Max Verstappen’s victory on Sunday was undoubtedly one of his finest, not least because this was the lowest starting position he’s ever won a race from.
He stormed through to win from 17th on the grid, albeit with two empty spaces ahead of him. The last driver to win from that far back was Kimi Raikkonen in the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix.F1’s grid is too small for anyone to be able to break the record for winning a race from the lowest starting position. The record is still held by John Watson, who won the 1983 United States Grand Prix West at Long Beach from 22nd. The last race at which that could have been equalled was the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, before Manor collapsed, leaving F1 with 10 teams.
The lowest starting position Verstappen had previously won a race from was 14th, at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. He has now taken victories from 10 different starting positions on the grid, breaking Fernando Alonso’s record of nine.
Although this was Verstappen’s eighth victory this season, it was the first he’s scored from outside the front row. He is the fifth different driver to win from off the front row this year, joining Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and George Russell. F1 last had five winners from outside the front row in 2020, including Verstappen and Hamilton again, plus Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez.
On Saturday, Verstappen saw his run of winning every sprint race this year broken, by Norris. Later that day rain prevented qualifying from going ahead as scheduled, so it was postponed to Sunday, as last happened when Super Typhoon Hagibis disrupted the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix.
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When it finally began, Norris claimed the eighth pole position of his career. He now has as many as John Surtees, Jenson Button and Riccardo Patrese.
With Pierre Gasly third, Alpine enjoyed their first double podium finish. This team last had a podium finish at the 2013 Korean Grand Prix, when it competed as Lotus, and Raikkonen took second ahead of Romain Grosjean.
Alpine’s 35-point windfall (Gasly added two points by finishing seventh in the sprint race) increased the team’s points haul by 250% and lifted it three places to sixth in the championship. That sets up a three-way fight to head the bottom half of F1’s points table, as Haas and RB are within just five points of them.
Yuki Tsunoda equalled his best result of the season with seventh place, which he previously scored in Australia and Miami. He and team mate Liam Lawson both claimed the highest starting positions of their careers, Tsunoda third and Lawson fifth in his eighth grand prix.
For the second race in a row, and the second Brazilian Grand Prix in a row, Alexander Albon completed no racing laps on Sunday. This time he failed to even start, as did Lance Stroll, and so for the first time since the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two drivers were missing from the grid. On that occasion the absent cars belonged to Tsunoda, due to a formation lap technical failure, and Mick Schumacher, who crashed heavily during qualifying.
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Stroll’s absence from the grid was especially galling for his Aston Martin team after their hard work to repair the damage caused by his qualifying crash. This should have been the race at which he set a new record for most races started by a Canadian F1 driver. Instead he’ll have to wait for the Las Vegas Grand Prix to notch up his 164th start and overtake Jacques Villeneuve.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Brazilian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
- “I didn’t really want to come back” – Hamilton explains cryptic Brazil radio message
- Ocon’s role in Gasly’s Q2 exit was almost another ‘flare-up’ at Alpine – Oakes
- Interlagos must improve “very bad” new track surface for 2025, say F1 drivers
- “That’s how we silence them”: Verstappen’s stunning Brazil win from start to finish
- Verstappen now has as many wins as F1’s first six world champions combined
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
7th November 2024, 12:28
* Car #1 33 driver won the race 133 days after his last win.
* Max has now won from 10 diferent grid positions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 14th & 17th) which is 1 more grid position than previous record holder Alonso.
* Max has surpassed Michael Schumacher in being the most consecutive days WDC championship leader – Schumacher record was 896 days (37 races) – Max is now leading 897 days (59 races) and likely will extend that to 1,030 days (62 races).
notagrumpyfan
7th November 2024, 13:53
As it will be mathematically impossible to determine a 2025 WDC until after race 13 (assuming not more than half the sprint races happen before), this will likely be at least 75 races and an extra 133 days (nice link to your first stat).
PS stat #2 was included in the write-up.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
7th November 2024, 14:17
“As it will be mathematically impossible to determine a 2025 WDC until after race 13 (assuming not more than half the sprint races happen before), this will likely be at least 75 races and an extra 133 days (nice link to your first stat).”
That is not how it is counted – if Norris wins the first race of 2025 he will be the championship leader and Max’s consecutive run of being championship leader comes to an end.
