Red Bull’s unaired radio transmission to Max Verstappen during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix: “Silence them”

When neither Franco Colapinto nor Alex Albon qualified for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, it was a rough weekend for Williams.

Qualifying was postponed from Saturday to Sunday morning prior to the Grand Prix due to the rain that fell during the weekend.

The drivers were already under intense pressure to avoid accidents, but now they had to worry about their mechanics fixing their cars and maybe not starting the race.

Albon made it all the way into Q3 in qualifying before crashing and wrecking his Williams due to his lightning speed.

Even his colleague Colapinto had trouble in qualifying; it took Williams till the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to get the Argentinian’s car ready.

In particular, Albon lost out on a fantastic victory in Brazil because of his mishap, as Alex Jacques revealed on the F1 Nation podcast.

Jacques Alex experiences The Sao Paulo Grand Prix was Alex Albon’s last chance for a podium finish.

Photo by Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

After crashing in qualifying, Albon was unable to start from seventh place and did not participate in the race.

Williams has grown more versatile this season, and the Thai driver has been a dependable cog in the wheel. Their goal is on being quicker throughout a wider range of circuits rather than just peak speed, albeit Williams’ vehicle was very stiff in Brazil.

Albon has continued to play despite the fact that Colapinto places far more pressure on him than the American could ever hope to handle, and he guided the team while Logan Sargeant faltered.

With everyone else making mistakes, Max Verstappen cruised to a commanding lead, eventually passing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, the Alpine combo.

With three rounds remaining in the Constructors’ Championship, the Alpine drivers have taken a harvest of points, propelling the team to sixth place.

According to Jacques, Albon had a chance to make history at Williams, where he crashed in qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but he never got the chance.

“It was absolutely outrageously priced,” he remarked. Three accidents in a single day. After qualifying, Alex Albon, who had little chance of winning, declared, “I’m not going to take the start, that’s too big a crash.” It was disappointing because I believe Franco had a hard time learning how to control the automobile in the rain today, and I feel bad for Alex because of that.

Despite this, Alex’s first qualifying run was sensational; he finished in second place before crashing into the wall. What Pierre and Esteban had today could have been his. That was something they considered.

In the upcoming season, Carlos Sainz will challenge Alex Albon.

Now that Carlos Sainz has left Ferrari to join Williams for the 2025 season, Albon will be Carlos’s partner for the upcoming season.

The British squad has been performing better and more consistently scoring goals in the last few years.

Sainz, who won races during his four years at Ferrari, should be able to assist the team advance.

Albon, who has been dominating his colleagues since joining Williams at the beginning of 2022, will have his work cut out for him.

Legends praised Max Verstappen’s masterclass in Brazil

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – NOVEMBER 03: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 03, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

On the verge of his fourth consecutive drivers’ world championship, Max Verstappen is receiving numerous accolades.

The Dutchman astonished the paddock and silenced his primarily British detractors with his rise from P17 on the grid at Interlagos to the top of the podium – and a nearly unbeatable points lead over McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“McLaren has to admit that Lando Norris’ world championship train has left the station,” former Formula One driver Timo Glock told Sky Deutschland. “That is clear to everyone now.”

With his victory in Brazil, Verstappen eclipsed Michael Schumacher’s record of leading the world championship for nearly 900 days in a row.

Lewis Hamilton even commented on Verstappen’s Instagram post praising his victory: “Amazing drive, congrats”.

“Ok, Max still has a long way to go before he reaches Michael’s seven titles and 91 victories,” he said. “But in terms of his qualities when driving in the rain and his qualities as a racer, Max can already be put on a par.”

Even Verstappen’s frequent critic, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, said Sunday in Brazil was an amazingly good effort. “I think we just have to note that Damon said something positive,” joked Red Bull team manager Christian Horner.

Verstappen’s drive in Brazil was described as “one of the most legendary performances in Formula 1” by Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“It was exactly like with Ayrton Senna. He won with joyful ease, breaking the rules of physics by braking for the first corner, just ask Oscar Piastri or Esteban Ocon. He broke his ten-race winning streak and destroyed Lando Norris’ fantasy.”

When asked about the similarities to Schumacher and Senna, Horner admitted: “It’s so hard to compare generations, but after the race Bernie (Ecclestone) called me and said, ‘I’ve seen all the greats, but Max is one of the best I’ve ever seen.'”

“Bernie is a lot older than me and has seen a lot more,” Horner told me. “To hear something like that from someone like Bernie means a lot.”

