Mastering the rain is one of the signs of an F1 driver being special, and Max Verstappen has proved that several times over the years. For instance, his performance in Sao Paulo late last year left many in the sport astounded at his ability to get a result out of nothing. Everything went against him that weekend, still, he prevailed.
To understand why he is as good as he is, Verstappen took fans back to his childhood days, when he grew up driving karts around Belgium and the Netherlands. “It rains a lot,” he said to GQ two years ago, describing his home countries. “So, we never turned around when it suddenly started racing.”
Verstappen, at a very early age, would compete with tires designed specifically to tackle the wet conditions of a track, which improved his understanding, and sharpened his skills, something that is quite evident today.
“We would put the rain tires on and just go out and practice. That just helps a lot, you get a lot more understanding of what you have to do when it rains,” the Belgian-Dutch driver added.
Q: How much did that weekend in Brazil made you realize the good times are coming back again?
Max: “Looking at it now, i’m VERY happy it rained. I was like: thank you very much!”
“It turned the championship around, and basically sealed it: that was it.”pic.twitter.com/UwzvfGOjFJ
— Verstappen News (@verstappenews) November 24, 2024
To date, Verstappen is the fourth-most successful driver in terms of wins in rainy conditions, only behind Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton, and Michael Schumacher. It wouldn’t be surprising if, by the time he retires from F1, he overtakes all three of them.
The Sao Paulo drive from 2024, where he started P17 due to penalties but went on to win the race, was deemed by many to be the best wet-weather drive in the sport’s history.
Verstappen’s win against all odds
The gap between Verstappen and his main title rival Lando Norris — who had the faster car for the majority of 2024 — was at just 44 points heading into the Grand Prix at Interlagos. As such, it was absolutely essential for Verstappen to get a decent podium result at the very least, to build some daylight between himself and Norris in his pursuit for a fourth successive crown.
Unfortunately, qualifying mishaps limited him to P12 and a previously announced self-imposed engine penalty for new components sent him down five further places. Norris, meanwhile, was to start the race from pole and a win for the Briton would blow the title battle wide open.
Norris, however, faltered in the race and Verstappen charged through the rest of the grid — all of whom looked disheveled in the rain — to finish P1. This was a statement victory, and effectively sealed the Championship in favor of the Dutchman, who mathematically confirmed it at the next weekend in Las Vegas. It made the final three races of his 2024 campaign, relatively stress-free.
