Lando Norris kissed good bye to any lingering hopes he had of becoming the 2024 F1 drivers’ world champion at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. McLaren had an impressive start to the weekend with Oscar Piastri claiming pole position in Sprint qualifying and the team from Woking brought home the 1-2 in the shortened version of the Grand Prix.

Come GP qualifying which had been postponed until Sunday morning, this was the definition of a “whole new day.” Lando was on the cusp of going out in Q1 but scraped through only to pip George Russell to the pole by the smallest of margins.

Meanwhile an ill timed red flag had seen Verstappen exit in Q2 and when his five place grid drop for a new ICE was applied, this would see the world champion start P17.

 

 

 

McLaren with the fastest car

The BBC who have been tracking the average points required by Norris each race weekend to overhaul Max’s lead in the WDC had surmised the British driver would need one big weekend where Max has a DNF or is nowhere. And the day had arrived. Only four times in over 1122 F1 races since across 75 seasons has a driver come from P17 or below to win a Grand Prix.

Yet the start of the race was crucial. The McLaren car had proven to be quicker around the entire lap than the W15 of George Russell, but crucially only when in free air. Norris flunked the start once again to make it the fifth pole position this year where he failed to lead at the end of the first lap and the rest is history.

Having struggled to pass the Mercedes in the treacherous conditions, Lando queried with the team whether a “box to overtake” was something they should consider. Yet the team felt track position was too important having seen Leclerc attempt something similar and end up stuck in the lower regions of the top ten.

Norris eventually pleaded with the team for fresh rubber as his tyres were gone and at the subsequent virtual safety car he got his wish. Pitting under the VSC should have preserved Russell and Norris lead at the front of the field, but as the pair committed to entering the pit lane, race control deployed the “VSC ending” notification.

Norris just “ran out of talent”

 

 

 

Norris describes “silly rule”

In that moment Max Verstappen who stayed out overtook his rival for the championship and minutes later the race was red flagged following the crash of Franco Colapinto. This meant the three remaining cars on track who had not made a pit stop, all got a free change of tyre with no time loss during the suspension of the race.

Norris appeared bitter about this in the post race media sessions. “It was the right time to box,” Norris said. “No regrets, just unlucky. (Being able to change tyres at a red flag) is a silly rule that no one agrees with but you will always agree when it benefits you. Every driver has said that they don’t agree with it and wanted it changed, but it’s a rule.”

The regulation allowing a free tyre change during a red flag dates back to the era when there were often incidents involving multiple cars in an accident, and it was deemed better to have these cars repaired and back in the race while any trackside repairs were taking place.

Norris appeared flippant in the post race interviews putting the result of the day down to fate. The British driver drew huge amount of criticism on social media after saying to assembled media: “That’s life sometimes. you take a gamble (waiting for a red flag for a ‘free pitstop’), it’s paid off for them. it’s not talent, it’s just luck.”

Verstappen breaks mega record in Brazil

 

 

 

F1 elder statesmen credit ‘amazing drive”

This was contrasted by the approach of F1’s two elder statesmen in Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who have nine world titles between them and over 750 Grand Prix starts. “Amazing drive, congrats,” posted Hamilton on Instagram, along with a fist-bump emoji.

“Fantastic drive, congrats,” added Alonso, who is a master like Hamilton in such difficult wet conditions.

With Verstappen’s drive being hailed as one of the greatest in history, Norris’ ‘luck not talent’ comment went down like a led balloon on social media. Norris posted a selfie of himself with Mexico City GP winner Carlos Sainz only for a fan to call him a ‘shameful amateur’ who had been ‘humiliated’. Bizarrely, the McLaren driver liked the comment.

Norris then posted a story congratulating Max in what he described as an “impressive victory” only to delete it later with no explanation.

Mercedes dodge exclusion from Sao Paulo GP

 

 

 

Marko calls Max ‘the real champion’

Red Bull’s Dr. Helmut Marko was quick to hail the “faultless” performance of their driver and was quick to dismiss all the ‘nonsense’ over Max and ‘dirty driving’ tactics. “All this nonsense that has been spread and then this,” Marko said. “Max was flying. He was faultless and we couldn’t say that about Lando Norris.

“Whether this is a giant step towards the title? No, I think this is the title. Here you could see who the real champion is.”

Lando appears to have done himself no favours with the ‘luck not talent’ comment as even the allegedly biased British media slammed his lack lustre performance in Brazil along with numerous mistakes he made.

The Daily Mail report marvels at the drive from Verstappen describing him as ‘the greatest driver on the planet.’ They also announce Lando’s charge for a title to be over in “a flash, and Lando Norris’s dream surely died on a wet track as slippery as a chancellor’s promise.”

Verstappen critics must “keep their big mouths shut”

 

 

 

British media hard on Norris

The Mail often accused of jingoism were unhappy with Norris ungracious conclusion that Max had been “lucky” and slated the British driver for his start of the race. “More pertinently, you cannot start on pole and lose ground to a weapons-grade talent starting 16 places behind.”

The Times was also down on Norris stating this was ‘not the drive of a champion in waiting’ as his mistakes in Sao Paulo means all hope of the title had now “evaporated.”

Sky F1’s headlines are mixed. One analysis Lando’s race and is titled, “Unlucky? Or too many mistakes?” Another acknowledges Max won a “thrilling wet race” describing it as “a sublime display of driving to surge through the field during a chaotic contest, which featured a red flag and two Safety Car interruptions, ending a 10-race winless streak that stretched back to June’s Spanish Grand Prix.”

“Idiots” steal Villeneuve tribute 

 

 

 

The risk Red Bull took

To a certain extent, Lando can’t win. Often accused of being too hard on himself and seeing ‘the glass half full’ Norris came out of a crushing weekend with some fighting talk and a degree of truth in that the Alpine’s and Verstappen did get lucky because another lap or two on their fading tyres would have seen those on fresh tyres much quicker and track position would have been lost.

Worse still had race control only deployed the safety car and not the red flag, the three drivers would have been sitting ducks on ageing rubber with the rest of the field compressed behind them.

Now 62 points behind Verstappen, Norris must finish the Las Vegas weekend three points ahead of Max to ensure the title challenge rolls on to the deserts of Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Salaries revealed: What Red Bull bosses earn

 

 

 

British F1 media SLAM Norris

When Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz asked Sergio Perez about his future in Brazil, the Mexican driver was quick to blame the media for the weekly articles suggesting he will be out of the Red Bull team win the near future. The veteran reporter then revealed in fact he has repeatedly asked team boss Christian Horner about Checo’s future only to receive the standard line, ‘we are supporting him as much as we can.’ 

Yet again, no absolute confirmation was forthcoming from Horner that the new contract Perez signed in May for next season will be honoured. In particular the British media has come under fire in recent weeks, accused of blind support for British drivers’ like Lando Norris whilst attacking Max Verstappen for his alleged ‘dirty driving tactics.

In fact Red Bull have persisted for some time with the narrative that whilst Alex Albon, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris are portrayed in a favourable light, the British media treat Max Verstappen as the villain of the peace. This in some small part is due to outgoing technical director, Adrian Newey, who recently accused the British media of “demonising” Red Bull’s world champion drivers… READ MORE