Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024

Will Verstappen penalty hand Norris an open goal? Six Brazilian GP talking points

Formula 1

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The third and final weekend of F1’s triple-header tour of the Americas, the Brazilian Grand Prix is always one of the most popular rounds of the championship.

This weekend could be a pivotal one for Lando Norris’ prospects of catching Max Verstappen in the championship battle. Not only will the sprint race offer extra points, but Sunday’s grand prix could be critical if the championship leader has to start from the midfield.

But after further controversy between the title contenders last weekend, there’s one topic that will likely dominate discussions in the paddock once again. These are the talking points for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s grid drop

One of the major plot points of last weekend was that Verstappen appears to be facing considerable trouble with his power unit allocation once again.

He missed a significant amount of track time on Friday with a recurring power unit problem which meant he set no meaningful laps of running during the second practice session. Even if that was not a representative session due to the tyre test taking place, it still meant he headed into the race with far fewer long run practice laps than he would have liked.

Whether that ultimately limited his race pace on Sunday or not, we’ll likely never know. However, a more pressing problem is that Verstappen is now right on the limit of power unit availability once again, assuming the unit he ran last Friday is unsalvageable. If he has to take a new power unit this weekend, that will be a grid drop of five places for Sunday’s grand prix.

Interlagos is not a terrible track to take a grid penalty. It has one of the most generous DRS zones and there are overtaking opportunities into the Senna Esses and Descida do Lago. However, Brazil can often produce incidents and accidents, which means Verstappen could be uncomfortably vulnerable if he has to start in the mid-pack. Either way, this weekend could present Norris a major opportunity to take more points off Verstappen in the championship.

Racing rules row rumbles on

As much of a shame as it is, it’s starting to feel that the first championship battle to still be alive at Interlagos since 2021 will again be dominated by discussions over the rules of racing.

For both rounds in this triple header in the Americas so far, there have been multiple incidents where drivers have been forced off track by rivals. Some have been penalised. Others have not. Some have been punished with penalties of five seconds. Others punished with ten seconds.

But, naturally, the most controversial incidents have involved the two drivers at the top of the championship standings – Verstappen and Norris. Last Sunday’s race saw the world champion hit with two separate ten second penalties for forcing Norris off the track, dropping him behind the Mercedes pair into sixth place and being the first time the Red Bull driver has been penalised since their first clash at the Red Bull Ring.

This weekend, the teams head to Interlagos – the scene of one of the most infamous incidents involving Verstappen’s aggressive racing style. Back in 2021, he and Lewis Hamilton memorably both left the track at the left-hander of Descida do Lago while fighting for the lead. Although there was no action taken by the stewards on that occasion, it’s hard to imagine the same happening should history repeat this weekend.

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Piastri’s poor tour of the Americas

Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024
Piastri’s form has been indifferent lately
Oscar Piastri had two excellent weekends in Italy and Azerbaijan, beating his team mate in both rounds and reaching the top step of the podium in Baku. But since that excellent second career victory, Piastri’s red-hot form appears to have cooled off.

Although he took a podium in Singapore, he was still significantly off from his team mate who won the race comfortably. But then in the first two rounds of the triple-header weekend in the United States and Mexico, Piastri has not had a particularly consistent showing. First, he was knocked out of SQ1 in sprint qualifying in Austin before finishing fifth in the grand prix. Then last weekend in Mexico, he failed to progress out of Q1 for the first time all season after he was unable to recover from a mistake late in the session.

In his defence, Piastri was not on the latest floor specification like his team mate. But though he recovered to eighth on Sunday he was unable to help Norris in his battle against Verstappen like McLaren would have hoped he would. Now, Ferrari are building momentum in the constructors’ championship and have passed Red Bull into second place. Piastri needs a strong weekend in Brazil, as his team need from him too.

