17th win this season
Max Verstappen further extends his own record for most wins in an F1 season. In Brazil he took his 17th victory of this year. He also breaks Alberto Ascari’s 1952 record for highest winning percentage in a season. Verstappen is now at over 77 percent, with two races to go.
The three-time world champion started from pole position at the São Paulo Grand Prix and rode unchallenged to victory. For Verstappen it was his first grand prix victory in Brazil since 2019. Last year he finished sixth. Briton Lando Norris finished second in his McLaren. Sergio Pérez, Verstappen’s Mexican teammate, fell just short of third place after an exciting battle with Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and finished fourth. In doing so, he took revenge for his early crash last weekend in his home race in Mexico City.
Verstappen now has a total of 52 victories. The 26-year-old Limburger is one win away from the German Sebastian Vettel, who occupies third place on the list of most successful Formula 1 drivers. Verstappen can still pass Vettel this year, because there are still two races on the program, in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
The race started chaotically. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc crashed during the warm-up lap and was therefore unable to participate in the race. Verstappen, who also won the sprint race on Saturday, was away quickly. The race had to be stopped quickly because the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams) collided in the middle of the field and were unable to continue the race.
Verstappen never got into trouble. Thirteen laps before the end, the world champion briefly lost the lead to Norris when he went in for his second pit stop. Norris continued for a few more laps, but then also opted for a tire change.
At the end of the race there was a nice battle between Pérez and Alonso for third place. Pérez overtook the Spaniard on the penultimate lap on a long straight, but Alonso managed to regain his position afterwards. Towards the finish, Pérez made an ultimate attempt to pass Alonso again, but he just failed.
Pérez did good business considering second place in the World Cup standings. The driver was ahead of number 3 Lewis Hamilton, who finished eighth. Pérez now has 258 points and Hamilton 226. Verstappen now has 524 points.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl