Max Verstappen was one of the major stars of the weekend at the Interlagos Autodrome. The Dutchman climbed to the podium of the São Paulo Grand Prix of Formula 1 on Sunday (9), even after starting from the pit lane. The start of the race was tumultuous for the Red Bull driver, who suffered a puncture early on and had to recover amidst traffic.
“From the pit lane to the podium! This weekend took a complete turn for me, something I didn’t think was possible,” Verstappen commented. He highlighted the importance of the team’s strategy: “The team used the right strategy from start to finish, which allowed me to pass through all the traffic in front of me with great efficiency.”
Verstappen also praised Red Bull’s work after a poor qualification on Saturday: “I’m very proud of the team and would like to thank them for all the hard work they put in to make changes after qualifying last night. Starting from the pit lane and finishing in P3, just 10 seconds behind P1, was incredible,” he concluded.
His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, had a more difficult weekend, finishing only in 17th position. “The whole weekend was difficult for me. I had a good start to the race on the hard tire and gained some positions before using the safety car entry to stop in the pits earlier. Unfortunately, there was contact with Lance [Stroll] and I had to serve a penalty, which complicated the race a lot,” he explained.
The CEO and head of Red Bull, Laurent Mekies, highlighted Verstappen’s performance and the car’s return to the expected level. “It was an incredible performance by Max today. He almost repeated what he did last year, but this time in the dry and with an extra stop for a puncture. Hats off to him and the team, who executed a very clever strategy to advance through the pack,” he stated.
Mekies also commented on Red Bull’s learning and Tsunoda’s penalties: “We took risks, made mistakes, and explored things during the weekend, but that’s part of the learning process necessary to compete at the level we want. With Yuki, he lost a lot of time with his ten-second penalty and then we had another mistake on our part. If it weren’t for those penalties, he would have finished fighting for points.”
Formula 1 continues in two Sundays with the dispute of the Las Vegas GP, scheduled for November 23.
