Maybe the intense rivalries and bitter clashes that seem to pervade the F1 grid aren’t quite as fierce as we’re all led to believe.
Max Verstappen drove superbly to take out Monday’s (AEDT) Brazilian Grand Prix to all but seal his fourth straight world title with three races remaining.
In horrendous conditions, the 27-year-old drove from 17th on the starting grid and survived the carnage to secure his 62nd victory in the premier category.
While we often hear angry, and at times childish, spats between rivals over the team radio and in press conferences, the response Verstappen received to his drive speaks volumes.
The Dutchman posted a number of photos, videos and messages to his 12.9 million Instagram followers since taking the checkered flag, including one with the caption: Unbelievable!!! What a roller coaster… SIMPLY LOVELY. Thank you everyone.”
While he has a huge following, Verstappen’s sometimes icy demeanour hasn’t won over all F1 fans, but it seems his competitors can give credit where it’s due.
One of the first of more than 22,000 comments to that post came from Lewis Hamilton, who wrote “Amazing drive, congrats”, capping it off with a fist bump emoji.
Verstappen took time to reply, writing: “Thank you man. Appreciate it.”
Simply lovely indeed.
Yet Hamilton, who has been one of Verstappen’s fiercest on-track rivals in recent years, was far from the only driver to send their well wishes to the Red Bull ace.
Fernando Alonso also commented on that post, writing: “Fantastic drive. Congrats.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris, who has been locked in a spiteful championship battle with Verstappen in recent months, also posted a message for his main current rival.
While Norris claimed “it’s not talent … it’s just luck” after Verstappen benefited from a critical red flag during the race, he was in a more conciliatory mood on social media.
In response to a post with the caption “This one was very special. A Sunday I’ll never forget. Thank you, Brazil” Norris wrote “Nice drive mate”.
He also added a fist bump of his own.
It wasn’t just fellow drivers reaching out to the three-time champion either.
Actor Donnie Wahlberg, Liverpool captain and fellow Dutchman Virgil van Dijk and Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois were also among the high-profile figures congratulating Verstappen’s sensational drive.
In a wild race weekend, Norris took pole position in qualifying and looked set to further eat away at the 44-point deficit to Verstappen after Oscar Piastri gifted his teammate the Sprint win on Saturday.
But it was pure chaos in the Grand Prix and Norris’ title hopes went up in smoke.
Norris was overtaken by George Russell on the opening corner, while Verstappen made up seven places on the first lap.
By lap 19, Verstappen was up in sixth and Norris was second.
The rain kept falling on Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit and it sparked chaos.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg beached his car, triggering a virtual safety car.
A safety car was called on lap 30 and the race was red flagged when Franco Colapinto crashed his Williams on lap 33.
That red flag period advantaged Verstappen and the two Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
All three had yet to pit for new tyres and they got a free pit stop during the red flag period that didn’t cost them any time.
The race eventually resumed under a safety car and Norris faltered, going wide and dropping to seventh on the restart. He couldn’t recover from there.
Verstappen quickly overtook Ocon on lap 43 and from then on, no one else had a chance.
The Dutchman put on an absolute clinic in the wet conditions to win the race and dominate the field.
He crossed the line a whopping 19 seconds clear of Ocon and Gasly — the Alpine duo finishing on the podium in a surprise result after staying out during the final red flag.
Norris couldn’t get past Charles Leclerc in the closing stages of the race and finished sixth.
Verstappen is now on 393 points and can wrap up the world title in the next race, with Norris back on 331 points.
Now they’ve got all their niceties out of the way, the drivers will go back to war when the Las Vegas race goes lights out on November 24.