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Lawson not making friends

Liam Lawson, Sergio Perez, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024
Liam Lawson, Sergio Perez, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024
Liam Lawson has been handed a critical opportunity to make a case for him to have a permanent race seat in 2025 by racing in the final six rounds of the championship.

So far, he has taken two points in Austin and suffered front wing damage while fighting with Franco Colapinto in the latter stages of the Mexican Grand Prix. But Lawson has also been earning some stern words from some of the most experienced drivers in the field.

He started off getting criticism from Fernando Alonso for his aggressive racing in the Austin sprint race, then was called an “idiot” by Sergio Perez multiple times during the Mexican Grand Prix after the pair of them clashed while battling early in Sunday’s race.

Will Lawson court the wrath of any other rivals this weekend in Brazil?

Colapinto’s ‘home’ grand prix

Franco Colapinto's 2024 Mexican Grand Prix helmet
Lawson infuriated Perez in Mexico
For a driver who never would have expected to be racing in Formula 1 heading into 2024, Franco Colapinto has made one of the strongest impressions of any driver in the field over his five grands prix weekends so far.

Although his last weekend in Mexico was not his best, Colapinto has achieved far more in five race weekends than his predecessor managed in six times as many rounds, scoring points in two of those grands prix to help Williams to eighth in the championship after being well behind Alpine in ninth when he first took over the seat.

As an Argentinian driver, Colapinto naturally does not have a home grand prix of his own on the calendar. However, this weekend in Brazil will be the closest round to his native Argentina, and given how he was mobbed by fans in both Austin and Mexico, it’s likely that Colapinto will be the most popular driver in the field this weekend – even if Brazil and Argentina have long had the strongest sporting rivalries in all of South America.

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Taking the ‘esports’ line

Carlos Sainz Jnr’s pole-winning lap last weekend in Mexico was notable not just because the Ferrari driver beat both main championship protagonists to the top spot on the grid, but because he chose not to follow the traditional racing line exiting the final corner on the run to the line.

Sainz later explained his unusual line to finish the lap was inspired by Norris from their time together at McLaren. Referring to it as the “iRacing line” in allusion to Norris’s simracing exploits, the technique of trying to minimise lateral movement at the end of a qualifying lap is hardly exclusive to the world’s most popular simracing platform.

As demonstrated by 2022 F1 Simracing world champion Lucas Blakeley below, hugging the pit wall on the run to the line in Interlagos is considered to be the shortest run to finishing a lap. Will Sainz’s actions last weekend see more drivers adopting this approach in the two qualifying sessions this weekend?

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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44 comments on “Will Verstappen penalty hand Norris an open goal? Six Brazilian GP talking points”

  1. Verstappen’s grid drop – Unfortunately for Norris, I think Ferrari’s recent race pace could prove too much to maximize points for his (still only) theoretical championship chance.

    Racing rules row rumbles on – Unfortunately, yes, & I think same tactics will occur at T4 in both sprint & the race or at least I’m fully prepared & brazed for that corner in this regard.

    Piastri’s poor tour of the Americas – He indeed wasn’t much of a help for his teammate or team regarding either championship, but McLaren is still leading the WCC, so everything still under control.

    Lawson not making friends – Maybe, but that isn’t the purpose of being an F1 driver in the first place, & I doubt a third different driver would get under his skin in Interlagos.

    Colapinto’s ‘home’ grand prix – Given Brazil is the closest to Argentina out of all current host countries, I expect Interlagos to feature more Argentines on the stand than any other circuit location thus far since his in-season debut, although Hamilton will probably still be the number 1 favorite among the crowd as he’s tended to be since Massa stopped, so Colapinto could realistically be number 2 at best.

    Taking the ‘esports’ line – Most drivers currently racing in F1 don’t even play iRacing, so I doubt the same driving technique would occur more broadly.

    1. Most F1 drivers don’t play iRacing but a lot of them did and still do. I guess F1 life gets in the way and you cannot play as much as you’d want to, except Max.

