Lando Norris took the win of the anormal sprint race on Friday, November 1st, but it was Max Verstappen who took the win of the abnormal race on Sunday, November 3rd. 2nd and 3rd places surprisingly went to both Alpine Drivers, Estaban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. After the race, Ocon said, “Someone very important to us a long time ago said that, in the rain, the cars are almost equal. And that phrase didn’t age at all.” The starting grid started with 20 cars, but after 5 DNFs (did not finish) the final standings only had 15 cars.
Qualifying for the race was scheduled for Saturday, November 2nd. Cars didn’t even make it out onto the track with the amount of rain making the track undriveable. However, that didn’t stop them from doing it on Sunday morning. In the end, the pole position (the person starting in first) went to Lando Norris. The total amount of red flags (the flag for when the race stops because a car crashes) was five.
The race just a couple of hours later wasn’t too different. Weather conditions did not improve. The drivers that crashed were able to fix their cars without penalty (except Carlos Sainz who started from the pit because of extra modifications.)
On the formation lap, Lance Stroll lost control and crashed so the start was abandoned. But before any direction went out to driver Lando Norris, in pole position, started another formation lap and was followed by multiple drivers. All drivers who started driving are under investigation and at risk of a penalty.
Alex Albon retired as the race started.
George Russel took the lead on the first turn of the race overtaking Norris.
Sergio Perez spun out for a second on the same lap.
Oliver Bearman spun momentarily after bumping into the back of Franco Colipinto and got a 10-second penalty.
Oscar PIastri hit the rear tire of Liam Lawson and got a 10-second penalty.
Nico Hulkenburg spun out on lap 27 from the rain but got back to the race.
On lap 29, Estaban Ocon took the lead from George Russel while Russel pitted.
On lap 30, Franco Colipinto slid on water, crashed into the wall, and red-flagged the race.
Also on lap 30, Nico Hulkenburg got disqualified after spinning out and getting assistance from the stewards to push his car back to the track.
On lap 36, Oliver Bearman slid and hit the wall, but there was no damage, and he was able to get back to the track and keep racing.
On lap 38, Carlos Sainz slid on the track and crashed into the wall.
On lap 43 Max Verstappen took the Lead.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in 17th position and took the fastest lap, adding 26 points to his lead in the driver championship, but Alpine is the true winner with a 2-3 podium finish today. In the post-race interview with Estaban Ocon, he was asked by Rubens Barichello if he thought he would be on the podium at the beginning of the race and he said, “After a difficult season, it’s nice driving around here and having the performance a bit leveled out by the rain. Someone really important to all of us said a long time ago that, in the rain, the cars are almost equal, and the phrase hasn’t aged today.”
It was a big win for Alpine and both drivers performed great. Ocon was even leading the race for a while. Alpine is now 6th in the constructor’s championship from being 9th before the race.