“PS stat #2 was included in the write-up.”
I know but I already had written it down and adds more details in terms of which grid positions.
But to compensate for the partly duplication – some more historical stats on grid positions and wins:
* Of the top 10 wins from different grid positions all have won from 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grid position but only 2 drivers haven’t won from 5th grid position, that are Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen
* Denny Hulme (6 positions) and John Watson (5 positions) are the only 2 drivers in the top 30 wins from different grid positions that haven’t won from pole position.
* Certainly John Watson record is odd as it seemed easier for him to win when further back than at the front. From the 21 races he started top 4 he only won 1 race (from 2nd) yet the other 4 wins he achieved from 5th, 10th, 17th and 22nd on the grid. Easily and forever be the recordholder (counting only drivers with at least 5 race wins) of lowest average grid position for his wins with 11.2 – compare that to a Nico Rosberg or Sebastian Vettel who only won from 1st, 2nd or 3rd on the grid.
notagrumpyfan
7th November 2024, 14:40
Fair point; I (mis)read it is reigning WDC.
I guess it should’ve been obvious as Hamilton was that for a longer spell ;)
notagrumpyfan
7th November 2024, 18:08
My bad; I probably just focussed on the reigning WDC title.
I should’ve known as Schumacher clearly had a longer WDC stint, and Vettel and Hamilton also still beat Verstappen.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
9th November 2024, 8:36
I agree this is quite odd, especially for the time, when there were less strategy options available.
Nowadays you see this kind of thing in IndyCar, or sometimes F2, when someone from the back end of the grid has nothing to lose and can gamble on an alternative strategy.
But less so in those days, which makes it an even cooler stat / achievement in my mind.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
7th November 2024, 12:45
Swing when you’re winning
Big climbs through the field are impressive, especially those that end in a win – and even more so, IMO, when the pole-sitter hasn’t retired from the race. Verstappen’s performance was made even more extraordinary by its contrast with Norris’s fortunes, because Norris dropped more than that one place from pole but was still racing at the end. The total swing in places was 21 (VER +16, NOR -5) and VER’s sheer speed advantage surely accounted for much of that swing, even if fortune played a part (as ever, but it did include 2 vacant grid-slots and the timing of the red flag).
I thought I’d see how this 21 place swing compared historically, the only rule being that the pole sitter had to finish the race. StatsF1 gave me a leg-up with a list of climbs to a win (https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/victoire/grille-different.aspx*), but the climb is only part of the story. The biggest – John Watson’s famous rise from 22nd place at Long Beach in 1983 – came in a race from which the pole-sitter (Tambay) retired. Finding the plummets from pole is much harder, and lacking access to a SQL database that would make this comparison easy, it was a manual task. Like this I dug out a number of large net place-swings to win *where the pole sitter finished the race*. Maybe others can find more of note, but of those that I found Verstappen’s effort comes in a very respectable third.
Here are the 7 biggest swings-to-the-win that I found:
19: Sam Hanks Indianapolis 1957. Gained 12 places, Pat O’Connor was on pole and lost 7
19: Giancarlo Baghetti France 1961. Gained 11, Phil Hill lost 8
19: Jackie Stewart South Africa 1973. Gained 15, Denny Hulme lost 4 places
19: Rubens Barichello Germany 2000. Gained 17, David Coulthard lost 2
20: Bill Vukovich Indianapolis 1954. Gained 18, Jack McGrath lost 2
21: Max Verstappen Brazil 2024. Gained 16, Lando Norris lost 5
23: Kimi Raikkonnen, Japan 2005. Gained 16, Ralf Schumacher lost 7
And finally, sitting top of the tree, is a race that some (especially in Brazil!) may wish to discount as it will forever have a big black mark against it:
26: Fernando Alonso Singapore 2008. Gained 14 places whilst Felipe Massa lost 12
PS since I chose to do this my looking for drivers who’d gained a lot of places, these big swings typically reflect a habitual front-runner starting out of position, mixed with an element of the pole sitter having a bad day. I also had a stab at finding some big swings going, if you like, the other way; that is, where the pole sitter was in an extraordinary position having had a really amazing day but then pretty much doomed to drop like a stone, opening the door to one of the regulars to nab the win. I did this by looking for one-time pole-sitters to see what they did with their golden ticket. Slimmer pickings here, things like Stroll’s pole in Turkey 2020 where he lost 8 places whilst Hamilton gained 5 to win (13 place swing), along with various examples where a one-time pole sitter crashed out (K-Mag, De Cesaris and, tragically, Wolfgang von Trips). Amazingly, of course, Pastor Maldonado didn’t squander his chance like this, which made his win all the more freakish. But buried in the stats there could be lots of cases where the pole sitter lost a bunch and the eventual winner gained a bunch, but not enough to stand out in the “climbed to a win” ranks.
