2 weeks ago
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Lando Norris beat his buddy and went a long way to punctuating an era that is going down kicking and screaming, and reminding us of its abiding brilliance.
We said at the beginning of the weekend that the Interlagos track is like no other – Silverstone is the next best on the calendar – and it is a test of a champion elect’s pedigree.
Slim-shouldered and smiling, Norris, who turns 26 on Thursday, has often shivered in combat with Max Verstappen, who has dominated him on track and tormented his confidence for years. The Dutchman is the finest driver of his time, and his four titles in succession attest to this.
And, my, Verstappen drove like a god here, shooting up from the back of the grid to finish an iridescent third that added lustre to his legend, even in defeat. We will say more about his never-say-die bugle call later.
But we use his wonders for now only to benchmark Norris’s achievements in Sao Paulo. Under the biggest pressure of his career, the Briton took pole for the sprint, won the sprint, took pole for the Sau Paulo Grand Prix itself, and was faultless in winning it.
This rollcall gives him a lead of 24 points over his nearest challenger, McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, with three rounds remaining and 83 points on offer.
Verstappen is 49 points back, and even another Superman act is unlikely to keep him his crown.
Yes, Piastri, who finished sixth, remains in contention, but his form is brittle, even if yesterday’s performance bristled with more punch than recently. The Australian has not won since late August in the Netherlands. Norris has perpetrated a 58-point swing on him since then and can afford to finish second to his purser until the end of the season and still prevail.
Norris is now doing things that he could not be relied on to pull off for so frustratingly long. He is making starts look simple, for one. He managed that in the sprint, judging how much throttle to apply in the damp conditions. He being first to reach each bend was the canary down the pit, but he did not stumble once.
In the grand prix, he was again well away and moving clear of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonedlli, starting (and finishing) second.
A safety car came out after local boy Gabriel Bartoleto pranged his Sauber, bumped by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on lap one. Norris had to gather himself for the restart.
Again, no problem. He left the fretting to others. Three abreast behind him went Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Antonelli and Piastri, who had to give it a whirl on the start straight. It was a moment to be brave. He duly belted down the inside but knew he could not slip himself ahead of Antonelli at the start of the Senna S, the opening left-hander where most of the overtaking occurred.
Piastri slammed on his brakes and locked up, sending smoke in the air. He caught the side of Antonelli, the piggy in the middle, who consequently ricocheted Leclerc out of the race.
Piastri was hot on Norris’s gearbox for a brief period, but Norris had too much pace to be troubled and, as he had all weekend, purred to safety beyond DRS reach.
Worse followed for Piastri when the stewards deemed him at fault and he was hit with a 10-second penalty. No arguments here. Nor, indeed, from inside his cockpit when the ill-tidings were broken to him.
Norris only had to get it home. Or did he? There was a moment, scarcely credible, when it seemed Verstappen might even win. He was leading with 16 laps remaining. He had stopped twice, like all the main contenders, but his tyres were older. He had been reshod for a suspected puncture out of sequence and that threw a curveball. Could he make his rubber last to the end, from lap 34 to 71?
Would he try it regardless of sense? Pull off the win, and the title was back in contention. Would he rather perish in the pursuit than play it safe?
Gianpiero Lambiase, his race engineer, came over the radio, saying: ‘I didn’t expect I’d say this, but you are now race leader.
‘Not bad!’ came the response, long in understatement.
Huge credit to Red Bull. They rolled the dice – a new engine plus setup changes for the race, the reason Verstappen started at the back. He had struggled all weekend and it needed a brave reset (he had qualified 16th, yikes!). A list of his overtakes would read like a phonebook, remember them?
But in he came to the pits on lap 55. He was out in fourth place. He then overtook Mercedes’ George Russell on lap 63 for third. He pushed Antonelli hard for second, but it wasn’t to be (the Italian teenager, excellent). Still, it was a memorable drive; just as Michael Schumacher’s was here in his last race for Ferrari, but even the great German only finished fourth in 2006 after a fuel leak plunged him down the starting grid.
A terrible day for Ferrari, both cars out. We know about Leclerc, but Hamilton drove into the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine and damaged his wing and floor. He limped but on before withdrawing.
We now salute Hamilton’s likely successor as a British world champion elect. Norris just has to hold his nerve two or three more times.
