Chaotic weekend in Sao Paulo swings momentum of the F1 World Drivers’ Championship race back to Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen may have just secured his fourth-straight F1 World Drivers’ Championship after a dramatic win in Sao Paulo for the Brazilian Grand Prix Monday (PHL).
The Red Bull star, who is under threat by McLaren’s Lando Norris in his quest for a championship, snapped a winless run in 10 grand prix after taking the chequered flag in Brazil.
[RELATED: Max Verstappen zooms through rain for a 'simply lovely' win at the Brazilian Grand Prix]
Increasing his lead to 62 points with three grand prix and one sprint race to go, Verstappen can clinch the title in the Las Vegas Grand Prix later this month.
Verstappen will only need to finish ahead or not lose two points in his advantage after the Las Vegas weekend and he will be world champion again.
To put it simply, if Verstappen is still ahead by 60 points or more after Las Vegas, Norris can no longer catch up to him — regardless of the results of the last two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Currently, Norris is the only other driver in contention for the title — with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 87 points behind the Dutchman.
The productive weekend in Brazil — which saw Verstappen score 31 of Red Bull’s 32 points from the grand prix and sprint, eased the 27-year-old’s frustration from earlier in the weekend where he ended up starting P17 from the grid.
A rain-hampered qualifying session saw Verstappen drop out in Q2, and was further dropped down the order after a 5-place penalty after taking a new engine for the race.
Before that, he also received a sanction in the sprint race where he dropped down from the podium to P4 — a sprint race that Norris won, which initially set up a critical chance for the McLaren star as Lando also took pole for the grand prix.
But after the superb drive in tough conditions on Sunday, it was all worth it for Verstappen.
“Of course, I was very frustrated with qualifying. But yeah, we just tried to use it as a good motivation in the race and luckily, we had a great start. From there onwards, we just had a really good feeling in the car,” said Verstappen after the race.
“We made all the right calls again, stayed calm and executed when we needed to so, [I’m] incredibly happy with today. Honestly, [it’s] crazy. I never expected to go from P17 to P1. I was hoping for good points but this is absolutely crazy,” he added.
As for the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull continues to lag behind McLaren and Ferrari, after Verstappen’s teammate Checo Perez finished outside of the points anew during Sunday's race in Brazil.
Though Red Bull (544) has closed in on Ferrari (557) in P2, McLaren continue to lead the team race with 593 points.
Meanwhile, Alpine put both of their drivers on the podium in a shock result that propelled them from 9th to 6th place in the Constructors championship, leapfrogging Williams, RB, and Haas in one fell swoop.
Now ahead of Haas by three points, Alpine — buoyed by French drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly — hope to hold on to their place, which comes with a significant prize money at the end of the season.
After the eventful weekend in Sao Paulo, Formula 1 goes on a short break before returning to the US with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 21 to 23.