* I should have used this, actually: https://www.statsf1.com/en/statistiques/pilote/victoire/grille.aspx
Riccard
7th November 2024, 22:15
In swing terms, Verstappen’s biggest piece of luck was being stopped from setting a proper Q2 time and starting near the back.
If he’d started at the front all these lovely stats would have been out of reach!
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
7th November 2024, 23:01
Hehe, yeah, lucky lad!
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
9th November 2024, 8:39
“Simply lovely” 😀
An Sionnach
7th November 2024, 12:47
The trophy looked pretty cool at this race. Well done to whoever designed and made it, and to Brazil. The trophy for a big Grand Prix event should be recognisable, like the World Cup one. Maybe more of them are and I haven’t been paying attention?
Craig
7th November 2024, 13:58
I doubt any will be as recognisable or memorable (for the right reasons) as the World Cup, but I do like it when events have unique trophies. I think everyone was pretty sick of the constant Santander logos we had for a few years.
Τάσος Μπεκρης
7th November 2024, 12:50
Alonso raced 23 years and 7 months after his first race at Interlagos.
Don’t remember when was the last time before Brazil 2024 were two Frenchman, two French cars and two French engines on same podium.
José Lopes da Silva
7th November 2024, 13:10
It was likely Germany 1994.
Last two Frenchmen was maybe Spain 1997.
notagrumpyfan
7th November 2024, 14:03
It was probably one of the first times that three french speakers were on the podium (assuming Max speaks French being born in Belgium and living in Monaco).
PLSZ
7th November 2024, 14:23
He was born in the Dutch part of Belgium. I doubt he speaks French.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 14:46
He had five years of French in school, but he indeed doesn’t actually speak the language.
SteveP
7th November 2024, 17:16
Even in the Flemish speaking portion of Belgium the population tends to speak Flemish, English, and French (in that order of popularity)
Down south in the Wallonian area they tend to be French, Flemish, English speakers.
Max is clearly a long time gone from Belgium
José Lopes da Silva
7th November 2024, 16:49
Spain 1997 had three native francophones on the podium
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th November 2024, 8:19
Max just had 1-2 years of France which helps him understand a few words and even can speak a few words but not enough to hold a conversation in French. A bit like my German ……
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th November 2024, 13:12
Imagine being the responsable for rebuilding one corner of that Aston Martin and watching it being beached like that.
I’d ask for a raise on the spot, to be honest.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 13:12
The sixth Sunday qualifying overall, with the 2004 Japanese, 2010 Japanese, 2013 Australian, & 2015 US GPs being the other ones besides the 2019 Japanese GP.
The red-flagging amount in standard qualifying matches the 2022 Emilia-Romagna GP standard qualifying that also featured five suspensions.
The second consecutive Interlagos race to feature a DNS on the formation lap.
The first in-race suspension since the Monaco GP.
Likewise to Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly also achieved his best result since his equivalent maiden victory & the second top-three finish in Interlagos.
The fourth 2024 race, in which no one finished as lapped, although Zhou & Hulkenberg got lapped before the suspension, so not an entirely lapping-free race like the Chinese, Miami, & Belgian GPs.
Esteban Ocon & Pierre Gasly stood on the same podium for the first time since a Championnat De France Karting Cadet event in Soucy on August 24, 2008, unless they achieved more recent shared podium finishes from later that year or the following.
Guanyu Zhou finished last for the eighth time this season & probably still more to come.
The second race in two seasons where the total race lap amount was two fewer than originally scheduled due to two unscheduled formation laps, with the 2023 Italian GP being the other one, & coincidently, also featuring an aborted start procedure meaning mechanics back to the grid.