      Norris is an iRacer, maybe not as frequently online as before. So was Colapinto. I remember when I started on iRacing the top ranked argentinean was Colapinto. As it’s a weird name in spanish, I wondered who he was.

      Antonelli and Doohan are also frequently showing up on public servers. I’ve encountered both of them in Formula 4 public races.

      So plenty of drivers that were iRacers before F1 racers.

      1. & probably barely anyone realized they were actual racing drivers at the time, especially about Colapinto back in the day when many hadn’t even heard about his name, let alone knew who he was generally.

        1. Well, there’s a kid (12 years old or so) called Lewis Wherrell, who beats everyone in the F4 public server. He shows up EVERY TIME. I swear he probably never leaves his room, as he’s always there, whatever the time. Quite aggressive racer too… but what do I know? I usually stay in the bottom half of the top splits.

          Very sucessful in karting as far as I can see. If he pops up in any series in real life, I’ll be able to say “Hey! it’s that kid again!”

    2. I don’t see Lawson doing anything wrong. It doesn’t matter if others are annoyed that he’s showing them up, he they Pérez, Alonso or anyone else.

    3. @jerejj

      Taking the ‘esports’ line – Most drivers currently racing in F1 don’t even play iRacing, so I doubt the same driving technique would occur more broadly.

      I think you’re slightly missing the point here. Drivers wouldn’t just take the esports line because it’s what they’re familiar with from iracing, but they would take it if it they think it is the fastest line in reality too. It depends on the characteristics of the track and the cars. On a normal racing lap, you wouldn’t hug the inside so aggressively because you would scrub off some speed and it would cost you more on the run to turn 1 than you gain in the final corner. But for a qualifying lap you don’t care about that. All that matters in qualifying is the fastest way to the line, so with the huge amount of downforce these cars have, they might not scrub so much speed from the narrower line and gain a couple of hundreths or so. It’s probably a very marginal call, so much so that for some cars using some tyres, the esports line is the fastest, and for lower downforce cars or less grippy tyres, the traditional line is best.

      1. True & what I tried to mean is that unless a real racing driver plays iRacing in free time, he/she wouldn’t necessarily use anything from iRacing for real driving, except maybe by copying someone who plays iRacing.

  2. Engine penalty may be an open goal for this weekend but I can’t see it impacting Verstappens championship much at all. He’ll have the pace to come back to at least 6th and a possible 4th depending on Mercedes race pace. Only a DNF can stop him winning the championship, so as long as he keeps a cool head at the start and makes it around the first lap he’ll be fine.

    The gap just hasn’t closed quick enough for Lando to pull this off. He now needs 12 points advantage over Verstappen every race weekend and I think he’s only managed that once this season.

    Of course anything can happen, but I’m not as hyped as some about the “champions battle “ as I really don’t see one yet.

    1. Agreed, it was 7 or so a few races back but 12 is a huge number with Ferrrai in such good form and Piastri failing to keep up his performance. There are now unlikely to be more than one or two cars in between Verstappen and Norris.

      1. It depends on whether the new engine gives Verstappen the pace to compete for a top four finish in the remaining races. I expect Piastri to sort himself out and to see both McLarens and Ferraris hogging the top for positions more often than not, otherwise. Then, the championship hinges on Norris. He has to win two and come second and third while picking up either two or five more points than Max in the sprints (depending on whether he gets two second places or a second and third).

        Max has to finish in fifth to keep in this tight. That should be achievable for him. If he can do better even once that could close off the championship. Lower than fifth opens the door. If he can calm down and accept his fifth positions that will give him the best chance. I don’t think it’s his style to leave it up to his opponent, but if it’s the best he can do he has to make sure to maximise his points.

        Considering all the acrimony this year, it could end like 1997, where other teams help the challenger out as they’ve tired of the championship leader’s driving. Williams owes McLaren one. It’s time for them to return the favour.

