Johnnie’s Judgement: 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix talking points

Jonathan Victoria • 04 Nov 2024 Features

Interlagos never fails to deliver…

In all my years of watching Formula 1, I have never seen a race weekend quite like the one we just had in Brazil.

To be honest, it needs no intro. Let’s get straight into the talking points I have picked out from the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Verstappen repairs his reputation

Credit: EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS! 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix 🇧🇷 (Sky Sports F1, YouTube)

This triple-header was always expected to be rather telling for the outcome of both championships and in the two races before Brazil, the talk was on how Max Verstappen was seemingly doing everything to not win the championship this year.

With erratic and far too over-the-line racing he had showcased in Texas and Mexico City, many thought it would continue into Interlagos.

But even with everything else in the weekend not going his way, Verstappen found that level that he hadn’t been at since June and pulled off one of the greatest drives in F1 history.

From 17th on the grid at the start to win by almost 20 seconds, if anyone was in a coma from Abu Dhabi last year until this weekend, they’d be forgiven for thinking it had been another year of boring Max dominance.

It was a stunning drive in the tough conditions, and despite him complaining about the car at many points during the season, he seemed to be the only one comfortable during the whole race.

The salty Lando fans will try to discredit the win the same way Norris himself has, by calling it luck, but while the red flag did play into Verstappen’s favour, I don’t think there is any denying that he would’ve carved his way to the front regardless.

During a weekend where many expected to see a big swing in Lando’s favour, it was Max who instead has turned things around has really has essentially defended his crown.

He doesn’t even have to win for the rest of the season now. Even if Norris was to win every race including the Sprint in Qatar, Max would only need to finish sixth in each to retain the title. He could also finish it all up with a win during the next round in Las Vegas.

After all the criticism he faced following the US and Mexican Grands Prix (I included gave him some flack), Verstappen has well and truly repaired his reputation.

Norris’ crying won’t win him anything

Credit: Lando Norris' costly day in Brazil: The key moments! 👀 (Sky Sports F1, YouTube)

On the other side of the Verstappen victory is the biggest loser from the weekend. It looked to be Norris’ to win, with his teammate even gifting him the extra point for the Sprint win after doing all the hard work.

Norris’ title bid took a massive hit with Verstappen’s dominance this weekend, but the fact of the matter is he’s put himself in this position.

McLaren has been the quickest car on the grid for more races than anyone else this year, and Lando has had multiple opportunities to capitalise and take control of the championship - but he hasn’t

McLaren shouldn’t kick themselves should Lando end up losing out on the championship come the winter break. If they’re able to secure the Constructors’ championship and Lando doesn’t win the Drivers’, that is down to Lando’s failure to execute at times that will have cost him.

He has shown at times that he is capable of being the guy to dethrone Max. You look at Singapore and even Max’s home race, Norris dominated the way he should have, so there is no excuse as to why he hasn’t been able to during the other races this year when he had the opportunity to do so.

But he also isn’t doing himself any favours with his comments. In the past, he downplayed Lewis Hamilton’s achievements, saying it is “not hard to win when you have the best car.” Funny how that comes around.

Now this weekend, he couldn’t bring himself to praise Max on his all-time great drive, claiming it was no talent and all luck.

It’s pathetic in my opinion. Far too often this year, Norris has made comments that make him sound like a whiney child who has expected everything to be handed to him.

I do hope in years to come that he will grow up and realise the childish mentality he has had this year, because quite frankly he has cost himself a championship that was, by how much more dominant his car compared to Verstappen’s has been at times this year, his to lose.

Stroll a sorry excuse of an F1 driver

Credit: Stroll spins on FORMATION lap and delays Sao Paulo GP race start (Sky Sports F1, YouTube)

That heading is probably a bit too harsh, and it’s not really much of a big talking point as much as it is me wanting to point it out, but if it were any other driver, Lance Stroll’s performance over the weekend would be the final nail in the coffin for his F1 career.

Surely Papa Stroll’s experiment of giving his son a strong car to see if he can actually perform is over because it is clear, no matter how much help Lance gets, he will never be a legitimate contender and prove that he is truly worthy of a seat.

He has failed time and time again across his career with few too little upside, but this weekend he took it a massive step too far (in my opinion) by failing his team in the worst way possible.

Being the last of the finishers in the Sprint was bad, but I’ll give him the benefit that he did start from the pit lane, so would’ve been hard to do anything regardless. And in qualifying, he wasn’t the only one to crash out, but it’s not ideal to leave your mechanics with a hefty challenge to repair the car in around three hours to be ready for the race.

But it is completely inexcusable what he did on the formation lap. I’m not talking about the spin, that could’ve happened to anyone. But to turn and drive straight into wet gravel, which even in the dry is hard enough to drive through, is the most bone-headed move he may have ever made - and that’s really saying something.

In front of two packed Brazilian grandstands, his idiocy was on full show as the crowds laughed and heckled when he spun only to ramp up the cheers, boos, laughs and chants of “Drugovich”, Stroll’s Brazilian teammate who is the reserve driver for the team.

He may as well have spit in his mechanic’s face as he got in the car. I can guarantee as well he wouldn’t have had even a quarter of real sympathy in a forced apology to the team when he made it back to the pits.

There are plenty of young drivers out there who deserve a seat right now and drivers who have missed out on a seat while Stroll’s been wasting a space all these years. It’s time for Lawrence to do the right thing and kick his son to the kerb.