The 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix was “simply lovely” for those who love chaos (and for Max Verstappen). In a jam-packed weekend, we had LOTS of rain, red flags, beautiful homages to Ayrton Senna and a superb drive by Verstappen, who is now closer to his fourth world title.
Senna Sempre (Forever Senna)
Thursday is media day in Formula 1 but in São Paulo this year, besides press duties, it was also when homages to Ayrton Senna started. Former F1 driver Sebastian Vettel, who had already paid tribute to the late Brazilian driver in Monza this year when he drove the MP4/8, gathered almost all the drivers on the current grid at “S do Senna” corner with a huge Senna helmet made from recycled materials.
However, the main homage of the weekend was, undoubtedly, the one on Sunday, when Lewis Hamilton, a huge Senna fan, drove the MP4/5B: Senna’s 1990 championship winning car. The moment was broadcasted all over the world, including on F1’s Youtube channel. According to those who were present, Interlagos fell silent so only the engine of the car could be heard. The audience on the racetrack could also hear “Tema da Vitória”, a song that used to play when Ayrton Senna won back in his time, as well as Galvão Bueno’s original narration from the 90s. Later, Hamilton said that driving Ayrton’s car was “the greatest honor of his career”. It was a truly beautiful gesture, some would say made even prettier by the rain, to one of the greatest drivers in the history of motorsport.
Track activities
Track activities started at around eleven on Friday for the only free practice of the weekend. Haas announced that Kevin Magnussen wouldn’t attend the sessions of the day because he was sick. Oliver Bearman took on the steering wheel and was eventually called to fill in for the GP too. The racetrack had been renewed and drivers used their time to better understand the new asphalt. Later on that same day, the sprint qualifying happened. McLaren locked in the first row with Oscar Piastri taking the first position and Lando Norris getting P2.
Saturday started with the sprint race, won by Norris after a team order to switch places with Piastri. Verstappen finished third but had a five second penalty for an infraction during the virtual safety car, which was caused by a problem with Nico Hulkenberg’s car. Qualifying for the Grand Prix was also supposed to happen on Saturday, but the heavy rain didn’t allow it. After being postponed multiple times for that same afternoon, it was eventually called off and put on Sunday morning, when it was also raining, but lighter.
After 5 red flags throughout the three qualifying sessions, caused by Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Alex Albon, respectively, Norris got pole, followed by George Rusell and Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen qualified in twelfth but had a 5-place grid penalty due to changing his power unit and started the race at P17 (effectively P15 due to two empty spaces in front of him – Sainz started from the pit and Albon didn’t race because of the damages in his car).
The race started at around 12h45min local time and in the it was already chaotic from the beginning. Lance Stroll spun on the formation lap and the (first) start was aborted. Coming from second, Russell overtook Norris on the first corner for first and Verstappen was already P10 on lap two.
Rain was heavy and, on lap 30, the safety car went on track due to the weather conditions. To the sorrow of the many Argentinians present at Interlagos, Franco Colapinto crashed and a red flag was put out. Verstappen, who was second, and the two Alpines, Esteban Ocon in P1 and Pierre Gasly in P3, hadn’t stopped yet and they enjoyed that moment to change their tyres so, when the race resumed, they went back to their positions and now with new tyres. Hulkenberg had had an accident and was disqualified for receiving help from marshalls to go back to the race. Another safety car comes out when Sainz crashes on the wall and, on lap 44, Verstappen overtakes Ocon and is now leading. Norris made a mistake, got overtaken by Russell and came back in seventh. Eventually, he switched with Piastri and ended up in sixth.
After all that, Verstappen’s advantage kept on growing and he finished the race almost 20 seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon, who was second and part of an incredible double podium for Alpine. It had been 10 races since the last time the dutchman won a race and he’s now 62 points ahead of Norris on the driver’s championship. If Verstappen arrives ahead of Norris or if the McLaren driver gets until two points more than Max on the next race, Verstappen is champion once again.
Queue and organization problems
Unfortunately, the chaos wasn’t present only on the racetrack. Lots of people complained about the lack of organisation to enter the circuit and some even said to have missed sessions and not being able to see the cars on the track. Not all the gates opened on time, queues were really long and some people took up to three hours to get to grandstands. Even media professionals and staff had difficulties to get out of Interlagos.
Argentinian invasion and a future LATAM rivalry?
When Franco Colapinto joined the grid a few months ago people imagined Interlagos would receive more Argentinians than the usual, but, according to the public and some journalists, there were way more “Hermanos” than expected at the racetrack. They filled the grandstands and cheered for Colapinto, wearing merch, waving flags and chanting his name.
Another interesting occurrence from this weekend was the news that Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto, currently in Formula 2, was going to be in F1 next year, driving for Sauber. Motorsport.com.brasil, a traditional motorsport news portal, broke the news on Saturday and Jayme Brito, F1’s executive producer in Brazil also tweeted about it on Monday. An official announcement arrived this Wednesday and Brazil will be back on the main category of motorsport after 7 years. If Colapinto remains next year, could that mean a LATAM rivalry similar to what we have in soccer? I’m curious to know what Interlagos will be like next year if that scenario really becomes reality.
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The article above was edited by Maria Clara Polcan.
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