In the wake of Max Verstappen’s victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix from 17th place on Sunday, superlatives lay strewn at his feet like so many battle banners of conquest. These were accolades earned with a performance in the rain that stands as one of the best of his career and worthy of recognition in the pantheon of Formula One’s wet weather drives.
Before the race at Interlagos, damage limitation had been perhaps the best expectation but when the flag fell with Verstappen in front and his title rival, Lando Norris, in sixth, he had not only taken a famous victory but also just about sealed the world championship.
He had produced a flawless piece of driving in treacherous conditions that caught out a number of his competitors, leaving them flailing over the glassy surface while Verstappen enjoyed a control of his car that looked preternatural.
The start was vital as he moved from 17th to 11th on the opening lap but he then executed a series of outstanding passes, almost all late-braking at turn one. These manoeuvres were crowned when he scythed up the inside of Esteban Ocon for the lead on a restart, leaving the Frenchman a little in awe of how Verstappen was able to brake so late and maintain control of his car in such conditions.
Unsurprisingly, Verstappen’s Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, was unstinting in his praise. He compared his performance to that of Ayrton Senna at Donington in 1993 when the Brazilian produced a drive in horrendous conditions that set him apart from the rest after an opening lap when he thrust his way into the lead and was untouchable.
“Today was an emotional rollercoaster,” Horner said. “Max’s mental strength and attitude to deal with that is outstanding and his start was electric. That first lap was up there with Donington 93. I think he passed six cars on the first lap.”
Such judgments are subjective. Senna rated his drive in the wet at Estoril in the Portuguese GP in 1985 as a better performance than that at Donington. There he lapped the entire field, bar Michele Alboreto’s Ferrari and finished a minute ahead of him, in conditions that would have stopped the race today.
Other races in the modern era stand out, Lewis Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone in 2008, Sebastian Vettel the same year at Monza, Jenson Button’s run to victory from last at Canada in 2011 and Verstappen’s charge from 16th to third at Brazil in 2016. These are performances matched across the decades, with Jim Clark at Spa in 1963 and Sir Jackie Stewart at the Nürburgring in 1968 springing instantly to mind.
Comparisons, especially across eras are almost impossible and equally subjective but Clark’s victory demonstrates how high the bar is for bravura performances in the wet. His win in Belgium on the old, fearsome 8.8-mile Spa circuit where he had seen close friends killed and he did not like driving, remains outstanding.
Clark shot from eighth to the lead off the start having veered to the right into the pit lane – an open apron in front of the garages then – and set off at great pace, while driving with a gearbox problem. The car was jumping out of fifth and Clark was forced to drive one-handed with his left hand so he could hold the gear lever in place with his right. Then the rain came.
The circuit was swiftly awash and as cars fell off all around him, Clark maintained a magisterial control. He took the flag having lapped the entire field, with the exception of Bruce McLaren in second, almost five minutes back, and six cars of 20 finished. Clark did not complete a slow-down lap but simply parked on the finish line, climbed exhausted and soaked to the skin from his car and walked to the Lotus garage, utterly spent.
Verstappen counted his win on Sunday as the better race over 2016 because then he was not in a championship fight and had nothing to lose. That context does matter but equally his touch this time was that of a driver at his very peak.
This was not only demonstrated in his pace and control but, as Ocon said, in that ability to make passes. His car had as much propensity to lock-up as any other but his sublime touch to brake late and manage to turn in without doing so – a balancing act of extraordinary precision – was the differential and raised his drive to another level. As McLaren’s Oscar Piastri observed almost with incredulity: “He seemed to be pretty much the only one that could overtake”.
Yes, the good fortune of the red flag that allowed him a free change of tyres played its part. It should also be noted that the field is not a thriving competitive cauldron; only three teams are really in the mix at the front and in the rain the Red Bull was unquestionably the quickest car. As Norris said, if Verstappen had started at the front he probably would have lapped the McLaren.
None of which is to do Verstappen a disservice. He still had to pull it off, he still had to execute through the field without putting a wheel wrong. He did so brilliantly for a deserved place among F1’s celebrated regenmeisters.
