Verstappen didn't expect a podium in Brazil when he woke up Sunday morning

Max Verstappen admits he did not expect to be in the frame for a podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and praised his and Red Bull’s “incredible” turnaround to fight through from the pit lane.

Red Bull had both cars eliminated in Q1 for the first time in 19 years on Saturday, and opted to take a new power unit and change suspension settings on Verstappen’s car overnight, necessitating a pit lane start. The defending champion made early progress on the hard tire before a puncture put him to the back again, but he fought through in thrilling fashion to finish third, continuing his run of podiums.

“The race was quite full on – a lot of action,” Verstappen said. “I had to overtake some cars coming from the pit lane, and I think our pace was quite strong over all the stints. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to know fully with traffic and stuff, but to be on the podium from the pit lane, I didn’t expect that at all – even with a puncture as well in the beginning of the race; that’s why we had to box again.

“An incredible result for us. Very happy with that and just very proud of everyone within the team as well. Yesterday was very tough for us, but we never give up. We always try to improve and try to find more lap time. Luckily, we found that again today.”

Red Bull stuck to an aggressive strategy that saw Verstappen make a final pit stop from the lead, fit soft tires and try to chase down the top three late on. He passed George Russell but was held at bay by Kimi Antonelli in the closing laps, finishing 10 seconds behind race-winner Lando Norris.

“[The race was] miles better than our qualifying, that’s for sure." he said. "Just a very strong race. I think we had much better pace. I think it was a bit colder today, which maybe helped us. The car just felt a bit more responsive.

“Even with the puncture that I picked up on the hard [tire], to then drop back to last and come through the field again on the mediums – I think we did the right strategy at the end. Even on the soft it seemed like it was OK. When you start getting close and I passed George, you already wear your tires a bit. Then when I was getting close to Kimi, the tires just started to overheat and you lose a lot of grip. The soft is a bit more difficult than the medium for that.

“Overall, a super strong race. Coming from the pit lane to the podium, 10, 11 seconds off the lead – I think for us it's a very strong result and definitely didn’t expect that waking up this morning.”

Verstappen says he immediately knew he had a better car at his disposal pre-race, but he did not set targets of how high up the order he could get. 

“I jumped into the car; I was only just hoping that the car would be more competitive," he said. "In the laps to the grid, it already felt better than the whole weekend, I would say. After the start, picking up that puncture, then being last again, I was like, ‘My God, nothing is really going my way this weekend.’

“Then you just settle in. You try to do the best you can – pass the cars in front of you, try to run the optimum strategy. It all worked out. With the team, we did the right thing. At one point, you're fighting for that podium, and you see it with 10, 12 laps to go – that’s nice, but at the same time, in the race, I’m not projecting something. I’m just focusing on the moment, trying to hit every lap as consistently as I can.

“Besides that, of course, the message is that we found a much better feeling in the car again by changing a few bits. At the same time, it was also quite a bit colder today, and that might also have an effect.”