Zloober finished second, admitted he had been “a little bit too excited on the gas”, then reached for racing’s most dependable consolation: “always next race”.
Brazil was the season finale.
He had just finished 3.659 seconds behind Higosh — closer than at Abu Dhabi and less than half his deficit at Monza. The win still would not come. Higosh, meanwhile, took pole, won the race and signed off with another 31 points. D4’s champion was already crowned; apparently he saw no reason to stop collecting trophies.
| Pos | +/− | Team | Driver | Grid | Gap | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 0 | Williams | Higosh! | 1 | Winner | 31 |
| P2 | 0 | Cadillac | Zloober | 2 | +3.659 | 23 |
| P3 | 0 | Williams | OnlineGuy99 | 3 | +12.743 | 19 |
| P4 | 2 | Ferrari | Alezoo | 6 | +26.136 | 15 |
| P5 | 1 | Mercedes | Brystaroz | 4 | +31.479 | 13 |
| P6 | 1 | Red Bull | Ceetee19 | 5 | +35.337 | 11 |
| P7 | 7 | Haas | bigwoottz | 14 | +35.882 | 9 |
| P8 | 2 | Ferrari | geo2002 | 10 | +40.667 | 7 |
| P9 | 2 | Aston Martin | WilierBread2885 | 7 | +43.436 | 5 |
| P10 | 1 | Cadillac | TheShrizzzler | 11 | +50.970 | 3 |
| P11 | 1 | Mercedes | ELITE HEAT SHOW | 12 | +51.461 | 2 |
| P12 | 4 | Alpine | ash2811 | 8 | +58.085 | 1 |
| P13 | 2 | Aston Martin | EdvonSchleck88 | 15 | +1:00.136 | 0 |
| P14 | 2 | Alpine | Fredrumguit | 16 | +1:16.304 | 0 |
| P15 | 2 | Haas | pepee24 | 17 | +2 laps | 0 |
| P16 | 7 | VCARB | L3on Tyl3r2500 | 9 | +4 laps | 0 |
| P17 | 4 | VCARB | LochieBruz | 13 | DNF | 0 |
Three starts, three podiums and nowhere left to postpone the win
Zloober joined the D4 grid at precisely the wrong time for anybody hoping to ignore him. Seventh to third at Monza became fourth to second in Abu Dhabi, then second to second in Brazil. His deficit to the winner has fallen at every attempt.
| Race | Grid | Finish | Gap to winner | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monza | 7 | 3 | +8.246s | 19 |
| Abu Dhabi | 4 | 2 | +3.961s | 24 |
| Brazil | 2 | 2 | +3.659s | 23 |
At Abu Dhabi, a last-lap spin took away his chance to finish the pursuit of Higosh. Brazil put him even closer on the grid and another 0.302 seconds closer at the flag. When Higosh asked how he kept catching the slides, Zloober’s explanation was wonderfully uncomplicated: “little bit too excited on the gas”.
The Car Geek told him the win had been there. Zloober replied, “always next race”. There will be another one, of course. Season 7 simply had the poor manners to end first.
Higosh’s form line looks edited
Brazil was Higosh’s ninth pole, ninth podium and sixth victory from 12 D4 starts. The final margin over JDJT3593 is 66 points: 275 to 209. Williams finish on 508, a faintly impolite 237 clear of Red Bull.
The shape of the champion’s season is even better than the totals. His first three results were eighth, 13th and eighth. His next nine were three wins, three seconds and three more wins.
| Stretch | Races | Finishes | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening three | Texas–Silverstone | 8–13–8 | 17 |
| First surge | Las Vegas–Australia | 1–1–1 | 93 |
| The fight tightens | Qatar–Japan | 2–2–2 | 73 |
| The title closes | Monza–Brazil | 1–1–1 | 92 |
The pattern looks as though somebody cleaned it up for presentation. D4 had nine races to ruin the symmetry and failed.
Japan had pulled Higosh and JD level. Higosh answered by winning Monza, Abu Dhabi and Brazil in succession; JD missed the finale after the title had already gone. The champion did not need Brazil. He treated it as an encore anyway.
OnlineGuy clocks in twice and leaves with a D4 podium
OnlineGuy had already raced in D3 earlier in the day, starting from pole and finishing fourth. D4 offered no recovery time and one unfamiliar division. He started third, finished third and added 19 points to the 16 collected that morning.
That made his first D4 start an immediate podium and gave Williams a 50-point finale. The constructors’ title had been settled long ago, but Higosh and Online still supplied the largest team score of the afternoon. Apparently 508 points looked tidier than 458.
Alezoo gained two places to finish fourth, with Brystaroz fifth. The leading trio had already gone: Online finished 12.743 seconds behind Higosh, then the gap to Alezoo was another 13.393.
The recoveries begin after the top five
Ceetee’s race briefly reached fourth before, by his own account, a lost front wing dropped him to the back. He recovered to sixth and called it his best result since at least Silverstone. The uncertainty over exactly how long it had been was understandable; the drive had given him enough recent history for one afternoon.
Bigwoottz finished only 0.545 seconds behind after gaining seven places from 14th. He also revealed that he had started two laps under-fuelled and believed he finished 0.35 up. Somewhere between those two numbers sat a very long afternoon of lift-and-coast. He still found nine points. The race engineer may ask questions once the applause dies down.
TheShrizzzler’s version was no quieter: spun at Turn 4 on lap one, dropped to the back, pitted on lap six, ran 30 laps on the hard tyres and recovered to tenth. His review — “Calm race innit” — required no assistance from the editorial desk.
Those recoveries also compressed the final fight behind the established top four. Bread’s ninth place secured fifth in the drivers’ standings on 88 points, his best ever championship result, with jazzy on 86, Ceetee on 85 and geo on 84. Four places, four points. D4 may have settled both championships before Brazil, but it kept one last argument alive all the way down the table.
| Final position | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | WilierBread2885 | 88 |
| 6 | jazzy-draught9 | 86 |
| 7 | Ceetee19 | 85 |
| 8 | geo2002 | 84 |
Higosh leaves with the championship, six wins and a form line that barely looks real. Zloober leaves with three D4 starts, three podiums and a shrinking gap to the standard-setter. His “always next race” was wrong only on the calendar.
The next one will have to wait.
