Brazil – Francophone Summary: Gasly or the Brazilian Miracle, Leclerc Loser of the Day
After a breathtaking race, the Brazilian Grand Prix delivered a miracle as it often does. Pierre Gasly, driving for Toro Rosso, managed to climb to the second step of the podium, partly benefiting from Ferrari's troubles and Valtteri Bottas's surprise retirement. On the other hand, it was a huge disappointment for Leclerc, who had made a sublime comeback from 14th place until his contact with his teammate. For Romain Grosjean, even starting from 7th on the grid, the Haas was not very competitive in race pace, finishing in 13th place outside the points.
Pierre Gasly: 2nd (6th on the grid)
While everyone expected a podium from Pierre Gasly with the Red Bull team at the start of the season, it was ultimately with Toro Rosso that the Frenchman stepped onto the Formula 1 podium for the first time in his career.
Author of a very good start without incident, he managed to maintain his 6th place before seeing Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
DRS open, overtaking at the end of the straight on the 10th lap. Unflappable, Gasly continued his race without flinching until fate smiled upon him. First, an engine problem for Bottas’s Mercedes reset all the gaps to zero after the safety car came out. Then, the fratricidal war between the two Ferrari drivers gave Gasly hope. The highlight of the show was the battle at the forefront between the 2019 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, and Albon. A contact between the two drivers one lap from the end of the GP sent the Thai driver to the back of the pack and allowed a great Pierre Gasly to aim for the second place in this race. Strong during the last corners, against a full-throttle Hamilton, Gasly crossed the finish line just a few hundredths of a second ahead after a wheel-to-wheel battle in the final corner.
How close was that drag to the finish?! ???????? P2, Pierre, P2!#PoweredByHonda pic.twitter.com/cVgqfxJ2Uz
— Honda Racing F1 (@HondaRacingF1) 17 novembre 2019
At Barrichello’s microphone, the Frenchman stated that it is a special moment in his career. « It’s my first podium in F1, it’s a special moment. The team provided me with a very competitive car today. I believed in it until the end and the opportunity presented itself. I prayed that the engine would give me everything on that last corner… ».
Charles Leclerc: DNF (14th on the grid)
If for Ferrari, the race for the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ title were already played out, the last podium place in the drivers’ standings was still hotly contested. Only 19 points separated the 3 drivers Leclerc, Verstappen, and Vettel before the lights went out.
At the start, the Monegasque on his medium tires made a spectacular comeback to 10th place between the 1st and 2nd lap with a double overtake on Ricciardo and Norris. On a strategy with a marathon first stint of 30 laps, he switched to hard tires to finish the race. The white-striped tires not working, he faced an attack from Bottas who had swapped hard tires for mediums. Charles bent but did not break. He benefited from the retirement of the chasing Mercedes and the Safety Car deployment to put on a set of softs. A new race began between Vettel and Leclerc, with a dramatic outcome for both drivers, both forced to retire. Great regrets for Charles after a colossal effort and a climb from 14th place.
The Ferrari driver still couldn’t believe it after the race, stating that everything happened very quickly and that a thorough analysis will help better understand how this contact occurred.
Romain Grosjean: 13th (7th on the grid)
Author of a very good start without contact in traffic, Grosjean managed to maintain his 7th place during the first laps before being attacked by Kimi Räikkönen. Towards the end of the race, the car began to show signs of slowing down, and then the safety car delivered a fatal blow to Romain Grosjean’s race, as he was overtaken by several cars at the restart. Like the entire season, the Haas driver was powerless and could not hope for better given all the incidents that characterized this race.
