São Paulo GP 2024: Verstappen wins from 17th in the rain

Max Verstappen won the São Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid at Interlagos, finishing 19.477 seconds clear of Esteban Ocon in a race run in the wet from start to finish. Pierre Gasly made it a double podium for Alpine. Lando Norris, who started from pole position, came home sixth and left Brazil 62 points behind Verstappen with three rounds to go.

How Verstappen won from 17th

Saturday's rain pushed qualifying to Sunday morning. Verstappen was fastest in Q1 but went out in Q2 in 12th, after a red flag for Lance Stroll's crash cut his session short. A five-place penalty for a new combustion engine then dropped him to 17th. Norris took pole ahead of George Russell.

Stroll spun on the formation lap, the start was aborted and the race was shortened to 69 laps. Russell led into Turn 1, while Verstappen was tenth by the end of lap 2. The race turned when Nico Hülkenberg stopped and triggered a virtual safety car. Mercedes and McLaren called Russell and Norris in, but the VSC ended before they reached their boxes. Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly stayed out.

A safety car followed on lap 30, and when Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams the race was red-flagged. The three cars that had not stopped changed tyres for free, and Verstappen went from 14 seconds behind Norris to two places ahead of him. Ocon led the restart. When the safety car came in again on lap 43, after Carlos Sainz had crashed, Verstappen went down the inside at Turn 1 and pulled clear. It was his first win since the Spanish GP in June.

Hülkenberg was black-flagged for rejoining with help from the marshals, and Alex Albon never started: Williams could not repair his car after his qualifying crash.

The teammate duels at Interlagos

Alpine. Ocon beat Gasly on both days, fourth against 13th on the grid and second against third at the flag. The double podium lifted Alpine from ninth to sixth in the constructors' championship. On F1 Duels, Gasly vs Ocon now stands at 9–12 in qualifying and 8–9 in races, so Ocon holds the edge in both columns.

Red Bull. While one Red Bull won from 17th, the other finished 11th. Sergio Pérez spun early, fought back and lost the last point to Lewis Hamilton after running wide late on. In our count Verstappen vs Pérez reads 20–1 in qualifying and 18–0 in races.

McLaren. Norris finished ahead of Oscar Piastri, but with help. Piastri, carrying a 10-second penalty for hitting Liam Lawson, was told to let his teammate through on lap 46. Norris was sixth, Piastri eighth. Norris leads their head-to-head 17–4 on Saturdays and 14–7 on Sundays.

Mercedes. Russell started second, led the early laps and wanted to stay out for a possible red flag before Mercedes pitted him anyway. He still finished fourth. Hamilton started 14th, went off on lap 12, called his car undriveable and recovered to tenth. Hamilton vs Russell stands at 5–16 in qualifying and 6–11 in races.

What it means for the title

Norris had won Saturday's sprint, with Piastri letting him by, and arrived on Sunday with the gap shrinking. He leaves with a 62-point deficit and only Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to go, while Verstappen has his eighth win of the season. The verdicts for all ten teams are on the São Paulo GP duels page.