Mad Max steals the show at Brazilian GP

 

So, the Silver Arrows cruised to yet another one-two victory for Mercedes at the Brazilian GP. No surprise there. Nico Rosberg led from pole (his fifth in a row) to finish, earning him his second straight win at Interlagos. Teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had already sealed this season’s driver’s title in Texas, finished second.

The race didn’t offer much excitement. Rosberg and Hamilton were trading first and second positions throughout the race and three pit stops. Hamilton recorded some of the fastest laps towards the end, but still couldn’t close the gap with his teammate. Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, finished third and fourth respectively.

But it was Max Verstappen who was the driver of the day and made the crowd gasp with his brilliant and bold move on lap 32, at Turn 1, to overtake Segio Perez:

To think that ‘Mad Max’ turned 18 and got his driver’s license just six weeks ago. Verstappen started the race from tenth position and finished in the same, only to be moved up to ninth after Felipe Massa’s disqualification for breaching tyre temperature limits.

Formula 1 must be glad to have young, hot blood like Mad Max to keep the race exciting and continue to appeal to a worldwide audience - especially since recent ratings has shown that in the USA, Formula 1 is less popular than Formula E. Yes, you read right. Apex Racing PR reported that the Nielson ratings for the Putrajaya ePrix coverage on FOX scored a 1.2 overnight rating for the replay on Sunday, which is higher than any of the F1 races this season (the highest was the Monaco GP, with a peak rating of 1.1). Who’d have guessed?!

image: sport360.com