According to Dutch racing personality Tom Coronel, Verstappen’s dominance at Red Bull this year has been so obvious that it has effectively damaged not only Sergio Perez’s career, but that of any potential teammate.

“I wish Max’s new teammate the best of luck,” he told me, “because if you end up next to him, your career is actually over.”

At the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Lando Norris claimed that Max Verstappen “got lucky” by taking advantage of a rule that “no one agrees with”

Formula One returns with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 22-24, live on Sky Sports F1. Lando Norris believes that he and McLaren were “just unlucky” in the race at Interlagos due to a pit stop decision gone wrong. Meanwhile, title contender Max Verstappen surges to victory from 17th place.

Despite starting 17th on the grid, Verstappen “got a bit lucky” with a regulation that “no one agrees with” to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a result that has put the McLaren driver’s title hopes in jeopardy.

On a rain-soaked Sunday at Interlagos, which saw both qualifying and the race, the title contenders experienced a dramatic and unexpected change of fortunes in the span of a few hours. Norris, who started from pole position, faltered and finished sixth, while Verstappen sensationally surged from the back of the grid to win for the first time since June.

Lap 29 saw a dramatic shift in the lead as George Russell of Mercedes, who had started the race in first place, pitted with Norris as the Virtual Safety Car period began following Nico Hulkenberg’s spin.

Pitting resulted in the two cars losing track position to Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, and Pierre Gasly, who were right behind them. Unfortunately, their strategy backfired as the rain intensified, leading to the Safety Car being called and a red flag being displayed following Franco Colapinto’s heavy crash.

All drivers were given the opportunity to change their tires before the race resumed, therefore nullifying any potential advantage that Norris and Russell could have had had the race proceeded normally.

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When asked about the decision to stop, Norris told Sky Sports F1 after the race, “I have faith in the team in what they are saying and they have trust in me.” This came after he had been heard discussing strategy options in the laps leading up to his own lap as the weather began to worsen again.

I was simply unlucky. In hindsight, it’s good luck for them; I couldn’ care less.

Red Bull was fortunate because of a rule that nobody supports. Despite the fact that every driver has previously disagreed with it, it seems likely that they agreed with it today.

It worked for them today; we could have benefited from staying out as well, but that’s a ridiculous idea. Today, I was just unlucky, nothing more. Obviously disheartening.

“[Max] drove well,” Norris noted of his championship adversary. Well, that’s just life. He was fortunate, I guess.

With just three races remaining in the season, Norris’ deficit has widened to 62 points from 44 points after winning Saturday’s Sprint, and there are only 86 points to be won by Verstappen.

If Norris wants to prevent Verstappen from clinching the championship with two races remaining, he must win the upcoming race in Las Vegas on November 24 by a margin of at least three points.

Norris continued by saying, “All about position loss,” in reference to his disastrous race in which he lost positions after running off the track during the last restart and failed to convert pole position into the race lead once again at the start. It was bad, but we were simply beneath the red flag when the other competitors had their free pit stop.

Sometimes it’s just bad luck and the rules work against you, but George likely believed he deserved to win the race today and earned it more than anyone else.

A tough day; I blew it against George and Charles [Leclerc] due to a couple of careless plays. There is no additional information. I gave it my all, but it was a challenging day. I’ve had many successful races; finally, something went wrong.

After the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella spoke to the printed media and stated that he did not regret pitting Norris and Oscar Piastri, who pitted a lap sooner, due to the wear levels of their intermediate tyres.

“At some stage when the rain started to increase both drivers acknowledged that we needed new rubber to stay out in those conditions,” Stella added.

Unfortunately, the choice backfired since the rain was so heavy that it caused a collision and ultimately raised the red flag.

The Virtual Safety Car and the increasing wetness on the circuit made us think it was vital to go on the new tyre.

It would have been quite challenging for those who hadn’t changed their tyres without the red flag and with slightly less intensity, which is always hard to forecast.

Sometimes you appear great because you make a commitment; it’s much simpler to make a commitment when you’re behind; then you appear heroic, and I’m here to applaud their choices.

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix had an aborted start, and Karun Chandhok was at the SkyPad to investigate the cause and decide whether Lando Norris should face penalties for failing to wait for the green light following

On the other hand, I supported our decision because the drivers and pit crew were all on board with it, and there’s some logic to it: we’re in it for the points, we’re in it for the championships, and we need to finish races.

Plus, I wouldn’t feel safe leaving a vehicle on the road with tires that have taken a beating from that much water. If it weren’t for the red flag, we’d be discussing a different race here.