It all started with a 12 hour flight from SA to Brazil. The Airport is huge and took us long to get a taxi cab, we decided to check our Uber and we were in for a surprise, it was half the price that we would pay in South Africa. So off we went to our hotel and upon arrival we were delighted to find fellow South Africans also checking in at the hotel. You can pick a South African accent from wherever you are on the world I guess.. .did I mention that some of these people came dressed in their Ferrari and Mercedes Regalia even though it was a day before Friday practice? Just goes to show how passionate people are passionate about their teams.
Friday Practice
It was a soggy start to the Friday Practice session with rain clouds all over Interlagos. This didn’t deter die hard fans though, a lot of vendors had rain coats/suits non sale but fortunately for us we came prepared, the circuit was a bit empty compared to Saturday and race day obviously.
It was an a wet yet action packed Albon locked his wheels spinning to crash on his barriers but managed first place for FP1, Max also spun but was fortunate not to hit anything.
Kyvat was looking good for Practice 2 but it seemed the Track was still a bit wet as he spun and almost crashed out, while Outgoing Robert Kubica crashed out after being on track for a few minutes on the track. Max takes pile with Vettel second and Lewis 3rd.
Saturday Qualifying
Saturday came and it was time for FP3 and Qualifying, with the rain gone it was all systems go for a hot Brazilian Race. The Red Bull’s got off to a good start with Max taking charge in Q1 and Ferrari’s Leclerc came in second. On Q2 the Mercedes seemed to be struggling while Haas was having a good day in the office as they made it to Top 10.
Q3 came and Max and Redbull was still the team to the beat. Ferrari was also very strong with Vettel a few tenths away from Max but it was not to be. With the final Lap Max took Pole with Vettel second and Hamilton came from nowhere to clinch 3rd place.
Race Day
Race day finally arrived and it started of with Bruno Senna doing a lap around the circuit in his uncle’s (Ayrton Senna) Honda powered McLaren. It was a very emotional lap for the home crowd and for all F1 Fans, the crowds waved and cheered for Bruno as he drove around the track holding the Brazilian flag for all to see. 2019 marked 25 years since the passing of Brazil’s brilliant and most talented racer Aryton Senna.
The race got off to a good start with lots of overtaking on the first lap. Max was able to keep his pole position but the same can’t be said about the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel who was superbly overtaken by Lewis.
The 22-year-old Dutchman brushed off several attacks from newly crowned six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, twice passing him after pit-stops, to come home a dominant victor ahead of his former team-mate Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso.
A late collision between Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, who suffered punctures and retired, produced a dramatic and surprising finish to a closely-fought contest. Frenchman Gasly, replaced at Red Bull mid-season by Thai driver Alexander Albon, held off Hamilton after a wild finale ‘drag race’ to the finish line ahead of him by just and score his first podium finish. Hamilton, who collided with Albon on the penultimate lap, finished third, but faced a post-race stewards investigation. Albon, who looked certain to finish second, limped home 15th. Carlos Sainz finished fourth but would later be promoted to third place after Lewis was handed a 5s penalty for his collision with Alex Albon, 3rd place was very impressive as he started dead last due to penalties incurred on Saturday, ahead of him were the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, Daniel Ricciardo placed 7th of Renault and Lando Norris 8th in the second McLaren.
It was indeed a good day for Honda as they had both the Redbull and Torro Rosso on the podium, not so much for the Ferraris that crashed right in front of us. When we left South Africa we had no idea that we were going to what would become the second best Race of 2019 as voted for by fans, and it was nothing short of exciting, looking forward to more in 2020.
