Red Bull's Max Verstappen sensationally won Formula 1's 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix from 17th on the grid in a wet-weather thriller, while his pole title rival Lando Norris faltered for McLaren.

Alpine scored a brilliant double podium with Esteban Ocon in second and Pierre Gasly in third ahead of early leader George Russell, catapulting the team to sixth in the constructors' championship.

Norris finished sixth behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, but the Briton faces a post-race investigation over a bizarre aborted start more than two hours earlier in the badly marred race.

The first start was canceled when Lance Stroll went off the track at Turn 4 on the formation lap and damaged his Aston Martin before stranding it in the gravel. Norris then led several cars off the line again in response to the “start aborted” message. while Verstappen, from 17th on the grid, was part of a separate group that waited for the green light before going around again.

A 10-minute delay followed, after which Russell overtook Norris from second on the grid heading into Turn 1, while Verstappen slalomed his way through several cars to end up in 11th at the end of the first lap.

He continued to fight his way through the field for most of the first half, with a series of bold jumps into Turn 1 where the Dutchman was extremely confident on the brakes in his RB20.

At the front, Russell and Norris pulled away from their pursuers Yuki Tsunoda, Ocon and Leclerc, but the McLaren never came close to attacking the leading Mercedes.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

On lap 15, Verstappen had reached Leclerc at the back of the chasing group, but was then stuck behind the Ferrari, similar to Norris.

Leclerc was a surprising early stopper as it began to rain heavily on lap 24 as the clouds thickened, making Verstappen's progress easier.

The race then changed significantly when Nico Hülkenberg pulled out alone with Russell in Turn 1 on lap 27, which led to a virtual safety car period in which several cars pitted far back in the field and in the end the The leaders arrived on lap 28.

But that was just as the VSC was coming to an end and the Haas started moving again after receiving push support from four marshals, and with Ocon and Verstappen remaining outside – plus Pierre Gasly from further back in the other Alpine – took over she as Russell and Norris the lead fell down, along with Tsunoda, who had been jumped by Ocon before the VSC.

It was really raining at this point and Norris took advantage of Russell's timidity at Turn 4 on lap 30 to finally get past and as he shot towards Gasly and Verstappen the safety car was called and the race was neutralised.

Franco Colapinto from Williams crashed and there was a delay of almost 25 minutes – during which Ocon, Verstappen and Gasly were able to switch to additional intermediate tires without losing their places, and Hülkenberg was given the black flag because he was in the runoff Turn 1 was pushed back and rejoin.

At the restart in the second half of the race, Ocon easily left Verstappen behind and opened up a lead of 3.3 seconds within just a few laps.

But Carlos Sainz's slow crash on lap 39 meant another safety car, after which Verstappen brilliantly overtook Ocon on the restart at Turn 1 – although it initially looked like the Alpine would get away again.

Behind them, Norris slipped at Turn 1 under the attack of Leclerc, who also got ahead of Russell before the Ferrari driver went off the track at Turn 4 a few laps later, handing fourth place back to the early leader.

Verstappen then broke through with a series of fastest laps and was leading by over three seconds with 20 laps to go. Since the Dutchman constantly slowed down the pace, he ended up with a whopping 19.3 seconds lead, even though the rain briefly became heavier again in the final phase.

Ocon finished the race with a lead over Gasly, who held off Russell to the finish, while Leclerc finished fifth and Norris seventh – losing significant ground to Verstappen, who took his first GP win since the race in Spain in June.

Oscar Piastri – who waved Norris through after his teammate's second restart – finished seventh away from home and eighth in the final result after picking up a 10-second penalty for colliding with Liam Lawson before the red flag.

Lawson took ninth place after holding off Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez late on – the RB driver and second Red Bull clashed again, while the Mercedes driver was among the drivers off the road at various stages.

Alex Albon did not take part due to his serious crash in qualifying.

Photos from the GP qualifying and race in Brazil

F1 Brazilian Grand Prix results