        1. It’s never a fun time when a driver fighting for the title has to pass an old rival with nothing to lose.

    2. he will probably get stuck behind mercedes which means 7th or 8th at best

      1. I agree. Both George and Lewis will relish the chance to keep Max away from the top five. I feel the same may be true of other seemingly unaligned drivers and teams, although the smaller ones might be more focused on their own battles to fight this one.

      2. Or get taken out by Piastri…just sayin’.

        1. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Even in Max’s case I’m not sure whether he will do anything beyond desperate clumsy lunges. I might be missing some examples(?), but Schumacher in 1997 and Senna in 1990 are the only examples where someone admitted to deliberately taking someone out. Of those, only Senna’s was premeditated.

          1. It has to be clear that disqualification from the season will be the punishment for such desperate actions. The way this may differ from 1997 is that we may need a double deterrent as I wouldn’t put it past McLaren to lobby for a disqualification in a more contentious scenario like the scraps they’ve had that were more 50-50.

  3. Part of the weak performance in Mexico was running an old engine at lower maximum performance. A new engine could fix it and an alternative strategy could even help produce an incredible exciting GP for Max and his fans. But he should stay out of trouble and not have a disadvantageous SC during the race…

  4. Maybe we should be discussing the penalty Verstappen got. Hasn’t gotten much attention yet.

    1. No worries there likely will be new penalties voor Max given that Johnny Herbert is again steward and he for sure will take every chance he gets to help Norris and hurt Max.

      Pretty amazing that someone that frequently has been publicly critical of Max is allowed to be a steward in any of the races with a close championship certainly given he has a British passport. They should have Jos Verstappen or any other Dutch ex F1 driver as steward in the last 3 races – see how much negative attention that would get from the British press.

      All the articles written on this website on Austin & Mexico penalty it and the discussions below would have been very different if the roles were reversed.

      1. Johnny Herbert hasn’t shown a clear nationality bias & he’s been the driver steward for quite a few GPs over the years, with the Sao Paulo GP his fourth appearance on the steward panel in five rounds as he was also there in Baku & Singapore.

        1. Yeah Singapore where he gave Max community service for saying his car was ……
          When Leclerc said the exact same thing in Mexico there was no penalty.

      2. This is really ridiculous indeed. If anyone has openly admitted he is not impartial it is Herbert. He openly labelled Max attitude as ‘horrible’. In any other environment this would immediately lead to disqualification of such person. The fact he is allowed to be a steward highlights the agenda FIA/Liberty have concerning building momentum in their competition. It shouldn’t be allowed to have any steward that shares the nationality of any of the contestants. That is just ethical common sense.

      3. Get Jos and Johnny in a closed room for a few hours, that should do it

    2. Is this your usual demand for others to engage in censorship of views that you are offended by and an insistence on having your own propaganda replayed back to you?

      1. No, this is about frequency and volume.

    3. Maybe we should be discussing the penalty Verstappen got. Hasn’t gotten much attention yet.

      Which penalty? The one for turn 4 or the one for turn 7?
      Both totally deserved, and rather unfortunate that a simple 10-second penalty (even doubled) still allowed him to negatively affect Norris’s race.
      However, I feel that the discussion over whether the total penalty was correct or not enough has rather been done to death.

      So, for discussion here, we have: the grid place penalty for an additional PU beyond allocation. It’s a given – anyone who goes beyond the allocation of PU components for the season gets a penalty taken from a menu of place costs.

  5. It’s funny how Marko was trying to criticise Norris a little while ago about his lack of mental fortitude. Max’s tantrums are so predictable it’s laughable. I suspect if he indeed starts mid-pack we’ll see his rash moves appearing again, probably when he inevitably catches a certain Mercedes with a yellow helmet. I fully expect a repeat of Hungary. Fingers crossed Piastri finds his form again.

  6. Expecting good clean races with no controversies this weekend.

    1. I would like to see that, but I’m not expecting it. It’s going to take a race ban for Verstappen to start behaving himself, and I can’t see that happening.