The 2024 edition Sao Paulo GP became the first entirely DRS-free race since the 2022 Japanese GP.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 14:06
I thought I originally added the following stat in the mix, but apparently not, so Nico Hulkenberg became the first driver to face an immediate disqualification during a race via black flag since Felipe Massa & Giancarlo Fisichella in the 2007 Canadian GP.
Jonathan Parkin
7th November 2024, 14:46
When did his black flag happen? He would have to pass the pits right?
So presumably if he retired in the pits on the same lap as his push he wouldn’t get a black flag
When did the red flag come out?
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 14:51
The black flag message graphic appeared on the world feed coverage during the red-flag stoppage, although whether he actually received it during or before the stoppage is another matter.
Race control messages show 13:37 local time as the red flag time & 13:47 for Hulkenberg’s black flag for reference.
An in-race disqualification nevertheless, which hadn’t happened once between the 2007 Canadian & 2024 Sao Paulo GPs.
Simon
7th November 2024, 18:10
still_no_credit_for_original_source
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 19:17
Simon Once again I came up with everything myself, so impossible to credit any source in the first place.
Riccard
7th November 2024, 22:17
Perhaps Simon recognises you as a brilliant statistician, and wants you to reveal your own name (being as always the only source), so he can send you fanmail
Jonathan Parkin
7th November 2024, 13:52
The first race since the European GP in 1996 to have a driver disqualified for a push start.
Ukyo Katayama was the driver concerned, his push start took place on the formation lap and he was disqualified when the race was over
The last in race disqualification for a push start appears to be (ironically) Andrea DeCesaris at the Spanish GP in 1993
MGus.ai
7th November 2024, 14:37
I think those categories should be presented in ratios.
Possibly “wins per GPs entered”.
Winning 6 races in a year is completely different when the season has 8, 16 or 24 races.
The same thing goes to points. 70 points could win a WDC – now Alpine made 33 in a single race.
An evidence of that is that Alonso’s 400+GPs covers almost half of all F1 races sine the 1950s – what seems more significant when one remembers Alonso skipped some years mid-career.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
7th November 2024, 15:00
“Possibly “wins per GPs entered”.”
Yes indeed it is skewed in favour of more recent drivers with longer seasons but wins is skewed in multiple ways.
The win ratio does give a pretty good picture of the greats in F1 history – top 10 highest win ratios:
1) Fangio with 47.1% (24 out of 51)
2) Ascari with 40.6% (13 out of 32)
3) Clarck with 34.7% (25 out of 72)
4) Verstappen with 30.1% (62 out of 206)
5) Hamilton with 29.7% (105 out of 353)
6) Schumacher with 29.6% (91 out of 307) or ignoring return 36.4% (91 out of 250)
7) Stewart with 27.3% (27 out of 99)
8) Prost with 25.6% (51 out of 199)
9) Senna with 25.5% (41 out of 161)
10) Moss with 24.2% (16 out of 66)
All other drivers are below 20% with Damon Hill in 11th at 19.1% and Vettel in 12th with 17.1%.
However if you then look at Alonso with just 8% you easily could argue that #/% of seasons you have a championship contending car will heavily influence your # of wins and win ratio.
Looking at the 2 drivers with most wins both had more than 10 seasons in real championship contending cars of which at least 5 were dominant to extremely dominant.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
7th November 2024, 17:57
@f1statsfan certainly the longevity of a career is relevant (maybe in part because of the other drivers it keeps out). I will be very impressed if Max ever matches the wins of the immediately preceding six champions, who between them wrapped up 16 championships (so far) vs the 13 of the first 6 (so far?). That is Hamilton (105), Rosberg (23), Vettel (53), Button (15), Raikkonen (21) and Alonso (32), totalling 249. Somehow I feel that Verstappen will get bored before he hits that figure, though.
Most of the drivers above had/have had pretty long careers (Rosberg the shortest?). I don’t know how that compares to the 1950s and ’60s, but maybe it’s a factor alongside the number of rounds per season. And if you look at the seventh champion counting backwards, well, he had a pretty long career too. Adding in his wins and championships we’d reach 340 and 23 respectively…. I think hitting that really would be beyond even Verstappen.
