Max Verstappen fighting for a podium finish in the closing laps of a Formula 1 race is nothing out of the ordinary.
Doing it from where he started Sunday at Interlagos, however, is nothing but normal.
Following a disastrous qualifying session Saturday at the São Paulo Grand Prix, where Verstappen was eliminated in Q1 on pure pace — or a lack thereof — Red Bull made wholesale changes to his RB21 under parc ferme conditions. That sent Verstappen to the back of the field, and waiting for the lights to go out along pit lane at Interlagos.
When those lights went out, Verstappen was down in P19, ahead of only Esteban Ocon, who also started on pit lane. By Lap 6, Verstappen was up in P13. He reached the points by Lap 17, as he was running tenth at that point. And after reaching second on Lap 48, only Lando Norris was in front of him.
And when Norris dipped down pit lane on Lap 50, Verstappen inherited the lead. His race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, hopped on the radio.
”Something I didn’t think I’d say, Max, at the end of the pit lane earlier, you are now race leader.
“Not bad,” replied Verstappen.
Red Bull faced a decision at that point. Verstappen was running on a set of C3 medium tires that the team bolted onto his reconfigured RB21 on Lap 34. Could he make those tires last until the end — and hold off Norris and company on fresher tires — or would Red Bull call him in for a new set of tires, and let him go on the attack in those closing laps?
They went “aggressive.”
“Okay, Max, box and pit confirm. Box, pit confirm, we’ll go aggressive. Strat 12 in pit lane,” came the message from Lambiase.
Red Bull called him in on Lap 54, opting for a fresh set of C4 soft tires for his final stint. He returned to the track sitting fourth, with only Norris, Kimi Antonelli, and George Russell in front of him.
“It’s been a fairly vulnerable tyre this, Max, so yeah, do your best,” said Lambiase as Verstappen rejoined the fight.
“Yeah we’ve nothing to lose,” replied the driver.
Slowly, he reeled Russell in, overtaking him on Lap 63 to move back into a podium position. He posted a 1:13.401 on that lap, faster than the 1:14.943 posted by Russell, and faster than Antonelli’s 1:13.622. The chase was on.
Verstappen then caught Antonelli, following the rear wing of the rookie’s W16 around Interlagos while in DRS range of the Mercedes. On Lap 69, Antonelli posted a time of 1:13.614.
Verstappen? He pumped in a 1:13.472.
Ultimately, Verstappen fell short in that chase, settling for third on a day where a podium seemed unlikely at best. Yes, Verstappen went from P17 to the win at Interlagos a year ago, but that came in the rain, and amidst a jumbled field that saw a double podium from Alpine.
Sunday in São Paulo, Verstappen charged through the field in dry conditions, reminding the F1 world of just how talented he is.
“That was a race-winning drive,” said Lambiase to Verstappen on the radio after the checkered flag.
“Credit to Max for the sensational drive,” said Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies. “He won last year here from P17 on the wet, and I think we would probably agree that it was as sensational as last year to bring it to P3 from the pit lane on a dry, relatively uneventful race.”
Even the drivers he was chasing paid tribute to Verstappen’s effort.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know where this guy [Verstappen] came from, to be honest. I didn’t see it coming,” said Antonelli trackside after the race.
Antonelli continued moments later in the FIA Press Conference, following a podium session dominated by fans singing in Verstappen’s honor.
“Way too stressful,” said the Mercedes rookie when asked about the final laps.
”I mean, obviously, when Max did the last pit stop and [Race Engineer Peter Bonnington] told me the gap, I was like—ah, well, I cannot say because they’re going to fine me now—but I was like, ‘I might be in trouble,’ you know, because he was just nine seconds behind.
“And obviously, he was on new Softs … He did an amazing job coming back and he just put me under a lot of pressure at the end. I had to really push the tire to the limit, and it wasn’t easy.”
“But with how quick he was today—yeah, probably would have won if he started higher up,” said Norris when asked about Verstappen’s chances in the Drivers’ Championship. “But that’s racing. Not everyone puts it together, and it’s easy to make mistakes in the world that we live in. Again, we maximised this weekend for ourselves, and that’s all we have to do.
“He’ll be a threat—he always is. He’s always there, he’s always fighting, and I’m sure he’ll fight to the end. So I look forward to it.”
Norris’ sweep of the São Paulo Grand Prix — he took the maximum 34 points home from Brazil after winning both the F1 Sprint race and the São Paulo Grand Prix — moved him into the driver’s seat in the Drivers’ Championship race. Norris now has a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri, with Verstappen 59 points back.
But the grid heads to Las Vegas next, a street circuit that has been favorable for Red Bull the past two seasons, while posing problems for McLaren.
“I think it was our worst race last year. So I’m not really looking forward to it,” said Norris Sunday of the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix. “We’ve been trying to work quite hard on improving those things. We know Mercedes were incredibly strong there last year, as well as Red Bull and Ferrari. I think we were the bottom of those four. So yeah, we’ll wait and see.
“Obviously, we’ve improved a lot of things this year, so I’m not going to be too negative about it. I think there’s plenty to look forward to. We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to. Las Vegas just a little bit less, because they’ve been probably some of our weakest races over the last two years. So let’s wait and see.”
In the end, Verstappen’s charge on Sunday may serve as a microcosm of his 2025 season: A valiant effort that illustrates his brilliance as a driver, but ultimately falls just short. He faces a massive climb to the top of the standings if he wants to claim his fifth Drivers’ Championship, and Verstappen again conceded on Sunday evening in São Paulo that a fifth title might just be out of reach.
But as he darted through the field on Sunday at Interlagos, he displayed once again that he can never be counted out.
