With the F1 2024 title all but decided in Brazil, Lando
Norris must seek to emulate Nico Rosberg’s approach if he is to bounce back
strongly.
With Verstappen winning from 17th on the grid in Brazil,
it’s put the F1 2024 championship almost out of reach of Lando Norris with
three race weekends still to go.
Max Verstappen strikes the killer blow in tense
championship fight
Having had his championship lead slowly but surely
whittled away as Red Bull’s RB20 fell off the boil, some signs of positivity
crept back in recent weeks as the focus went into restoring the balance that
had been lost through its mid-season updates.
Singapore, scene of Red Bull‘s annus
horribilis in 2023, gave back some pep in the step as Verstappen
salvaged second place, but the real question mark hung over the Americas
triple-header. COTA, Mexico, and Brazil – three tracks at which Lando Norris
appeared likely to eat further into Verstappen’s lead and set up a
scintillating final trio of races to see the Dutch driver hang gamely on.
But it hasn’t quite worked that way. Sure, it hasn’t been
pretty, as Verstappen’s focus switched to the task of besting Norris, rather
than worrying about the others. COTA was tough but fair, and tempers hadn’t
quite cooled by the time Mexico rolled around. The Dutch driver took things a
little too far in his quest to defend, underlining the concern under the
surface that Norris and McLaren were an unstoppable force and couldn’t be
restrained. After all, does someone with faith in their equipment really need
to drive with such… vigour?
Verstappen arrived in Brazil under a cloud. It had been a
tough few days after Mexico, in which he’d had to put up with an eye-opening
level of criticism. No longer the underdog, Verstappen is discovering what
Lewis Hamilton did in 2021 – people like to see the dominant defeated, and the
plucky upstart come through.
Verstappen had to deal with the criticisms of luminaries
like Damon Hill, who questioned whether fair driving is within the three-time
F1 World Champion’s repertoire. It’s a valid observation to make. But, if a
driver is willing to take the penalties associated with such driving, then the
concept of fair driving is redundant – results are what matters and, having
successfully cost Norris time and position in Mexico, the Dutch driver achieved
his goal.
Having lost 10 points in Mexico, the chessboard was set
up for a further beating at Interlagos. With a grid penalty looming for the
main race, the Sprint running went off without too much drama – McLaren
maximised their pace and dynamic to secure a 1-2 in the correct order, while
Verstappen was penalised for some audacious Virtual Safety Car shenanigans. A
fair cop, with Norris duly nibbling away a couple of points as a result.
Qualifying then couldn’t have gone much worse for
Verstappen. The timing of everything couldn’t have gone much more against him –
such as the red flag that knocked him out in Q2, or the later stoppage which
came just moments after Norris vaulted into provisional pole position. With the
penalty applied, Verstappen would line up in 17th with Norris on pole position.
Surely, this was an open goal for Norris to pull himself that much closer.
Verstappen’s tactics in Mexico led to my comparing him
against the standards set by Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna in
the past – the willingness to engage in more nefarious exploits to further
their own interests. While this mindset might indicate weakness to some, a
character flaw that somehow negates their abilities, those same drivers were
also able to show moments where their superiority was indisputable – moments of
magic to elevate their mystique beyond the others.
Like Ayrton Senna at Donington Park in 1993, the greatest
opening lap in F1 history, and Michael Schumacher’s incredible Barcelona win in
1996, there was a sense of inevitability from the moment the lights went out to
start the race at Interlagos.
Just two minutes into the race, Verstappen was into the
points – having carved his way past six cars on the opening lap, he passed
Lewis Hamilton for 10th into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 2. Pierre Gasly and
Fernando Alonso were also despatched quickly, while even Oscar Piastri – having
shown his mettle in the Sprint – was powerless to hold back the Red Bull.
Of course, some fortune did fall Verstappen’s way – as
Norris was very quick to point out afterward. Having got caught in a train of
cars as Charles Leclerc held Verstappen back, it was Red Bull’s strategic team
that did the rest – taking the gamble on staying out as conditions worsened,
and waiting for the inevitable red flag.
But fortune didn’t play a part in how the rest of the
race unfolded. With everyone reset, having been able to fit fresh tyres,
Verstappen got past Esteban Ocon after a Safety Car interlude and simply
vanished up the road. Norris, having been fourth at the restart, sailed off the
road at Turn 1 and dropped to seventh – needing his teammate to let him back
through to salvage sixth.
They say rain is the great equaliser – something which may have been more true in the past than today – and the Red Bull clearly showed signs of being quick at Interlagos in the dry conditions of the Sprint running, but, in a car of comparable competitiveness, the Dutch driver was, quite simply, peerless.
.webp)
