Max Verstappen needed three laps to reach the points from 21st on the grid in São Paulo. By lap five he was seventh. By lap 38 only Lando Norris remained ahead. That was the part of Sunday’s race that puzzled the Red Bull driver most. Once he finally had clear air, he could make no impression on the leader.

From the back row to ninth in three laps

Changes to the internal combustion engine, turbocharger and exhaust sent Verstappen to the back row. He crossed the line 13th at the end of the opening lap and ninth two laps later, before picking off Oscar Piastri and Alex Albon. Nico Hülkenberg fell behind him on lap eight and Liam Lawson on lap 11. Before the first round of pit stops, Verstappen was already fifth.

Verstappen singled out that opening stint on intermediates as the strongest part of his afternoon. As the circuit dried, he stayed out a lap longer than Isack Hadjar and rejoined fourth on soft tyres, behind his team-mate. When Kimi Antonelli ran wide at Turn 1, Verstappen took third. Norris was around seven seconds up the road.

Where the chase lost momentum

Hadjar let Verstappen through on team orders on lap 38. By then the McLaren’s advantage had grown to more than nine seconds. Red Bull brought Verstappen in for another set of softs at the end of lap 45, four laps before Norris stopped. He rejoined fifth behind Piastri and immediately set the fastest lap of the race so far. Norris still held the advantage after his own stop.

After the finish, Verstappen said the car’s balance had changed so much that he suspected it might have picked up damage. It felt completely different from the car he had driven all weekend. He left the cause open for the engineers to investigate. Returning rain meant one final stop for intermediates, and he took the flag 14.602 seconds behind Norris.

It was the third straight year Verstappen had reached the Interlagos podium from deep in the field, with a different finishing position each time. He won from 17th in 2024, finished third from the pit lane in 2025 and now has a second place to add to the collection. Fans voted him Driver of the Day.

Sources · FIA lap chart · Formula 1 · Verstappen.com · Formula 1 power unit changes

Archive photograph from Austin: Lubomir Asenov / LAP.bg.