After the Mexico City GP, the broadcasting world of F1 was doling out criticism against Max Verstappen for his aggressive moves on Lando Norris. Prime amongst them was 1996 F1 world champion, Damon Hill. The Briton had stated that the Dutchman was used to employing fear and intimidation tactics against his rivals.
The FIA Stewards penalized Verstappen with two 10-second time penalties for shoving Norris out of the track and also gaining an advantage from outside the track limits.
That said, the Sky Sports F1 pundit has seemingly reversed his harsh stance on Verstappen after his scintillating performance at the Sao Paulo GP, last weekend.
Starting the race from P17, the Red Bull driver displayed exceptional race craft and control in treacherous conditions to emerge victorious at Interlagos with a staggering 19-second advantage.
This prompted Hill to recalibrate his words for the three-time world champion. F1Maximaal.nl quoted Hill as saying, “I never said he’s not a great driver.” Hill also took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to tweet, “Silenced a few critics today,” whilst referencing Verstappen’s dominant victory.
Silenced a few critics today. #f1 https://t.co/hEo60bVqtd
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) November 3, 2024
In the aftermath of Hill’s earlier comments about his aggressive driving style, Verstappen had said, “I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I’m doing.” And he backed up his prowess on track in Brazil.
Max Verstappen defied the odds to beat Lando Norris in Brazil
Going into Sunday, Verstappen’s day couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start. He was knocked out of Q2 in pretty controversial circumstances. On the other hand, his title rival, Norris took the pole, and his five-place grid penalty for a sixth power unit meant that the 27-year-old was slated to start the race from 17th on the grid.
No one, not even Verstappen, had managed that feat yet (to win a race at Interlagos from 17th). However, on the first lap, he overtook nine cars to move up the field.
A strategic masterstroke from the Red Bull pit wall saw the Dutchman gain track position over Norris once the race restarted after a Red Flag (caused by Franco Colapinto’s crash under the Safety Car).
The three-time world champion then exhibited wet weather mastery at its best. He quickly got the better of race leader Esteban Ocon and romped to victory with a devastating 19-second lead. This was his first win since the Spanish GP, earlier this year.
Norris could only muster P6 after a strategic goof-up saw him lose places to Verstappen and his own mistake of going deep into turn 1 after the restart saw him languish in sixth. This means Verstappen has effectively sealed his fourth consecutive title with a 62-point advantage over the Brit driver with only three more races remaining.
