Verstappen hailed rain master in Brazil with P3: “Great result”
Published on 13 November 2016 by Mike Motilall
On a wet Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Max Verstappen finished in third at the Grand Prix of Brazil. In a crazy race, halted twice due to heavy showers, a bad tyre strategy seemed to ruin it all. After a pitstop from, coming in from second place for intermediates, it started to rain harder and the Dutchman rejoined sixteen laps before the checkered flag in sixteenth. But a phenomenal catch up race, on a completely drenched circuit still saw Verstappen make it to the podium. The seventh in his still budding career. This third place earns the Dutchman the fifth spot in the standings. Lewis Hamilton claimed the victory, having demoted Nico Rosberg once again to second.
“It was an unbelievable race”, says Max immediately after the race on the podium. “There were a lot of red flags and the conditions were difficult, especially the section heading to the straight. On the second re-start I was able to overtake Nico Rosberg and I had a very good position. After that I had a moment myself: I locked up all four wheels and went sideways. Luckily I kept the car out of the guard rails and remained second. Then we switched to the intermediates, but it started to rain even harder, so that didn’t help much. After that, I was able to show some good overtake maneuvers and to end up on the podium is a great result. In the press conference after the race, he adds to that: I didn't expect it, but I am super happy with it”
As a result of rain, the race is postponed for ten minutes. By then the seventh place is already empty. Romain Grosjean parks his car in the wall about half an hour before the race, while heading to the grid. Even though race control is considering a regular start, the first few laps of the race are done behind the safety car. After seven laps, the safety car heads back in letting the field loose at the first corner.
Max makes little work of Kimi Raikkonen by outbraking and overtaking him. Within a few corners, he is on Nico Rosberg’s tail. However, he is forced to let him be a few laps later. Many drivers take an early pit stop to change from full wets to the intermediates, but the top-runners – Max including – stay out. Vettel falls back when he spins getting on the straight. So does Marcus Ericsson, who also parks his car at the pit lane entry. By doing so, he triggers a safety car situation. Verstappen takes advantage of this by changing from full wets to intermediates. Entering the pitlane, he narrowly avoids running into the wreck that was the Sauber. Exiting it, he has only lost one place to Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo also does his pit stop, but he does this just before the pit entry had been closed, earning him a five seconds-time penalty.
After nineteen laps, the safety-car comes back in. Many drivers start to indicate that the rain has gotten worse. It seems that the gamble from our fellow countryman to go for the intermediates has been a bad one. Nevertheless, he inherits the third spot from Raikkonen when he spins off track at the re-start. The Ferrari hits the wall and subsequently brings out a code red.
A replay of the re-start clearly shows that Max also, right behind of Kimi, nearly lost his RB12 in the heavy down pour. Race control then issues an order for everyone to put on a new set of the full wets. Charlie Whiting tries it after some 35 minutes and sends the pack out again for another eight laps behind the safety car. Only then to decide that it is too wet to continue on. The entire field is called back in again. After another 26 minutes, the drivers are allowed back on track, again behind the safety car.
After three laps, Mayländer heads back in and Max has a look at the inside of Rosberg turning in at the first corner. This puts him so close to the German in the Senna S, that the small mistake the Mercedes-driver made is immediately punished by the youngster. Verstappen supremely overtakes Rosberg from the outside in turn three and then sets his sight on Lewis Hamilton.
On lap 39, all the hearts of the fans on the grand stand skip a beat when Verstappen loses control of his Red Bull getting on the straight. He ends up sideways but in true expert style, he regains control and still manages to be ahead of Rosberg getting on to turn one.
Max decides to head back to the pits for the intermediates on lap 44. His team mate did that prior to him and was lapping the track faster. He rejoins the field in fifth and immediately starts topping the leaderboard. Four laps later, there is another safety car situation when Felipe Massa ends his race in the same way as Ericsson and in front of his home crowd in his last Brazilian Grand Prix. He also parks his car at the entry of the pit lane, closing it temporarily. After four laps the pit lane re-opens and Ricciardo immediately pits to switch back to the full wets. This makes Max the only one in the top ten on the intermediates. The youngster eventually thinks that it is too dangerous to continue on the intermediates and comes in for the full wets. Moments later, the safety car heads back in and Max rejoins the pack in sixteenth. Max then begins on a catch up race that has already become stuff of legends.
After the first lap at full speed, he is in thirteenth having overtaken Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Guttierez. In the following laps Pascal Wehrlein is also done in. Another lap later, Max overtakes Valtteri Bottas in the same way he overtook Rosberg, earning him the eleventh spot, right behind of his team mate. Max makes little work of him in the rain. Two corners later, it is Kvyat who is taken to school while Max is now running in ninth. The next one in sight is Esteban Ocon, who is overtaken from the outside on lap 61. Felipe Nasr also falls victim to the Dutchman’s push forward. He then starts hunting down Hülkenberg for sixth. Max takes no prisoners and overtakes the German decisively.
Vettel is not so easily pushed over by the Dutchman and defends hard. But with a nice move, the mission is completed on a second attempt. Sainz in fourth is no match for the youngster. He definitively claims a podium finish after coming out on top during a side-to-side, corner-after-corner battle with Perez. Hamilton wins the race ahead of Rosberg. Leaving the championship to be decided in two weeks’ time in Abu Dhabi.
Brazilian Grand Prix - Autódromo José Carlos Pace - Sunday 13 November
Race Results 01 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 3:01:01.335 02 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 +11.455s 03 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 71 +21.481s 04 11 Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 71 +25.346s 05 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 71 +26.334s 06 55 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso Ferrari 71 +29.160s 07 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Mercedes 71 +29.827s 08 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer 71 +30.486s 09 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Ferrari 71 +42.620s 10 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 71 +44.432s 11 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams Mercedes 71 +45.292s 12 31 Esteban Ocon MRT Mercedes 71 +45.809s 13 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Ferrari 71 +51.192s 14 20 Kevin Magnussen Renault 71 +51.555s 15 94 Pascal Wehrlein MRT Mercedes 71 +60.498s 16 22 Jenson Button McLaren Honda 71 +81.994s NC 21 Esteban Gutierrez Haas Ferrari 60 DNF NC 19 Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 46 DNF NC 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 20 DNF NC 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 19 DNF NC 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 11 DNF NC 8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 0 DNS
