From Pit Lane to Podium: Verstappen’s Brazil Fight and His Fading Championship Hopes
Before we start with this week’s coverage, here’s an announcement I would like to make:
Moving forward, this publication will go through some format changes.
After the Singapore Grand Prix, I found myself caught up with other writing commitments and only came around to finishing that piece a week later. By then, I struggled to see the point of posting a race review that had already gone cold, so I didn’t. Timing, after all, is everything in sports journalism. I then traveled for a bit, attended concerts, worked on editing and culling thousands of photos… Needless to say, I lost the groove of writing sports for a bit. Lots of ideas were sitting in my drafts, but I never got around to finishing them.
However, the break prompted me to revisit a question I’ve been asking myself for a while: What can I offer that’s different from the hundreds of other media sites out there?
After some deliberation, I’ve decided to evolve my race coverage into a more op-ed-driven format — still grounded in what happens on track, but with a stronger focus on the stories, narratives, and personalities that make Formula 1 exciting. It might even feature crossovers with other sports in the near future.
I hope you’ll enjoy this new direction as I experiment and refine it over the next few races.
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Max Verstappen’s 2024 Brazil drive was one of the single greatest sporting events I have ever watched live on television. Which says a lot considering I have been watching all kinds of sports religiously since I was a kid. The conditions, the championship pressures, and the fact that his rival was starting first all added to the drama. Needless to say, I was extra excited for last week’s race. But what an emotional roller-coaster it was! We’re here to break down the drama-filled weekend from Verstappen’s point of view. Buckle up, and enjoy.
Rain or dry, Interlagos always delivers.
Last year, after a series of unfortunate events, Max Verstappen overtook nearly the entire field and won the race in treacherous conditions, despite starting from P17. All while his then championship rival Lando Norris qualified on pole, but only crossed the finish line in sixth after a costly mistake. Once in clean air, Verstappen looked unstoppable and pumped out fastest lap after fastest lap. It was a statement drive to seal his fourth consecutive driver’s championship and another one to add to the Dutchman’s impressive repertoire of wet race masterclasses.
In contrast to 2024, where the RB-20 had a decent-ish pace but never showed its full potential until the main race, this year, the RB-21 just looked… bad since Friday. The only practice session of the weekend ended before Verstappen was able to put in a clean lap on the softs. With no qualifying simulations completed, the reigning world champion only managed to put his car in P6 in Sprint Qualifying. He saw the checkered flag in P4, benefiting slightly from the McLaren of Oscar Piastri crashing out.
Then came the Grand Prix Qualifying.
… Max Verstappen, in his 10-year Formula 1 career, was eliminated in Q1 for the first time on pure pace. Heck, he drove a Toro Rosso for a season and a half in his rookie years and had done better than this. The Redbull team is notorious for being able to make quick setup adjustments overnight for Verstappen to deliver a stunning result in qualifying, but this time, it simply did not work. The RB-21 had no grip, was sliding everywhere, and was not responding to the driver’s inputs.
After the disastrous Qualifying session, my immediate thought was that Redbull should take this as an opportunity to change the power unit and disassemble the car completely because it clearly was not working at all. Starting from the pit lane could not be that much worse than starting in P16, when the car was barely drivable. Having a new setup should at least give Verstappen a chance to fight. Turns out we all thought the same, as Max Verstappen took on a new engine and Redbull tweaked the car in parc fermé.
Having made it to P13 after a chaotic start, Verstappen dropped back down the order again after being forced to make an early pit stop due to a front left tire puncture. Which, ironically, worked in his favor as he pitted under the Virtual Safety Car caused by the three-way incident in the front, and got rid of the less ideal hard tires that worked against everyone on the track. He then went on a three-stop strategy and embarked on an incredible recovery drive, finishing P3 behind Norris and Antonelli.
“We are all in this together and we never give up. We take risks, yes, but I like that, to always try and be better because we don’t want to settle for second.”
It was great to witness how Redbull and Verstappen quickly turned things around. The new power unit they booted on will be crucial come races like Las Vegas. But, is it enough to keep Verstappen’s fifth championship dream alive?
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Unlike last season, where his comeback drive pretty much secured him his fourth consecutive championship, this equally great, if not more impressive drive, might have ended Verstappen’s run at his fifth title. Last year, he was the defender, and this year, he is the challenger. With three races to go and a 49-point gap to the championship leader, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen’s short-lived championship hope might have just shattered.
Given the inconsistent state of the RB-21, this title chase has always been a far-fetched dream. He saw a glimpse of hope after an incredible run from Monza to Austin, closing the gap from 104 points down to 40. But it not only required him to bag every point possible each weekend, but also needed the McLarens to slip up here and there. While Oscar Piastri’s form sure took a dip after Baku, Lando Norris has been consistent. The points gap is almost impossible to overcome at this point. Still, it was fun while it lasted.
Looking back at the race a few days later, was the three-stop strategy the best one Redbull could’ve employed? Should Redbull have gone more aggressively and let Verstappen stay out on the mediums? Putting him on a new set of softs was to guarantee a podium finish, but degradation on the softs kicked in earlier than expected. Given how the other drivers around Verstappen managed on worn-in mediums, maybe staying out and holding track position might have given him a chance to fight for P2 or higher. At this point in the season, it should have been all-in or nothing for the Milton Keynes-based team. They are the ones with one thing to fight and nothing to lose. It is a classic situation of, like Max himself puts it, “if my mom had balls, she would be my dad,” so I guess we’ll never find out.
Next race, we're going racing on the Las Vegas Strip. I was this close to booking an extremely last-minute ticket to Vegas to cure my seasonal depression, but figured the wildly expensive serotonin boost may only last me 48 hours. I’ll be shivering in the cold no matter where I go.
I am still excited for the race. The Vegas track looks pretty horrendous on paper, but for the past two times we raced here, it always delivered. It is also the one track out of the remaining races where the McLarens might not have a huge upper hand. The results of this race will likely determine the 2025 driver’s championship. If Verstappen wants even a mathematical chance, he needs to finish on the top step of the podium in Vegas. We will see how it all shakes out next week!
