From November 1st to 3rd, F1 fans have been able to enjoy a memorable São Paulo sprint weekend in the rain, full of crashes, safety cars, and an unbelievable podium on Sunday. With only 3 races left in the season, this Grand Prix had great consequences on both championships with Alpine going from ninth to sixth in the constructor’s championship, and Lando Norris losing almost all his chances to win the driver’s championship.
The only free practice of the weekend, won by Lando Norris, seemed to foreshadow an ordinary weekend, which happened to be true until Sunday, with a sprint pole taken by Oscar Piastri and a sprint race won by Lando Norris. However, the situation quickly escalated with the FIA, the governing body of motorsports, postponing the qualifying session to Sunday morning because of abundant rain, leading to Lando Norris taking pole and Max Verstappen starting in 17th position.
The São Paulo Grand Prix started in a heavy rain, with George Russell taking the lead from Lando Norris in turn one. With the conditions becoming increasingly heavy, everyone expected a red flag: “This should go red. We can’t keep the car on the road like this,” Russell said in a radio message. There indeed were five red flags during this Grand Prix, with five DNFs: Alex Albon during qualifying, Lance Stroll in the formation lap, Nico Hülkenberg’s disqualification, Franco Colapinto, and Carlos Sainz. However, these disastrous meteorological conditions didn’t affect all the drivers in a negative way: it actually helped the Alpines, as both were back on the podium after more than a year without. Max Verstappen also took advantage of the bad weather: “We were flying,” he said during the FIA press conference, after his astonishing victory from 17th position.