Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton praised archrival and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s “amazing drive” to win the F1 2024 Brazilian GP on Sunday. It was a rollercoaster weekend for the reigning three-time world champion, who found himself on the wrong end of the VSC and red flags during the Sprint race and the qualifying session.
After being unable to finish his lap in Q2 due to Lance Stroll’s accident, the Dutch driver was visibly angry with the timing of the red flag. He could not manage a P12, which turned to P17 due to his 5-place grid penalty for taking a new ICE.
However, in the wet conditions at the iconic Interlagos track, Max Verstappen displayed his prowess as he made his way through the field without making any noteworthy mistakes. Lewis Hamilton, who started the race in P16 and finished in P10, complimented the 27-year-old on his victory and wrote Verstappen’s Instagram post:
“Amazing drive, congrats”
The Red Bull driver was overjoyed as he posted his victory celebrations on his Instagram post, saying:
“Unbelievable!!!🏆 What a roller coaster… SIMPLY LOVELY 🙌 Thank you everyone @redbullracing.”Max Verstappen analyzes his win at the 2024 Brazilian GP
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was left overwhelmed as he stated that he was unable to pick a starting point to analyze his race win at the Brazilian GP.
In his post-race press conference, the world championship leader said:
“Yeah, I don’t even know where to start, because my emotions today have been from almost trying to destroy the garage to winning the race. I mean, starting P17… I knew that we could have a good race, but in qualifying, I think it was quite clear that there was only one line that you could take. So I knew that overtaking was going to be quite tough.”But yeah, in the race, we had a good start. That helped already. We had a good first lap. From there, we just picked off a few drivers here and there. Then I got a little bit stuck behind the train of Yuki, I think. Then we just stayed calm. It was still a very long race, naturally. We made the right calls.”
Max Verstappen pointed out that he was “very motivated” before the race due to him being on the wrong side of some calls during the weekend and wanted to make amends, adding:
“I was just very motivated to get a good race and just let the race pan out and see what happens. Because in a wet race, always some crazy things can happen. I was always the fastest on the track. I felt comfortable in the car. I feel comfortable in the wet anyway, but then when the car is also performing, it just doubles up and you can really pick up the pace.”
It was Max Verstappen’s first win since the Spanish GP in late June and his eighth win of the season, which took him to the brink of another championship this season.
