Winners and losers from F1's 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix

Conditions in the Brazilian Grand Prix were as treacherous as they've been at any point in the 2024 Formula 1 season - so it was little surprise that so many teams and drivers came unstuck on Sunday.

But there were a few names who weathered the storm, who are joined in our selection of winners and losers by plenty of names who had days to forget.

Loser: McLaren

After that sprint 1-2 on Saturday, McLaren seemed favourite to win on Sunday - a view only bolstered by Verstappen's grid penalty that left him 17th on the grid.

But this was an opportunity lost: Lando Norris ended up sixth and Oscar Piastri was seventh before a 10-second penalty for clashing with Liam Lawson dropped him to eighth.

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Part of that was misfortune - the red flag hurt its chances - but McLaren struggled for pace and Norris was clearly taken aback by Verstappen's performance on Sunday.

The silver lining is that McLaren leaves Brazil leading the constructors' championship by 36 points, having outscored Ferrari, but it was outscored by Red Bull by five points this weekend.

And, of course, Verstappen extended his championship lead by 15 points.

That drivers' title looks to be all but sealed up for the Dutchman leading by 62 points with 86 remaining. - Samarth Kanal

Winner: Max Verstappen

An exceptional drive from Verstappen.

After a couple of weeks where it seemed the focus was solely on his aggression, the Red Bull driver delivered a superlative performance to win from 17th on the grid in Sao Paulo.

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New intermediate tyres helped (compared to the used ones donned by much of the grid in the opening stint) and a tyre change during the red flag contributed, but Verstappen was still far more assured than any other driver on the grid on Sunday - and he managed to pull off overtakes in the most difficult of conditions.

So fast was Verstappen that rival Norris said he would have been lapped had the Red Bull driver started from pole position.

Furthermore, he took the fastest lap, 26 points, and extended his championship lead - one that's surely enough to earn him a fourth title soon. - SK

Loser: Sergio Perez

This was another disappointing grand prix for Perez where his team-mate went from 17th to win and he couldn't even score a point.

Perez started 12th but spun at Turn 10 on the first lap all on his own and spent the rest of the race on the back foot. A gamble on full wets at his pitstop looked like it would pay off but the intervention of the VSC, and the subsequent red flag, sent him back to square one.

He did get into the top 10 late on, but came off second best against Liam Lawson in the inferior RB machine again - not a good look against a driver challenging to take your seat next year - and went off track, losing 10th to a struggling Lewis Hamilton in the process and failing to get it back.

A thoroughly underwhelming race where his team-mate and the driver who wants his seat in a slower car pulled one over on him. Again.

He called it a "total disaster". No complaints here with that assessment. - Jack Benyon

Loser: Mercedes

Sure, Mercedes ended up with nothing more than a pair of reprimands and fines for a tyre pressure snafu on the grid after the aborted start.

But that doesn't quite cover the fact that it would've expected more from the Brazilian GP - especially when George Russell snatched the lead and the initiative in the opening stages.

Russell's exasperated "F***!" when the red flag was shown suggested he wasn't particularly impressed by the call to pit from the lead on a day where, even if Verstappen was unbeatable, a clear second was on the cards.

And the less said about Lewis Hamilton's at-times tortuous run to 10th (and a consolatory point), continuing what he described as a "devastating" run of races in the second half of the season, the better. - Jack Cozens

Loser: Ferrari

After two straight races of closing down McLaren in the constructors' championship, a poor weekend for Ferrari in Brazil has given McLaren a 36-point buffer.

What's worse is that McLaren had such a poor grand prix that this was the perfect opportunity to claw more points back, but the Ferrari just didn't have that razor-sharp pace it has had in recent races. Carlos Sainz crashed in the race and Charles Leclerc was never even a podium threat as he lamented his set-up choice.

You wouldn't mind but, with two Alpine's on the podium, the lack of ability to overtake was really frustrating and costly. - JB

Winner: Alpine

"If it rains it can bring opportunities and that's what we need to capitalise on."

What felt like a hopelessly optimistic line from an underperforming Esteban Ocon in his Thursday media session could hardly have proved to be more prescient.

There was no underperformance to be seen on Sunday. An outstanding run to fourth in qualifying was better by a sensational drive to second in the race. Yes, Max Verstappen ultimately got the better of him, but there's no shame in losing out to arguably F1's preeminent driver in the wet. And don't forget, Ocon successfully kept Verstappen at bay - and even briefly pulled away - after the first restart.

And while Pierre Gasly's rise up the order was a more subtle route to the podium than Ocon's race-leading spell in the spotlight, it was an excellent recovery having been outclassed by his team-mate in qualifying and, more than that, another faultless drive for Alpine considering the pressure Russell put him under in the final stint.

Oh - and there was the small matter of the team managing a three-in-one leap up the constructors' standings to sixth in the process.

That isn't just deserts for a season where it has been massively underwhelming, but there is no question that it deserved this points haul for an immaculately executed race. - JC

Loser: Williams

One Williams crashed in qualifying and failed to even make the race, and the other shunted in the grand prix. Not much more to say there.

Alex Albon's crash was down to some sort of failure he suspects, and it was an unusual one at Turn 1.

Franco Colapinto also crashed in qualifying and then did so again in the race taking the blame for the incident near the start/finish line. He hadn't looked like troubling the top 10 in the race until that point, although a collision deemed to be Ollie Bearman's fault earlier on didn't help.

Perhaps the biggest blow was Alpine's double podium, which leapfrogged it ahead of Williams (and Haas and RB) in the constructors' standings.

Williams is down to ninth and trails RB by a hefty 27 points. It has only scored on five occasions this year and in four of them they were scores of two or less - with 10 in Baku the standout - so making up more ground seems a tall order. - JB

Loser: Haas

One car black-flagged, the other all at sea, and an unexpected loss of position in the constructors' championship to boot.

It says a lot about Sunday's Brazilian GP that Haas wasn't the biggest loser from it, but there can be no doubt this was a painful day for the team - outdone in 2024 terms probably only by its Monaco total wipeout. - JC

Loser: RB

A case of what could have been?

RB showed up in qualifying with Yuki Tsunoda clinching a career-best third and Liam Lawson backing that up with fifth. Yet it came away from Brazil with just eight points as Alpine capitalised.

Part of that was down to the decision to pit both of its drivers for wet tyres during the virtual safety car (even if their pace on them was strong) but Liam Lawson also picked up damage from a collision with Oscar Piastri.

It was a solid points haul on Sunday and one could argue that RB pulled off a good result in Brazil - but Alpine's haul casts a shadow on RB's day, leaving it behind the Enstone team and Haas in the standings when not long ago it looked nailed on for sixth. - SK

Loser: Aston Martin

No points for Aston Martin on a day in which both drivers crashed out in qualifying - leading to a massive repair job from the team. 

Then, Lance Stroll spun and retired on the formation lap of the race, creating the messy aborted start situation and delaying things even further.

Fernando Alonso had a tough race as well and spun to last late on - before passing the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu.

There were points to be had on Sunday and Aston missed a chance to score some more. It's unlikely that it'll be passed for fifth in the championship…unless Alpine has another day like Sunday. - SK