The lion has woken again.
- pitwallstories
- Nov 4, 2024
- 7 min read
There are specific tracks on the F1 Calendar that are very special for a lot of reasons. The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola and the Autòdromo José Carlos Pace in the Interlagos neighborhood of Sao Paulo are painted with the same three colors: yellow green and dark blue. Ayrton Senna’s colors.
Everything in these circuits remind us of the legend that Senna was for this sport but also in his personal life, away from track. In every corner of the city there is a mural, a picture, anything that screams “Ayyyyyyrton, Ayrton Senna do Brasil!”.
Many of the drivers on the grid remember what an amazing driver Senna was and try to learn from him in any way they possibly can. For the 2024 Brazil Grand Prix it’s almost as if Senna himself was listening because the rainy conditions throughout the entire race weekend seemed to be putting these drivers to test and see who has been truly paying attention to Senna’s masterclasses. He was without a doubt the most talented driver the sport has ever seen but most importantly, his talent was shown in the rain.
The weather conditions that welcomed the drivers into Senna’s home turf were brutal and harsh but some could argue that it’s exactly because of this that it was almost as if Senna’s presence was even more with the drivers today than any other race weekend.
Starting off strong in terms of paying a tribute to Ayrton Senna, was Lewis Hamilton who has been given the honor to drive his idol’s iconic 1990 Championship car for a few laps on track:
“It’s very, very emotional, naturally,” said Hamilton. “I was just revisiting my childhood as I was watching [Ayrton] race here as a kid. Hearing that sound and… watching him drive here, winning that race, I just couldn’t believe that I just had that chance to do that, and it was really the greatest honour of my career. To do it here in front of this beautiful crowd here in Brazil, who stood out in the rain all day yesterday, and then have been here since 4am or 3am this morning… A very, very special day and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who made this happen.”
A Saturday to forget
As mentioned before the weather conditions have never been crueler than during this Grand Prix weekend. It has not stopped raining, not even for a single minute, during what was supposed to be the time slot for the Qualifying sessions for the race on Sunday.
After an attentive consideration by the stewards in the FIA offices, it’s been declared that Qualifying was going to take place the same day as the race, due to heavy torrential rain, thunder and lightning that were hitting the circuit non-stop.
So the drivers were forced to wake up early on Sunday and sit in the car to drive their quali laps only a few hours before the start of the actual race. It felt unnatural for them but it was for the best since the visibility was being severely compromised on Saturday, after the Sprint Race.
The surprises did not stop coming, not even during Qualifying. Lewis Hamilton out in Q1 and for almost 2 tenths Lando Norris was going to be kicked out as well but he managed to recover in the last turns. Carlos Sainz qualified 14th but later on it was decided for him to start from the pit lane since he crashed during his quali lap therefore being forced to change some parts of the car. He wasn’t the only one who crashed in this cursed Qualifying session; Alex Albon drove wonderfully until Q3 only to then crash into the wall and destroy his Williams just as teammate Franco Colapinto did. Completing the circle of 5 red flags - something that hasn’t happened in the longest time - were both Aston Martins who found the barriers.
Furthermore, not one of the RedBulls made it to Q3 and also Max Verstappen’s 5-place penalty forced him to start all the way back from P17.
The most shocking part of this Qualifying sessions came at the end of Q3 when Lando Norris found pole position again, followed by George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda. Ocon, Lawson and Charles Leclerc were the ones after. Then there was Alexander Albon who was unlucky with his crash because he had in fact qualified P7 but because of his incident he had been forced to retire the car from the race, given that there was not enough time for the mechanics to repair both Williams cars.
Before finding the wall, even the Aston Martins had made it to the end of the session with Fernando Alonso in P9 and Lance Stroll P10, completing the starting grid for the race that was going to take place very soon.
The lion has woken again
Following an eventful, to say the least, weekend so far, preparations for the race were unfolding on the grid as minutes divided the drivers from driving the track in the Interlagos circuit.
Lando Norris was back on pole after having won the Sprint Race the day before, after a driver-switch with Oscar Piastri who had found himself starting from the eight position on the grid. Better than most for sure but the aussie driver was not happy with his result in the morning.
Right before ‘Lights out!’ the weather seemed to be back to normal, even if there was a huge black cloud threatening the grid and forcing them to rethink their strategies. Eventually everyone started on a set of interns because the track was still a bit dry and they all wanted to be safe out there.
Once the formation lap started, the chaos started as well. Lando Norris guided the drivers on a normal formation lap, just as they do before any race with the exception that Stroll went wide in a turn, immediately forcing a yellow flag on track. The drivers drove back to the starting grid and waited a few seconds, listening to team orders. Eventually Norris led them again to drive another formation lap, therefore shortening the race to 69 laps instead of 71, but then we saw that the Briton was supposed to stay put and wait since the sign above their heads said “Aborted start”.
Here trouble started because this meant heavy consequences for the British McLaren driver but his team could easily argue that the rest of the grid followed him, avoiding protocol as well.
Setting aside this moment of miscommunication, the start of the race had been postponed by 10 minutes, enough time to take Stroll’s car off track.
Once it was out of sight, it was finally time for ‘Lights out!’. Russell immediately took the lead with a wonderful overtake in the first turns. Further back, Hamilton and Verstappen had had a pretty good start and were already fighting for 10th place and meanwhile it was shown that even Russell, Tsunoda and Lawson had been noted for that chaos right before the start of the race.
By lap 10 Verstappen was already in the point zone, showing what an amazing driver the current world champion is as Hamilton had an off moment, triggering a yellow flag that was soon turned into green when he got back on track with no problem.
The positions stayed untouched until lap 25 when the Ferraris were the first to enter the pit lane, with Leclerc who went back out and found himself in P13. Norris was later dissuaded from entering the pits as he was busy fighting against Russell for first place.
In the meantime, the first Safety car was deployed after Hulkenberg spun out and went off track. By the end of the race, even if he didn’t actually finish it, he got disqualified because 4 marshals helped him back on track after his incident. It was the first black flag in 17 years!
His teammate for the Brazil GP, Ollie Bearman, didn’t have an easy life either during this race. He drove really really good for a rookie, but even he had his off moments a few times, especially while fighting the big guys like Hamilton or Verstappen.
The Safety Car was called out again on lap 30 as the conditions were worsening and some of the drivers were pleading for a red flag that was going to stop the race in order to wait for the rain to stop. Eventually this plea was not met by the FIA stewards, unfortunately because Franco Colapinto abruptly found the barriers on lap 36, forcing the other Williams out of the GP as well.
By this time Ocon was leading Verstappen by eight seconds but the dutchman was quickly picking up the pace from Pierre Gasly and closing the gap with Ocon, all of that following the rules of racing under a Safety Car. Once it exited the track, Verstappen made his move and took the lead from the frenchman.
In the meantime, Leclerc had been noted for returning on track unsafely, Norris and Piastri had another driver-switch that was not really liked by the Australian given that he already had a 10-second penalty.
As the last laps remained, Verstappen cleared the air between himself and Ocon, opening a gap of almost 15 seconds, securing himself the win for this GP.
What an amazing drive from the dutch lion! From P17 to P1 is a true masterclass!
And not to forget the amazing achievement by Alpine with their double podium and Ocon’s wonderful defense moves against Verstappen.
"My emotions today have been a rollercoaster, with qualifying being really unlucky with that red flag," said Verstappen. "Starting P17, I knew that it was going to be a very tough race but we stayed out of trouble, we made the right calls, we stayed calm and we were fine. All of these things together of course made that result possible. I mean, unbelievable to win here from so far back."
