We entered the race weekend with anxiety and hopium. Max Verstappen needed to perform to the best of his abilities to keep his chances of getting his 5th WDC alive. Although he started 5th in the race, he never failed to show us why he’s the GOAT.

During free practice, Ferrari tricked us once more into thinking that there was substantial pace in the car this weekend. However, this time was different. Ferrari genuinely had pace this weekend. Charles Leclerc topped FP1 and finished second in FP2, while Lewis Hamilton finished second in FP3. We were all expecting Ferrari to fumble qualifying, but they (shockingly) didn’t. Leclerc qualified P2, and Lewis qualified P3, which was the latter’s highest race start this season. Lando Norris took pole, while George Russell qualified P4 and Max Verstappen P5. Piastri continued his second-half slump by qualifying just P8, giving Norris a perfect opportunity to chip some points off of Piastri’s lead or maybe even overtake him in the championship.

The race started Norris kept his lead while Leclerc, Hamilton, and Verstappen were all side-by-side going into turn 1. Verstappen locked up, went off the track, and nearly hit the wall before rejoining. We then witnessed Russell throw yet another tantrum about Verstappen rejoining the track in front. Lewis Hamilton was then given a 10-second penalty, which had the entire TeleiosX watch party I was at booing. So many people had cut the corner after turn 1, yet Lewis was the one who was penalized. Lewis’ best chance yet for his first Ferrari podium was ruined

Oliver Bearman had his best ever race and was running P3 for a decent bit of time while keeping a rampant Max Verstappen behind. He finished the race in P4, setting a new highest finish for himself and equalling Haas’ highest-ever finish, which was previously set by Romain Grosjean. Max Verstappen ran a great race to finish P3, while Norris finished 38 seconds ahead of Leclerc in P2. Piastri’s low P5 finish resulted in Norris taking the lead of the championship for the first time since April by just one point.

Although the race was very entertaining, the FIA once again made completely stupid decisions, which robbed us of more entertainment. Towards the final few laps, Max Verstappen was actively hunting down Charles Leclerc. Right when Max got within DRS range of the Ferrari, Carlos Sainz spun out in the stadium section and retired his car perfectly out of range of cars. The FIA then decided that Sainz parking his car off of the racetrack warranted a VSC, completely neutralizing the race and robbing us of what would have probably been an amazing Lecstappen fight. This brainless decision, combined with an unfair 10-second penalty given to Lewis Hamilton, further proves the point that the FIA needs consistent decision-making, which can only be achieved by having an established group of stewards that are at every race.

This weekend, the travelling circus of Formula One heads to Brazil. Last year, Max Verstappen showed everyone who’s the best after starting from P17 and then winning the race, while both Alpines finished on the podium. The forecast in Sao Paulo seems pretty rainy, so we can expect Lance Stroll to either crash on the formation lap or go from P15 to P5 in 3 laps. We can also expect Max Verstappen to win in a similar fashion to last year while both McLarens go off-track into the grass and lose a couple of positions.

I’ll continue the Beginner’s Series this upcoming week along with writing the race summary of the Brazilian GP. Adios, and buenas noches.