Max Verstappen described Red Bull’s pace as “beyond expectations” in the wake of his performance at Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Verstappen dominated the preceding Mexican round for a second successive season as Red Bull held a pace advantage over its rivals at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Verstappen played down Red Bull’s chances of a repeat at Interlagos and in qualifying his best lap was almost half a second shy of Lewis Hamilton’s pole effort, as he wound up fifth.
But in race trim Verstappen surged to the front, passing Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas in quick succession before extending his Supersoft stint to take the lead.
Verstappen faced a three-second deficit to Lewis Hamilton after he pitted but on fresher and softer tyres cruised past the Mercedes driver to take the lead.
Verstappen’s win prospects were wrecked when he was spun by the lapped Esteban Ocon but he nonetheless hailed Red Bull’s pace, having finished just 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton.
“The car felt amazing all race, even with a damaged floor towards the end,” said Verstappen.
“The set-up, balance and strategy were perfect.
“To be this competitive at a track we didn’t expect to be is really positive, and makes me look forward to Abu Dhabi.
“We have come away with a P2, which should have been a win. This shows we were performing really well, beyond expectations.”
Commenting further on the damage his car sustained in the clash with Ocon, Verstappen said: “You know all the cut-outs you have on the side of the floor, that whole area, so I guess that’s this wide [gestures a gap of about 15-20cm] that was completely gone so it was pretty bad.
“I lost a lot of downforce. I had to lock a lot of tools on the steering wheel but that was still not enough. But still the car was quick. We could have been much faster, for sure.”
Verstappen, who must undertake two days of public service for his physical altercation with Ocon, remains fifth in the Drivers’ Championship but is now just three points behind Bottas.
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