Gusm.ai
8th November 2024, 23:56
nice
black (@black)
7th November 2024, 15:55
Not so much as a stat as the other ones but something I noticed regarding the season:
• Norris won in Miami (the start of McLaren having a top car).
It was race #6 and after the race the points difference was 53pts.
• After 14 races, McLaren and Red Bull had ‘equal’ pace more or less in 3? (Imola, Canada, Spain)
And in the other 11 races McLaren was clearly a better car than the Red Bull (sure in some races Ferrari and Mercedes were also top cars, but McLaren was ahead of Red Bull)
• After Mexico which was race #20, so after having the best car for 11/14 races and at least equal in the other 3 with the Red Bull, Norris closed the gap from 53pts (in Miami)….. all the way down to 47pts.
In 14 races he managed to cut all in all 6pts from Verstappen…..
And we’re not even counting Brazil where again he had a better car and much better opportunities to close the gap.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
7th November 2024, 16:32
@black yeah, and much as I wanted Norris (or anyone) to succeed in his challenge, he’s come up short. I think he’s done a great job, but his self-criticism is valid often enough – he simply hasn’t been quite exceptional this year, which is what it takes if you’re in roughly equal machinery to Verstappen (right, Checo?) What we have had, however, is what we really needed: a legit fight at the front, and Verstappen having to really work for both race and the overall championship. There are enough instances where VER went over the edge in terms of driving standards for me to hold back from whole-hearted endorsement of his 4th championship, but I’ll be satisfied that he earned it, because others fumbled whilst he (largely) excelled.
black (@black)
7th November 2024, 17:05
@picasso-19d-ftw
Agreed, I’m no fan of Verstappen many times, I wanted a different driver/team to challenge (and hopefully win) for the title, but Max this year fought hard for it and has truly earned it, maybe in a more spectacular fashion than 2021 (Abu Dhabi not included). This year he has been fighting with equal (and many times inferior) machinery against McLaren and Ferrari (and even Mercedes for a brief spell), with NO support of his teammate, and has come out on top.
Norris’s championship flop also goes to show, that it doesn’t take just to have the best car, you have to work hard and drive clearly to earn the title… a lesson especially he should learn, because he was being very vocal in the past, diminishing the achievements of Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen as simply having it easy driving the best car during some of their WDCs.
black (@black)
7th November 2024, 18:44
Agreed, I’m no fan of Verstappen many times, I wanted a different driver/team to challenge (and hopefully win) for the title, but Max this year fought hard for it and has truly earned it, maybe in a more spectacular fashion than 2021 (Abu Dhabi not included). This year he has been fighting with equal (and many times inferior) machinery against McLaren and Ferrari (and even Mercedes for a brief spell), with NO support of his teammate, and has come out on top.
Norris’s championship flop also goes to show, that it doesn’t take just to have the best car, you have to work hard and drive clearly to earn the title… a lesson especially he should learn, because he was being very vocal in the past, diminishing the achievements of Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen as simply having it easy driving the best car during some of their WDCs.
Mooa42
7th November 2024, 21:51
To further expand @black
After Miami
McLaren were on 124 constructors points. 115 points behind RedBull on 239 (McLaren had 52% of their total)
After Brazil
Mclaren added 469 points to be on 593 points Vs RedBull adding 305 points to be on 544
. of Mclaren’s the 469 points added since Miami, Norris scored 273 or 55% of them
. of RedBull’s 305 points added since Miami, Verstappen added 283 or 81% of them
If we assume Max had a team mate as close as Piastri is to Norris, then using the percentages
RedBull would have scored 515 points since Miami (Max 283, Perez replacement 232)
and if we assume Norris had a team mate like Perez …
McLaren would have scored 337 points since Miami (Norris 273, Piastri replacement 64)
So in this hypothetical scenario RedBull would be leading the constructors on 754 points vs McLaren on 461
black (@black)
7th November 2024, 22:52
Max didn’t even need a Piastri-calibre driver next to him.
Piastri has 79% of Norris’s points
Sainz has 79% of Leclerc’s points
Russell and Hamilton are essentially tied on points
Perez has 38%!!! of Verstappen’s points, close not to double score, but triple!!!
If Verstappen had a teammate that scored at least 52% of his points – let alone the >75% that other teams’ teammates do, Red Bull would be leading the WCC.
