Yup, A-hole of the day was almost sewn up for Ricciardo until the last lap when Max ran away with the title!
And then that comment about Lewis that danegrey quoted above - "I was ahead briefly on the previous turn, but then Lewis passed me and I knew there wasn't going to be any room to go through so I ignored him and crashed into him on purpose because it didn't matter to my race what happened" (paraphrasing a bit here, but that's what he essentially said - on the record, no less). Then he needed his agent in the impromptu team meeting before the press interviews - what, was daddy not there? Marko still sticking pins in his Checo doll?
All I could think of was Abu Dhabi 2021 and that heroic 3-lap defence that Perez put up against Hamilton, killing the Mercedes' tires in the process, which cemented Max's first championship. And there have been other times before and since that Checo played the team game. Little wonder there's a revolving door for Max's team mate!
Other than that, it was a really good race. I don't remember this many passing opportunities at Interlagos in the past. The new cars seem to be doing what they are designed to do.
Some great recovery drives for sure, including Lewis and Max, and Fernando, but Leclerc topped them all - I swear that he ripped that car out of the wall out of sheer anger and willed it back to 4th place. Silly to ask Sainz to forgo his podium for his own points, though. He should earn second if he is to get it at all. Yes, the team screwed him on many occasions (be it strategy, performance, or reliability issues), but that's called motor racing.
Super fast pit stops too.
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