What happened last time out in Brazil? Recap a record-breaking 2023 race

With just four more races remaining in the 2024 Formula 1 season, the F1 circus will arrive in Sao Paulo for the always-entertaining Brazilian Grand Prix. This year's Grand Prix will also be a sprint race weekend, as was last year's, which saw a surprise as to who took pole. However, for the rest of the weekend, it was dominated by the man who dominated proceedings in 2023: Max Verstappen.

Thanks to Lando Norris, the Grand Prix at Interlagos was not a total clean sweep by Verstappen. In fact, a Carlos Sainz P1 in the only practice session of the weekend meant that Verstappen would not have a total clean sweep straight away. However, the Dutchman turned it on for qualifying later in the day. In a rain-affect session, he finished three-tenths clear of Charles Leclerc in P2, with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll coming in third in front of teammate Fernando Alonso.

However, in the sprint shootout on Saturday, Verstappen could not get to the front of the grid as he was beaten out by +0.061 of a second by Norris to give himself P1 for the sprint race later in the day. The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Sergio Perez came next, and then George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took P4 and P5, respectively.

However, the McLaren driver could not stop the freight train that was Max Verstappen in 2023. The Dutchman was able to able to dispatch Norris at the opening corner from the start, and although he did not race away, a 4.2-second gap was the distance when the chequered flag fell. Perez stayed in P3 to round out the top ten, nine seconds off the pace of Norris.

In the race, it was the same story. Leclerc crashed out of the Grand Prix before it even started, with a hydraulics issue meaning he spun out on the formation lap and ended his race, meaning Verstappen was unchallenged going into turn 1. A safety car after a collision between Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon meant the field bunched back up again, but another flawless start from the Dutchman meant he was not troubled for the rest of the Grand Prix.

Behind Verstappen, Norris held onto P2 for the whole race, while Alonso and Perez duelled for laps for the final podium spot. In the end, it was the Spaniard who bested the Mexican, overtaking him on the final lap to take P3. For Norris, his P3 meant it was his 13th career podium, tying Nick Heidfeld for the most podiums without a race win.

But at the front, Verstappen's win meant he set a new record in Formula 1, earning the highest percentage of wins in a single season by notching up win number 17 of the season, breaking the record from Alberto Ascari in 1952. It was also the 19th podium of the season, breaking his own record from the 2021 season, and he also overtook Alain Prost in the total race wins category by earning the 52nd win of his career.

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