F1 Talk: Ferrari’s Bare Knuckle as Gloves were off in Brazil

With both championships wrapped up after the United States GP, the gloves were officially off as the Formula 1 circus arrived at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, and with Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton occupying the top three positions on the grid, this race delivered in spades.

From Pierre Gasly’s maiden podium and Mercedes worst performance since Germany, to Verstappen drawing blood from Hamilton and Ferrari’s implosion Brazil will be talked about long past this weekend.

Max Verstappen’s redemption

This weekend was about redemption for Max Verstappen as after dominating the race last year until he tangled with Force India’s Esteban Ocon while trying to un-lap himself cost him an almost certain race win. The Dutchman has not on a race since the chaotic German GP in July, but the Red Bull showed great pace all weekend and bagged pole position on Christian Horner’s birthday.

The race was a more difficult prospect as he was being chased hard by Lewis Hamilton in the first stint of the race and Mercedes used the power of the undercut to get Hamilton out ahead of the Dutchman after the first round of pitstops.

That was partly due to being held up in the pitlane by the Williams of Robert Kubica after their unsafe release and a killer of a out-lap which got Hamilton out ahead. But the following lap, Verstappen passed Hamilton around the outside of the first corner to retake the net lead. The second stop was simpler and he comfortably emerged ahead of his British rival.

Even the late-race chaos after Valtteri Bottas’ engine expired caused Red Bull no issues with Verstappen doing a carbon-copy overtake to the one he perfected on lap 22 after he made a late-race pit-stop which allowed him to ease to the finish for his eighth Grand Prix victory. Verstappen certainly had the sweet taste of redemption 12 months on with the added bonus of moving into third place in the championship, and after both Ferraris’ collided, which he is almost certain to keep in Abu Dhabi.

History repeats itself for Vettel

For most Formula 1 fans, the 2010 Turkish GP is one of the most famous races of modern times after the two Red Bull drivers of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel collided on the back straight which eliminated Vettel from that race, but the post-race fallout saw Webber take the brunt of the blame. That is despite the fact that most drivers and pundits at the time accepted that Vettel was mostly to blame for moving over on Webber when they were still side-by-side.

At the end of yesterday’s Brazilian GP, history appeared to have repeated itself for the German as after his younger team-mate passed him at the Senna S, Vettel tried to come back at him down the Reta Oposta and moved over on Leclerc before turn 4. The result was worse than Turkey 2010 as Leclerc’s front wheel and suspension failed immediately with the same fate befell Vettel moments later.

That was after the German started on the front row, while his team-mate started 14th on the grid after a ten-place grid penalty for a new power unit and this is just another demonstration of Vettel’s liability in wheel-to-wheel combat recently with errors in that department this year in Bahrain, Canada, Britain, Italy and now Brazil.  

The two Ferraris had very different races: Vettel was trying an ambitious one-stop, which he converted into a two-stop and looked set for third place under the Safety Car. Meanwhile, Leclerc was seeing if he could break into the top five and was having his work cut out keeping Bottas at bay before his engine exploded in his rear-view mirror. But it was Leclerc’s supreme defending that caused the Finn’s engine to overheat and the drama that followed.

But as Ferrari head into the winter, the contrast between Vettel and Leclerc could not be starker in that department as while Vettel is a man whose feathers are easily flustered in wheel-to-wheel combat, it is in this department that the Monegasque thrives.

Errors from the six-times champion

As races go, this was not Lewis Hamilton’s finest performance. After a good start, he was on Verstappen’s tail from the get-go. But he was passed by the Dutchman twice in a race where he had nothing to lose in the championship and so no reason to concede easily. Hamilton seemed to be ruffled throughout the race, complaining about the tyres, wind, strategy and possibly someone’s hat if he spotted it and that seemed to be reflected in his driving.

After the first safety car when Mercedes decided not to pit Hamilton, he was passed by Verstappen immediately and was at the head of a train which consisted of Albon and the two Ferraris’. Then after civil war broke out at Ferrari, Hamilton dived for the pits to take on new boots on lap 66, and once the race got back underway, he passed Pierre Gasly with ease on lap 69. But it was his over-ambitious attempt on Alexander Albon that was his undoing as the Mercedes driver tried a silly move at turn 6 as the Thai driver was always going to shut the door at that part of the track.

The six-times world champion was given a 5-second time penalty which dropped him from third to seventh at the end of a hectic race. But he got off lightly in reality to the damage he caused, as innocent by-stander Albon limped home in 14th after what should have been his first F1 podium.

Midfield Miracles

In a race where the front-runners self-combusted, it was the midfield drivers that benefited the most as Red Bull Racing’s second driver until the Belgian GP, Pierre Gasly, finished a fine second place after occupying sixth or seventh place for most of the race. He was up to fourth at the second Safety Car restart and swiftly assumed second place once Albon and Hamilton collided. The Frenchman held off the world champion on the run to the line for his maiden podium finish after a sensational performance from the Toro Rosso driver.

But driver of the day has to be Carlos Sainz Jr as the Spaniard came from last place following an engine failure at the start of Q1 to secure his maiden podium finish after Hamilton was awarded his penalty. He might not have had the glory of standing on the rostrum at the time of the podium celebrations, but this marks his first F1 podium and McLaren’s first podium since the 2014 Australian GP.

After a hectic and dramatic Brazilian GP, it was Max Verstappen who secured his third win of the season and eighth in Formula 1. He was joined on the podium by Pierre Gasly to make it the first Honda 1-2 since the 1989 Belgian GP when Ayrton Senna led home team-mate Alain Prost. But this race could be significant for how Ferrari now go racing in 2020 and could have truly shown to them that Leclerc, not Vettel, is their only hope to be a Ferrari world champion.