F1: Max Verstappen Dominates Brazil, As Alonso Denies Perez Podium

Max Verstappen dominated another race winning his 17th race of the season in the dominating Red Bull RB19 at the iconic Interlagos circuit in Sao Paolo, Brazil. This means he is just one win behind equalling Sebastian Vettel who has the fourth highest tally of wins in F1 history. He faced an early challenge by Lando Norris in the McLaren but after the young briton was fended, Verstappen ran away with the race again. But the real race was between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez for P3. Alonso stole P3 from the Mexican by just 0.053 seconds in a photo finish at the chequered flag. Norris equalled Nick Heidfield's record for most podium finishes without an F1 win.

There was drama from the start of the race as Charles Leclerc lost his hydraulics of his Ferrari and crashed on the formation lap. Then when the race started a huge crash at the start between Alex Albon's Williams and Kevin Magnuseen in the Haas caused a Red Flag.

Alonso was quickly able to overtake Hamilton at the restart and he held the position in a mega defensive drive for Aston Martin against Perez in the Red Bull. On the 70th lap, he lost P3 to Perez but quickly overtook the Mexican again in a photo finish. Lance Stroll also managed P5 for Aston Martin culminating in a great team performance for the silverstone based outfit.

Carlos Sainz was the lone Ferrari which finished P6 and had problems with the clutch through the race. Pierre Gasly was resurgent in the Alpine for P7 that he even managed to usurp Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda had a great race for AlphaTauri to finish P9. Esteban Ocon finished P10 for Alpine.

Logan Sargent was the lone Williams car to finish the race in P11. He finished ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas. Daniel Ricciardo had a disappointing race after his first lap incident but did manage to finish the race in P13. Oscar Piastri also struggled after his first lap incident to finish in P14 for McLaren.

George Russell retired for Mercedes as did the Alfa Romeo duo of Valtteri Bottos and Guanyu Zhou. They joined Leclerc, Magnussen and Albon.

Brazilian Grand Prix 2023: Race classification

1. Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull 1:26:07.136 71 laps

2. Lando NORRIS McLaren +8.277

3. Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +34.155

4. Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +34.208

5. Lance STROLL Aston Martin +40.845

6. Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +50.188

7. Pierre GASLY Alpine +56.093

8. Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +62.859

9. Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +69.880

10. Esteban OCON Alpine +1 lap

11. Logan SARGEANT Williams +1 lap

12. Nico HULKENBERG Haas +1 lap

13. Daniel RICCIARDO AlphaTauri +1 lap

14. Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +2 laps

Did not finish

1. George RUSSELL Mercedes

2. Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo

3. ZHOU Guanyu Alfa Romeo

4. Charles LECLERC Ferrari

5. Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas

6. Alexander ALBON Williams