      1. all it takes is consistent stewarding punishing people who intentionally brake late to run their adversaries off the track.

        As for pushing people off the track on corner exit, that one needs a racer whose willing to call it straight who actually understands whats going on, because it is difficult, even if you watched a lot of f1 to understand what the driver would or could be doing, and then verifying that with the data. You can only really get that with good honest drivers who aren’t beholden to the FIA’s schemes, or any other ‘financial entity’. A very hard ask.

    2. @jimfromus I don’t know, Interlagos has multiple overtaking points and potential for contact and collisions, and I don’t see anyone from Red Bull backing down.

      1. I don’t see anyone from Red Bull backing down.

        “Head start” Perez ?

  7. Brazilians cheering for an Argentine? I don’t think so.

    1. I think the point is more about Argentines appearing in the crowd for him that wouldn’t necessarily be the case if he weren’t competing.

      1. Maybe get confirmation from the circuit promoter, before making such speculation. Twice…

    2. Brazilian here. Lifelong F1 fan.
      Colapinto is awesome and I’m definitely cheering for him. Unfortunately his awesomeness compromises Bortoleto’s chances, but c’est lá vie.

  8. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    31st October 2024, 13:11

    About Piastri – it’s an interesting one. He had a pretty controversial entry into F1 with McLaren. His agent is Mark Webber who has ties to Red Bull and can probably get him a seat there.

    He’s been more than a bit cheeky with Norris as he was fighting for the WDC and he’s been MIA now when needed to overtake Verstappen and take some points away (coincidence, who knows?).

    My question about Piastri aren’t about his driving, it’s about his character. Clearly, he would NOT want Lando to win the WDC. There’s going to be no Perez-like assist as we saw in 2021 where Perez and Masi won the WDC for Max breaking the rules in the process.

    While we cannot expect an assist from Piastri, will he completely disappear so as to not take a single point away from Max? Some might view that as an assist to Max perhaps at a higher level than Perez in 2021.

    1. Mmmm, it’s a good point to bring up: why did piastri suddenly disappear now there’s a minor chance for norris to win the title and when he’s supposed to help him gain more points on verstappen? I’m all for conspiracy theories and I think if he’s slow on purpose lately he definitely has a motive.

    2. Oh, and in the process he might throw away the WCC for mclaren, if he didn’t already do that, since they needed 2 mclarens up there with this strong ferrari.

    3. I wil bite on a specific part of your post.

      There’s going to be no Perez-like assist as we saw in 2021 where Perez and Masi won the WDC for Max breaking the rules in the process.

      Perez was nowhere to be found during 2021. Max had to do all of it alone. I distinctly remember Perez being utterly useless. There was one race, the last of the season where he appeared to do something, but in the bigger picture of the race it was non-essential and non contributing to the result. On Masi we have had enough debate. Strange happenings but a season is way more than a single race.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        31st October 2024, 17:51

        I think Perez did quite a bit in the last race and he seemed to have enough pace to tangle with Lewis despite the fact that Lewis had cleared Verstappen by quite a margin. Didn’t he slow down Lewis by 9 seconds or so?

  9. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    31st October 2024, 13:19

    About Norris – he had his teammate pushing him off a few races back, now he has Max blocking him every chance he gets, he now has the 2 Ferraris in top form winning left and right, a MIA teammate that he and his team can’t find anywhere on track, and the possibility of a Mercedes or two wanting to end the season on a high note.

    I guess we can also add the FIA and stewards to the list of WDC challengers he has to face after Austin.

    The only way he can win this WDC is if he stands his ground and Max’s attack ruins his own car and results in a DNF. He has to roll the dice and hope his egg doesn’t crack when they collide. And that’s assuming the FIA don’t punish him, which let’s be honest they most likely will.

  10. Sky talks about a five place grid penalty for the engine change….

  11. Open goal for Norris? Not if he has to start from pole.

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