From pit lane to podium, Max Verstappen impresses again at Brazilian GP

SAO PAULO AP Four-time Formula champion Max Verstappen considers his race last year at Interlagos in the pouring rain when he moved up from th at the start to win the Brazilian Grand Prix to be a career highlight He wasn t too far from matching that feat on Sunday after starting the race in the pit lane and finishing on the podium Verstappen had been set for a frustrating weekend in Sao Paulo after he qualified only th for the race The Dutch driver even reported he had lost any chance of lifting the title this season But then his crew spent Saturday night making sweeping changes to his car including a new engine All that effort paid off and kept alive Verstappen s long shot this year at a fifth title His surprising third place put him on points in the drivers championship With three races left he s points behind overall leader Lando Norris who won the Brazilian GP Norris has a -point advantage over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in second place Verstappen disclosed it could have been much worse To be in the podium from the pit lane I didn t expect at all Verstappen declared at a press conference after the race No idea what will happen in the final three races Impossible to know Verstappen s chances almost vanished Sunday when he was already in th position and had a puncture which forced him to make a fourth pit stop unlike majority of of his rivals But his newer soft tires in the final stint of the race made Verstappen even faster which allowed him to overtake Mercedes George Russell for third place and challenge Kimi Antonelli for second The Italian rookie managed to keep his position Verstappen moves on to the Las Vegas Grand Prix where he finished fifth last year which was enough to clinch his fourth straight title I think for us now to the end it is trying to just have these highlights have good race weekends and see what we can do to the end he stated We also still want to analyze from the whole weekend but at least the race was very promising AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source