Introduction
Max Verstappen has stormed to a remarkable victory in a frenetic 2024 Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the Dutchman climbing through the field from an original starting position of P17 to score his first race win since June amid changing weather conditions and massive drama along the way – which also saw Alpine score a double podium result.
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The chaos started before the event had even got underway after Lance Stroll spun off during the formation lap, leading to some confusion over the aborted start procedure as pole-sitter Lando Norris led a number of cars away while others stayed on the grid, meaning that Norris, George Russell, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson will be investigated after the race for a start procedure infringement.
When the Grand Prix did begin, Russell enjoyed a stronger launch and was led by Norris, while Verstappen worked his way through the pack in the early stages. As the event unfolded amid changing levels of rainfall, a red flag was thrown on Lap 32 following a crash for Franco Colapinto in the Williams – shortly after Russell and Norris had lost out by pitting just as a Virtual Safety Car period ended.
This meant that Esteban Ocon led from Verstappen and Pierre Gasly when the race resumed with a little over half the distance remaining. But after another restart – following a Safety Car appearance due to a crash for Carlos Sainz – Verstappen surged into the lead and from there looked untouchable, the world champion going on to take the chequered flag with a margin of 19.477s.
Meanwhile, it proved to be a dream day for Alpine, with Ocon and Gasly holding on to P2 and P3 to score a double podium – resulting in the team making an extraordinary jump from ninth to sixth in the constructors’ standings.
Russell ended the race in fourth for Mercedes ahead of Charles Leclerc in Ferrari, with Norris following in what was indeed a disappointing sixth as the Briton lost ground to Verstappen in the championship standings. McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri crossed the line in seventh but was hit with a 10-second time penalty for a collision with Lawson, dropping the Australian down to eighth.
This promoted Tsunoda up into seventh, making it a double points celebration for RB as Lawson ended the race in ninth. Lewis Hamilton scored the final point on offer after working his way forward for Mercedes and fending off a charging Sergio Perez in the latter stages, leaving the Red Bull driver in P11.
Ollie Bearman took 12th for Haas after an eventful afternoon for the teenager, who faced some off-track moments and picked up a 10-second time penalty for a collision with Colapinto. Valtteri Bottas followed in 13th for Kick Sauber, ahead of the final classified runners of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and fellow Kick Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu.
Sainz and Colapinto both recorded retirements following their crashes, while Nico Hulkenberg was given a black flag just before the race restart after the Haas man received assistance from marshals when returning to the track following an earlier off.
Stroll did not take the start following his spin on the original formation lap in the Aston Martin, while Alex Albon had been unable to participate for Williams as the team did not have time to repair his car following his earlier crash in qualifying.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
What can I say? It was a really busy Sunday! It had indeed happened before that we had qualified for the race on the same day, even in this period, since Pirelli was the global tyre supplier to Formula 1. But never before has it taken place so early in the day and in such a compressed time format, with many of the Formula 1 family hearing their alarm clocks going off well before dawn! I feel we should applaud all those who made it possible to ensure that the entire weekend programme was completed, despite the weather complicating matters since yesterday afternoon.
There was an extraordinary crowd of almost three hundred thousand spectators at Interlagos. I’m sure they and all those watching on television and the various social platforms were rewarded with a fascinating show in qualifying and the race. They would have experienced a whole range of emotions, which is often the case when rain comes along to lower adhesion while highlighting the drivers’ skills. From a technical point of view, we leave Interlagos having picked up plenty of useful information. In today’s qualifying, we saw the extremely wet and intermediate tyres at work and could verify their operating windows.
In the race, there was a point when one could have made a direct comparison between the two types of tyres over a long stint, but the neutralisation caused when visibility was deemed too poor meant we only saw this for a handful of laps. One should also bear in mind that the rain varied in intensity several times, and on a brand-new track surface, the grip levels in the wet were minimal, partly due to the oily layer that it created. I believe both tyres proved to be up to the job at hand.
The day on the track:
Track action began at 7.30 with qualifying, put back from yesterday because of the adverse weather conditions. Once again today, the rain played its part, with no drivers able to use dry weather tyres. The extreme wet featured in the first part of qualifying before the Intermediate came into play. There were no fewer than five interruptions caused by drivers crashing in a session that lasted almost an hour and 45 minutes, with the rain varying in intensity several times.
The race was rescheduled to start at 12.30, and apart from it being red-flagged towards the halfway mark because of heavy rain reducing visibility to a precarious degree, it went ahead with just a few Safety Car appearances. The Intermediate did the lion’s share of the work over the 69 laps (two laps reduced the race distance due to the two aborted start procedures). Only five drivers – Perez, Lawson, Tsunoda, Zhou and Hulkenberg – also used the Extreme when the rain got heavier, but then the red flag reset everything, and for the restart, the Intermediate was clearly best suited to the track conditions. There were 33 tyre changes, including those under the red flag and a total of 51 sets were used, five of them for extreme wets. Of the drivers who finished the race, only four used two sets of Intermediates, namely Valtteri Bottas and the three drivers who finished on the podium.
Following a similar event at the Imola Grand Prix, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix provided another opportunity to remember Ayrton Senna in the thirtieth anniversary year of his tragic death. Pirelli contributed by producing a special edition of the Pole Position Award, presented to Lando Norris by Ayrton’s niece, Bianca Senna, the director of the eponymous institute, as well as a special version of the iconic Podium Cap. Both items featured the Brazilian flag’s gold and green colours and the Senna logo. Bianca is the daughter of the three-time world champion’s sister, Viviane, who founded the non-profit organisation that has supported educational projects for Brazilian children and teenagers for the past thirty years.
2024 Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | 2:06:54.430 | 26 | 393 |
| 2. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +19.477s | 18 | 23 |
| 3. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | +22.532s | 15 | 26 |
| 4. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +23.265s | 12 | 192 |
| 5. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +30.177s | 10 | 307 |
| 6. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +31.372s | 8 | 331 |
| 7. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +42.056s | 6 | 28 |
| 8. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +44.943s | 4 | 262 |
| 9. | 30 | Liam Lawson | New Zealand | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +50.452s | 2 | 4 |
| 10. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +50.753s | 1 | 190 |
| 11. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +51.531s | 0 | 151 |
| 12. | 50 | Oliver Bearman | Great Britain | Haas F1 Team | +57.085s | 0 | 7 |
| 13. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +63.588s | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +78.049s | 0 | 62 |
| 15. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +79.649s | 0 | 0 |
| 16. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | DNF | 0 | 244 |
| 17. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | DNF | 0 | 5 |
| 18. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | DNS | 0 | 24 |
| 19. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | DNS | 0 | 12 |
| 20. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | DSQ | 0 | 31 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 593 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 557 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 544 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 382 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 86 |
| 6. | Alpine F1 Team | 49 |
| 6. | Haas F1 Team | 46 |
| 7. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 44 |
| 8. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 0 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
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