Despite starting from the pit lane, Max Verstappen recovered to third in Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a performance Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies called “as sensational as last year.”
Verstappen endured a difficult weekend, failing to progress beyond Q1 on pure pace for the first time in his F1 career. Red Bull made overnight changes — including suspension adjustments and fitting a new power unit — which forced him to start from the pits for the 71-lap race.
A puncture under a Virtual Safety Car after seven laps cost further time, but the 28-year-old mounted a strong comeback, finishing third behind race winner Lando Norris and second-placed Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen ended the race roughly 10 seconds adrift of Norris.
“Credit to Max for the sensational drive,” Mekies said, drawing a parallel with Verstappen’s victory at the same venue last year, when he climbed from P17 in wet conditions. “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.”
Mekies acknowledged the team misjudged the car’s balance after the Sprint. “We were not happy with where the car was in terms of car balance and driver’s feeling after the Sprint race,” he said. The team believed their optimum setup window wasn’t where they wanted, so they took the risk of major changes before the main qualifying. “We obviously got it wrong, but it’s the way we go racing. We take risks, and if we don’t take that amount of risks, we don’t think we’ll be able to win.”
He conceded the decision cost them in qualifying. “It’s painful. We got the Quali wrong… We had our highs and lows. The car was alive today. That’s the most important thing. The car was probably good enough to fight for the win today.”
With three Grands Prix and one Sprint remaining, Verstappen sits 49 points behind Drivers’ Championship leader Lando Norris. Mekies said the team is approaching the remaining rounds race-by-race rather than fixating on a fifth consecutive title. “The simple truth is, the focus is how can we maximise our chance to get the car in the ‘alive’ window for Las Vegas. The rest is a consequence.”
Mekies highlighted the unique challenges of Las Vegas — very low downforce and cold tyre windows — as the team’s immediate priority.