The fact that Verstappen would win the WDC with absolutely NO support from him teammate is the most impressive thing for me.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
7th November 2024, 23:21
It is way way worse if you start looking after the Miami race.
After Miami Max was 1st with 136 points (incl DNF australia) and Perez was 2nd with 103 points.
Now after Brazil Max is 1st with 393 points (adding 257 points) in 2nd-4th fastest car while Perez in the same car only added 48 points to 151 points being 8th. So that is less than 20% of Max since Miami.
That is 48 points out of 15 races and 3 sprints – less than 3 points per race. At the worst Red Bull was 4th fastest in maybe 2 races but that still should be 8th or higher which is minimal 4 points in each of 15 races + 1 point in each of 3 sprint races = 63 points at bare minimal.
Counting 3rd fastest on average that becomes 129 points meaning Perez lost Red Bull easily 81 points since Miami and those points went to the competitors.
Max scored on average 17 points per race weekend outscoring everyone despite not having the fastest car anymore.
Bottas was a far better wingman to Lewis than Perez is to Max – getting a better driver in will more likely help Max win WDC than work against Max.
black (@black)
7th November 2024, 23:36
@f1statsfan
Jeez that’s even more shocking! And it’s not even that Max won the majority of the races to ‘inflate’ his numbers, he got 4 wins and 4 podiums all together and 7 4th-5th-6th place finishes.
Over the course of his career I liked Perez.
He was great in 2020, pretty good in 2021 helping Max a bit with the title and in 2022 he was ok-ish.
2023 was bad but Red Bull had a significant car advantage so he ended up 2nd…barely.
But man, 2024 is probably the worst season of any Red Bull/Toro Rosso driver I can remember.
At this point I’m starting to think that Perez has some dirt on Horner or something like that, because nobody – not even him – can make a case about keeping him based on performance reasons.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th November 2024, 0:56
Yes, indeed, looks really bad, and on this very website we had people defend perez in 2023, saying: he got 2nd, he can’t be that bad.
Oh, really? If you have 2 drivers racing by cars and the others racing by foot the driver who ends 2nd couldn’t be actually terrible? As it was evident already in 2023, and actually even late 2022.
Soon horner will be like dumbledore when answering questions about perez: “I have full trust in sergio perez, that’s all you need to know!”.
Sumedh
7th November 2024, 16:36
More coincidentally, the winner then was also a Red Bull driver who was about to win his 4th title (Vettel, Verstappen). The driver in 2nd was going to leave to a Ferrari powered team (Raikkonen, Ocon). The driver in 3rd was French and staying in the team (Grosjean, Gasly). And the French team was going to ditch its Renault engine at the end of the following year (2014, 2025)
Jere (@jerejj)
7th November 2024, 20:39
A good amount of coincidences, which I failed to notice, even though I’d noted before that the last Korean GP was the previous to feature both Team Enstone drivers on the podium.
Derek Edwards
7th November 2024, 18:55
Another extraordinary thing about Watson’s win from 22nd at Long Beach is that Niki Lauda, who finished 2nd, started 23rd.
paulgilb (@paulgilb)
7th November 2024, 20:21
3rd time in the past 11 seasons (after Rosberg in 2014 and Vettel in 2017) that a driver who led the Championship in the early part of the season ended a mini victory drought in Brazil.
Verstappen won from 17th and was then interviewed on the podium by one of only 3 drivers (and only 2 F1 drivers) to have won World Championship races from further back.
Gasly’s 5th podium and Ocon’s 4th podium – neither driver has managed 2+ podiums in one season.
2nd time Gasly has been on the podium in Interlagos (after 2019) – both in races won by Verstappen in which Gasly held off a Mercedes driver in the closing stages (albeit Hamilton subsequently received a penalty).
In the 4 occasions that Gasly has finished in the top 3 on-track, the combined gaps to the next driver behind (prior to post-race penalties being applied) is only 2.276s.
Thanks to statsf1 for some of these.
Femke
7th November 2024, 21:17
Ocon drove from 15th to 2nd… in an Alpine!!
Either that is even more impressive than doing it in a redbull , or it was just the no-pitstop strategy that both he and max used
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
7th November 2024, 21:53
Not sure which race you watched but Ocon started 4th.
Oliver Bearman qualified and started 15th.