Verstappen Unleashes His Inner Senna at Interlagos

A wet-weather masterclass by Max Verstappen at the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix was a perfect tribute one could pay to Ayrton Senna

- Gaurav Davare

THERE ARE CERTAIN sporting moments that seems almost god-like that generations of fans would be talking about like, Kimi Raikkonen's drive from 17th to winning the 2005 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, Ayrton Senna's wetweather brilliance at Donington Park in 1993, and even Michael Schumacher's first win for Ferrari at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix. Well, the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix set the stage for another such moment with a whole lot of chaos to complement it.

With reigning three-time champion Max Verstappen (Oracle Red Bull Racing) set to take a five-place grid drop for the main Grand Prix, exceeding the engine allocation for the season, he was already on the backfoot. It didn't help that after finishing third in the sprint, a five-second time penalty for a VSC infringement, dropped him down to fourth position. In all this, title rival Lando Norris (McLaren) essentially inherited the win after his teammate, Oscar Piastri, gave way.