It was Max Verstappen who dealt a brutal blow in the Drivers’ Championship fight on Sunday, but it could have easily been Lando Norris on the top step of the podium if it wasn’t for the intervention of one of F1’s most unnecessary and outdated rules.
When Norris and race leader George Russell emerged from the pit lane on lap 29 with fresh intermediate tyres under virtual safety car conditions, this looked like some smart work from the McLaren and Mercedes garages.
However, four laps later, Franco Colapinto clattered the barriers hard, bringing out the red flag. Norris and Russell knew what would follow, and both drivers radioed into their teams with dejected messages.
Esteban Ocon, Verstappen, and Pierre Gasly all stayed out under the VSC, which promoted them to the net lead trio when they changed tyres for free under red flag conditions. As per the FIA’s regulations, drivers can make their mandatory stop when the race is halted in such a manner.
Russell and Norris, meanwhile, were shuffled back into the pack and struggled to make up significant ground thereafter. The Mercedes man eventually crossed the line in P4, while the championship chaser could only finish in P6, dealing a killer blow to his title hopes.
Speaking about the unfortunate sequence of events, Norris told Sky Sports F1: “It was just unlucky. I don’t care about the hindsight side of things, that’s luck for them, nothing more. They [Red Bull] got lucky on a rule that no one agrees with.
“Probably they agreed with it today but every driver has disagreed with it in the past. Today it benefitted them, it could have benefitted us if we just stayed out, but that’s a stupid thing to think of. Just a bit unlucky today, nothing more. Of course, disappointing.”
This wasn’t Norris’ first complaint either. After finishing tenth in Jeddah in 2021, he fumed: “It’s possibly the worst rule ever invented by someone, being able to change tyres under the red flag. It ruined our race today. It feels like you do so much just to get it all taken away.”
The Brit is right, too. With Verstappen cutting through the field like a hot knife through butter and Norris hounding Russell, before the red flag, we were set up for another memorable on-track showdown between the two title hopefuls.
While Verstappen’s win was sensational in its own right, there was no guarantee that he would have found his way past Norris and to the front without the assistance of the red flag. The Brazilian Grand Prix was one for the history books, but it could have been even better.
