Rainy weather and penalty

Formula 1: Additional tension in the heated world championship duel

Max Verstappen (left) and Lando Norris

(Bild: 2024 Getty Images)

The heated World Championship duel between Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen and challenger Lando Norris enters the next round in Brazil. After the clash in Austin and Mexico, a landmark weekend is on the agenda in Sao Paulo. The forecast of rainy weather and a grid penalty for Verstappen also promise additional suspense.

With four races and two sprints to go before the end of the season, the Red Bull star still leads the overall standings by 47 points from Norris in the McLaren. Austin winner Charles Leclerc is 71 points behind in the Ferrari and probably only has a theoretical chance of winning the world title. A maximum of 116 points are still up for grabs with a perfect finish to the season. In Mexico City, Norris picked up ten points when Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz won in second place, partly because Verstappen exceeded the limits twice in the wheel-to-wheel duel and was handed a 20-second penalty.

Ferrari was again the fastest car on the track, just ahead of McLaren. Verstappen's RB20 continues to lag behind, with the Austro racing team slipping to third place in the constructors' championship with 512 points behind McLaren (566) and Ferrari (537).

Clear demand from Verstappen
"Mexico was a race to forget, but we know we can do better. We have to do everything we can to be more competitive," said Verstappen before the conclusion of the triple-header in America. Last year, the three-time world champion won both the sprint and the race ahead of Norris at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Interlagos.

Lando Norris (l.) and Max Verstappen

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

This year, however, Verstappen, who has recently been criticized for his aggressive driving style, will be starting with a handicap. After performance deficits in Mexico with an increasingly older and slower engine, the bulls are giving Verstappen's company car a fresh drive unit. "We were missing three to eight km/h on the straights," explained Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko in Mexico City.

The result is a drop of five places on the starting grid. "That's not so blatant in Brazil, for example, where you can overtake relatively easily," the 81-year-old Styrian emphasized on ORF. At the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as the race has been officially called since 2021, the drivers can expect a technical track with large differences in elevation and another long start-finish straight. The surface will be unfamiliar, as new asphalt was laid on the 4.3 km circuit before this year's Grand Prix.

Norris needs victories in the World Championship final
Norris certainly needs victories to knock Verstappen off his throne. "I'll keep my head down, that's all I can do," said the 24-year-old Briton. The weather could also be another factor of tension in the sprint weekend without much time to get used to it, with rain showers possible on Saturday and Sunday.