Verstappen wins drama-filled Brazilian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen claimed an impressive victory in a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Red Bull Racing ace was able to control the race from his start in pole and at the end stay away from all the drama taking place behind him.

With only a few laps to go, the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc collided while battling for fourth position. They both eventually had to retire.

Meanwhile, recently crowned World champion Lewis Hamilton Mercedes and Alexander Albon in the other Red Bull car were involved in a late incident. This resulted in a Hamilton penalty which cost him third place on the podium, but also denying Albon a potential podium finish.

Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso then brilliantly fought off a hard-charging and quicker Hamilton at the very end to claim second place in the race.

Verstappen won in a total race time of one hour 33 minutes 14.678 seconds. Gasly followed 6.077 seconds behind, and due to Hamilton’s penalty, Carlos Sainz Jr of McLaren was promoted to third 8.896s off the winning pace.

Alfa Romeo had a fine result with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi taking fourth and fifth, respectively, while Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth.

Hamilton dropped to seventh ahead of Lando Norris in the other McLaren in eighth, while Sergio Perez of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat in the seond Toro Rosso car completed the top 10.

With the results, Verstappen claimed the eighth win of his Formula 1 career, his third of the season and first in Brazil.

The Dutch star commented after the race: “It’s an incredible feeling right now and to win today was a huge team effort.

“It was a crazy race with a lot of action and fighting but luckily we always had the pace to counter back and overtake Mercedes in every scenario. It wasn’t easy out there but the team made all the right calls, especially at the end to pit for the soft tyres during the Safety Car, which gave us the win today.

“As a team you always try and make everything perfect; I focus on my job and the team also try to do a perfect job in the pits and on the strategy and clearly today it worked out pretty perfectly.

“It’s a great victory, after last year of course, but more for the way the race unfolded and how we all had to work together. Today and the whole weekend the car and Honda power unit have been working really well and we have made a step so thank you to everyone for that.

“It is of course a massive shame that Alex could not be on the podium with me as it would have been an even better result for the Team but it’s great for Pierre to be up here and for Toro Rosso and Honda.”

With the result, Verstappen improved to 260 points in third place on the Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship, which has already been clinched by Hamilton, who has 387 points. Valtteri Bottas, who retired from Sunday’s race, remained second with 314 points.

Mercedes still leads the constructors’ standings with 701 points, well ahead of Ferrari’s 479 and Red Bull’s 391.

The Formula 1 season now heads for the championship finale in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for December 1.