Verstappen Once Again Cruises to Victory in Sao Paulo
A “simply lovely” afternoon for Max Verstappen saw the 3-time World Champion take his 17th victory of the season ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris whilst Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the Podium in some style.
The Biggest Talking Points
Before the Race even started, Charles Leclerc found himself in the wall at Turn 7 after a hydraulics failure. What a disaster for him. When the Race actually got going, Max Verstappen kept the lead into Turn 1 as both Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton jumped the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. However, behind all that, carnage ensued as contact between Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, and Alex Albon resulted in the latter two being out of the race whilst both Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo were also caught up in it. This brought out the Red Flag, and when the Race got back underway, Verstappen was again able to hold the lead whilst Alonso was able to jump Lewis Hamilton for P3. Lando Norris was able to get one run at Max Verstappen, but it quite literally only lasted one lap as Max bolted off into the distance and after the first round of pitstops, it became pretty clear that Mercedes had little to no pace as both Hamilton and George Russell were comfortably past by the likes of Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, and others (in the case of George). Russell ended up having to retire the car due to his power unit overheating whilst both Alfa Romeo’s also had to retire which was unfortunate for them. Towards the end of the Race, it became clear that the main fight was going to be the battle for the final spot on the Podium between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. After laps of failing, Checo was finally able to clear Alonso on Lap 70 and it looked for all the world that Perez was going to return to the Podium. However, on the final lap of the Race (Lap 71), Fernando re-overtook Sergio into Turn 4 before he eventually beat him to the line by just over half a tenth in a dramatic end to the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen. It was yet another day in the 2023 Formula 1 Season where Max showed that he’s pretty much unstoppable. The second driver I’ve given a perfect 10 to is Lando Norris and that’s simply because he had a terrific race and he was the only driver that got anywhere near to Verstappen in the entire 71 lap Race. The final driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Fernando Alonso and in my opinion, this may well have been Fernando’s best Podium of the season because his driving in this Grand Prix was absolutely sublime. I also felt like both Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly had great days to finish 5th and 7th respectively whilst Yuki Tsunoda should be happy to score some points.
Drivers who had a Shocker
Amazingly, for the second time in 3 Races, I haven’t given out a single 1 for the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. I think the reason for that is simply because not enough cars finished to really be able to fully grade their Races. The only driver I can really be negative about is George Russell as George seemed to have absolutely no pace during the Grand Prix (as did Mercedes in general).
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Lando Norris: 10 (FL)
Fernando Alonso: 10
Sergio Perez: 7
Lance Stroll: 9
Carlos Sainz: 6
Pierre Gasly: 9
Lewis Hamilton: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Esteban Ocon: 6
Logan Sargeant: 7
Nico Hulkenberg: 5
Daniel Ricciardo: -
Oscar Piastri: -
George Russell: 3 (DNF)
Valtteri Bottas: 7 (DNF)
Zhou Guanyu: 4 (DNF)
Kevin Magnussen: - (DNF)
Alex Albon: - (DNF)
Charles Leclerc: - (DNS)
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