The 2024 championship battle has been turned on its head after Franco Colapinto’s horror crash at the Sao Paulo GP. The Williams driver lost control of his FW46 under Safety Car conditions. The 21-year-old is fine and has jumped out of the cockpit unscathed. But the same cannot be said about Lando Norris’ title ambitions.
At the start of the Grand Prix, Norris had the best shot at reducing Max Verstappen’s championship lead — with the Dutchman starting 17th after a five-place grid drop and a shock Q2 exit. However, the Dutchman stormed through the field and is up to 2nd place.
Norris on the other hand, misjudged the Virtual Safety Car period and pitted right when the lights went green. This dropped him behind the leading trio of Esteban Ocon, Verstappen, and Pierre Gasly — all of whom were yet to pit.
Owing to the appalling weather conditions, the Safety Car was called out when Colapinto slammed into the barriers and the FIA signaled a red flag. What this means is that Verstappen now has a free pitstop under the red flag.
Red flag! COL has hit the wall! #BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/61EkkqOEp9
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 3, 2024
Once the race restarts, Verstappen will be on fresh tires (possibly not having to stop until the end of the race) and Norris has lost track position to his title rival. Sky Sports F1’s David Croft summed the situation up perfectly.
He said, “This will be a big gain for Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, and Pierre Gasly who haven’t pitted in this race. They can all get new tires under this red flag. No one wishes for a red flag when a driver goes off, but this couldn’t have worked out better for Verstappen.“
As things stand [on lap 33], Verstappen will be extending his lead in the driver’s standings to Norris who is running out of time with just three races remaining on the calendar.
