Six talking points from a crazy Brazilian GP

Cool Russell delivers under pressure

But first, the heart-warming stuff. “This is just the beginning,” gushed an overcome Russell after he’d taken the chequered flag for a first win at the 81^st time of asking. No wonder the Brit admitted he might “need some tissues”.

The fine ‘sprint’ win had set this up, then Russell turned his pole position into the grand prix lead from the start. His task was made somewhat easier by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton reigniting their rivalry by getting together at the esses following an early safety car restart, but George still had plenty to contend with – not least a chase to the flag following a second safety car interlude. When his old Formula 2 rival Lando Norris wasn’t able to coax his broken McLaren behind the barriers on lap 52, Russell knew he would have a fight on his hands, with Hamilton hard on his tail. But as it turned out, the seven-time world champion couldn’t lay a glove on his 24-year-old team-mate as Russell kept out of DRS range to claim an accomplished first victory. As he hopes, it’s likely to be the first of many.

Watch George Russell wow us at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard!

Verstappen shows his dark side

Now on to something a little colder. When Verstappen was asked to give sixth place back to team-mate Perez, who had struggled in the closing stages on Pirelli’s medium tyres versus all the other frontrunners on softs, it seemed a perfectly reasonable request. Already long confirmed as world champion, sixth meant nothing to Verstappen and now he could pay back his team-mate for Checo’s regularly unswerving loyalty and support over this season and last. Instead, the Dutchman ignored the call and powered over the line.

“I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, OK?” was Verstappen’s cryptic explanation on the slowdown lap. “Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.” He chose not to expand on those reasons in public later on.

Perez was as confused as anyone and made a telling comment about it proving who Verstappen “really is”. F1 people love to preach about how top-level motorsport is a team game, that the needs of the individual come second-best. It’s always hard to swallow – and clearly something Verstappen doesn’t believe. What a remarkably ungracious thing to do.

Verstappen cops blame for Hamilton clash

His race had already been ruined by the clash with Hamilton on lap seven, from a safety car restart. To be fair, the five-second penalty he picked up was questionable, to put it lightly, in what was a typical incident between these two. Neither likes to back down when they come up against each other and on the occasions Hamilton refuses to lift, this tends to be the end result. Both contributed to the collision, although Verstappen’s point that he really didn’t have anywhere to go was valid.

Hamilton survived the moment remarkably intact while Verstappen was forced to pit for a new nose, Red Bull’s crew servicing him with its usual speed. The subsequent penalty diluted the strength of his comeback, but then his own actions on the Perez affair overshadowed any credit he might have earned from a predictably fine drive.

Ferrari overshadowed. Again

It’s become a familiar tale as the season has progressed. From early-season pacesetter, Ferrari is beginning to wheeze and not just in the wake of Red Bull. Three-stopping Carlos Sainz Jr admitted he had no power to challenge the Mercedes duo for victory, while there was also a dose of intra-team tension here over that fight for second in the championship.

Charles Leclerc had another miserable afternoon. Turfed off by Lando Norris after the first safety car restart, he’d toiled back into contention to run fourth and in the closing stages began asking the team to order Sainz to let him by, in the interests of becoming runner-up in the championship. If Verstappen was expected to help Perez, shouldn’t Sainz have done so too? Here, it was a bit different. Giving up sixth place is one thing, but a podium finish – when it’s all for what is only second place after all… no wonder Ferrari made an excuse about it being too risky. Sainz had earned his podium. 

But as Leclerc heads to the Abu Dhabi finale equal on points in his battle with Perez, we’d love a penny for his thoughts. Increasingly, his admirable patience with this off-the-boil team appears to be running dangerously thin.

Alonso delivers while counting down to the finish

Fernando Alonso did it again. From 18^th on the grid, he came home a remarkable fifth, three places clear of Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon, a day after the pair had squabbled themselves into the doghouse by clashing in the ‘sprint’. On the one hand, the two-time champion infuriates his team – openly admitting he can’t wait until the end of the season so that he can leave and join up with Aston Martin. Then on the other, he pulls out yet another drive like this. One thing is for sure: Alpine is going to miss him when he’s gone – or at least the points he magics up, if nothing else.

Disaster for McLaren in fight for fourth

Alpine heads to Abu Dhabi with a healthy 19-point advantage over McLaren in their battle to be the fourth-best team (which does matter – honest!). A double-points score from Alonso and Ocon was just what the Anglo-French team had ordered following the dramas of Saturday, and the drivers did at least come up trumps – on a day when the wheels fell off for McLaren (we’re speaking figuratively).

What was Daniel Ricciardo doing on lap one? The Aussie talked breezily about “racing for fun” in what would be his penultimate grand prix for McLaren – but how clumsy for one with such experience to tag poor Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap. The pole position star of Friday qualifying had started eighth and was looking forward to fighting for grand prix points. Instead, his Haas ran backwards across the track and collected the McLaren, putting both out of the race. At least there was some schadenfreude in Ricciardo’s fate.

To cap a miserable day, Norris picked up a five-second penalty for his collision with Leclerc, but might still have at least scored minor points – until that technical failure triggered Russell’s nightmare safety car. The big fat zero couldn’t have come at a worse time for a team that promised so much last winter – and has delivered so little.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images