him to fourth and leaving a Honda 1-2-3, as things stood, in the form of Verstappen, Albon and Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso. Lance Stroll had also retired after hitting debris from the Ferrari theatrics and it looked as though the race may finish behind the safety car.
It was restarted, however, with an effective two-lap sprint race to the chequered flag. Hamilton, on his fresh, soft tyres, dispatched Gasly at the first corner and was immediately onto the gearbox of Albon. Was the gamble about to pay off for Mercedes?
No. It was, in fact, about to end in tears, as Hamilton made an ambitious dive into the Bico de Pato corner. Albon certainly left the door open but, when he took the normal racing line and effectively closed it, Hamilton was too committed and made contact with the Red Bull, leaving it pointing in the wrong direction as the field sailed past. Agony for Albon, apologies from Hamilton post-race, but euphoria at Toro Rosso as Gasly moved into second position.
A lap later, coming out of the last corner, Hamilton got a run on the Frenchman and pulled alongside to produce a drag race to the line. But, in a show of just how far Honda have come this year, the Toro Rosso won that drag race and Gasly took a stirring first podium in F1, after an incredibly trying year. Cue an emotional release and a Senna-in-91-esque radio message.
Once Hamilton had been given a five second penalty, we were left with a bizarre top five of Verstappen, Gasly, Carlos Sainz and the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi. It was also a debut podium for Sainz and, although he was not part of the initial ceremony, he was later allowed up to the podium to celebrate with his team.
Again, there were some questionable strategy decisions from Mercedes. Bottas was confusingly pitted just 14 laps into a stint on the hard tyres as the team drastically bailed out of a one-stop. And whilst the undercuts for Hamilton were fairly well executed, the decision not to pit him under the first safety car left him a sitting duck and, but for the Ferrari incident, Hamilton could easily have found himself behind all four cars that had been following at that point. This was supposed to be a race for Mercedes to be set free from the constraints of playing it safe with the championship in mind but it came across more like rash, ill-considered decisions with a whiff of desperation at points. Especially in contrast to the excellence of the Red Bull strategies, pit stops and drive by Verstappen.
But hey, it could have been worse. They could be…
Ferrari…
After two years of near misses and now a season that promised so much but has massively under-delivered, the Tifosi fans are pretty numb to pain at the moment.
But this one will have hurt.
Tensions that have been in danger of boiling over for some time now, finally did so. And with disastrous consequences. The two drivers conspired to crash into each other whilst on a straight and, just like that, Ferrari’s season surely hit its nadir. But who was primarily to blame, if anyone?
The stewards have ruled ‘no further action necessary’ but, for me, the blame must lie closer to Vettel’s door than that of Leclerc. It was a slightly rude divebomb – particularly on a teammate – by Leclerc into the first corner, but a fair and successful one. Maybe that stung Vettel – with Hamilton and Albon having also robbed him at the same corner earlier in the race – as there was no need for him to come across his teammate in the way that he did as he came back past. He had the overspeed to be ahead by the corner anyway.
Watching the onboards, you can see how little time Leclerc had to react. It was all a bit Turkey 2010 with Webber. Vettel has been under such pressure this season and has seen his number one status within the team come under serious threat; was this an attempt to show dominance? We can’t be sure.
Between the many spins and the incidents like this – remember that, just two races ago, Vettel squeezed Hamilton onto the grass at the start and was saved by the latter bailing out – the four-time world champion sometimes seems to lack a bit of spacial awareness in the car. He may have a bit of soul-searching to do before next season.
It will be interesting to see how Ferrari handle the fallout from this. They have one race left to patch things up or it could be a very frosty winter…
Two Very Wholesome Podiums
The podium finishes for both Gasly and Sainz will be hugely popular throughout the paddock.
Gasly has had such a tough year. Obviously, struggling badly in the Red Bull and seemingly losing all confidence before being demoted during the summer break. But then particularly, during his first race back at Toro Rosso, losing his close, lifelong friend Anthoine Hubert to that tragic, fatal accident in Spa.
That makes his redemption arc in the second half of the season all the more impressive. He has generally had the better of new teammate Daniil Kvyat, despite having to readapt to the Toro Rosso, and has just kept getting stronger. He was ‘best of the rest’ for the majority of the weekend in Brazil and fully capitalised on the chance he was given. It also leaves him with the record for France’s youngest ever podium.
Sainz, meanwhile, deserves it for the sheer quality of his performances this year. The Spaniard was starting to look like he may have contracted the Nico Hülkenberg podium curse with so many fourth and fifth place finishes in a generally impressive career.
But he has broken that duck and, judging by the consistently high level he has been (smoothly) operating at this year, it would not be a surprise to see him pick up many more trophies.
The Brazilian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
With the title wrapped up, can we still get an exciting race? Just a bit, yeah.
Will we get any more clues as to the effect the power unit clarifications have had on Ferrari? There is still talk from Mercedes and Red Bull that they are seeing a reduction but the Ferrari straight-line speed appeared closer to what we’re used to here. And the altitude made it hard to come to a definite conclusion.
How will Albon perform now that his seat for next year is confirmed? He still has work to do when it comes to qualifying pace but he looked at home mixing it with the big names during the race.
Who of Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel will leave the weekend leading the battle for third in the championship? Verstappen, by a surprisingly comfortable 11 points.
Surely we’re overdue another crazy, wet race? Interlagos quite often delivers them… Well it wasn’t wet but it was certainly crazy.
