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Max Verstappen ruled himself out of the Formula 1 title race as he insisted that he had to “be realistic” despite a thrilling comeback to finish third in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Verstappen recovered from a pit-lane start with a stirring drive to extend his streak of successive podium-finishes to seven races.

However, championship leader Lando Norris’ victory – after the McLaren driver also won the Sprint at Interlagos on Saturday – saw Verstappen’s deficit grow to 49 points with just three rounds of the season remaining.

Norris extended his championship lead after claiming victory in a gripping Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the McLaren driver leading Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli home while Max Verstappen put in a remarkable comeback to finish on the podium after starting from the pit lane.

Norris now has a 24 points lead over his team mate Piastri who sits second in the standings on 366 points 25 points ahead of Verstappen with three races to go.

Verstappen had already said he could “forget about” winning a fifth successive drivers’ title after being knocked out in Q1 on Saturday, and he reiterated that sentiment after Sunday’s race.

“We lost already way too many points in the beginning of the season to the middle of the season,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.

“That we were in that (championship race) up until now already was quite a surprise, but we have to be realistic, over the whole season we haven’t been good enough. But we will still try everything we can until the end of the season to score some highlights and try to win races – that’s what we are here for.”

Verstappen’s worst qualifying result since 2021 came after Red Bull had attempted to make drastic changes to the setup of his car after having been off the pace in the Sprint events.

The Dutchman qualified sixth for and finished fourth in the Sprint, but felt changes were needed to give him a chance of competing with the McLarens in the full-length events.

The attempts backfired badly as Verstappen struggled with the handling of his car in qualifying and was knocked out in Q1 for the first time since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.

Despite that, he insisted he was pleased that the team had gone for broke rather than settling for being off the pace of McLaren.

“What I like is that, yes, it has been very difficult for us this weekend but the team never gives up,” he said.

“We always want to be better, we don’t settle for second, otherwise you could easily say after the Sprint, ‘let’s not touch the car, we are not too bad, let’s not risk it’. I don’t think that’s the mentality of the team.

“We always want to find more performance. Of course, that didn’t work out in qualifying, but it did allow us to change the car again and make it a lot more competitive today.”

While Norris crossed the line with a 10-second lead to clinch his seventh Grand Prix win of the season, a nail-biting duel played out behind between Antonelli and Verstappen for second place. Antonelli ultimately held on to claim a career-best P2, while Verstappen’s impressive afternoon ended with a P3 result.

The other Mercedes of George Russell was also under pressure from Piastri as the race headed towards its finish but managed to keep the McLaren at bay to take fourth, with Piastri having to settle for fifth on a day that perhaps could have brought more without his earlier penalty.

A strong weekend for Ollie Bearman saw the Haas racer cross the line in sixth, while the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar boosted their team’s points tally in seventh and eighth respectively. An incident between the pair on the final lap was noted by the stewards, before it was decided that no further investigation was needed.

Nico Hulkenberg followed in ninth for Kick Sauber, and Pierre Gasly grabbed the final point on offer for Alpine in 10th. Just missing out was Alex Albon for Williams in 11th, who placed ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon and the other Williams machine of Carlos Sainz.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were well outside of the points in P14 and P16, with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto sandwiched between them in P15. Yuki Tsunoda was the final driver classified on a tough day for the Red Bull driver, in which he received a second 10-second time penalty after failing to serve a first one correctly.

It was a nightmare Sunday for Ferrari at Interlagos, the team leaving with no points following a double DNF. Lewis Hamilton retired the car in the pits midway through the race, having picked up floor damage in a Lap 1 incident that also saw him take a 10-second time penalty.

Bortoleto, meanwhile, was out on the opening lap following his aforementioned crash, which came about following contact with Stroll.

From McLaren drivers fighting to surprise threats for big points, and from an unsettled weather forecast to new faces in front-running teams starting at the back, here are five things to keep an eye on when the season kicks off in Melbourne…

1. No team orders to start the season

Team orders – or ‘Papaya Rules’ at McLaren – were a major talking point in the second half of last year such was the focus on whether there was a chance for Lando Norris to catch Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. After the end of the European season, Oscar Piastri started supporting Norris’ bid, but it didn’t stop him winning himself in Azerbaijan.

Starting 2025, both drivers say it is a clean slate and they are free to fight for victory, although they acknowledge they have to leave each other extra space and remember they are racing for the team.

Both drivers highlight last year’s team work as being central to their constructors’ championship success – but Verstappen did still win a fourth drivers’ title and he’s lurking in third place in Melbourne.

The Dutchman will be looking to take advantage of any incidents or battles between the McLaren pair if he can, but he also has George Russell alongside him on the second row. And Verstappen and Russell didn’t exactly end last year on the best of terms…

2. Big points on offer for Tsunoda and Albon

One of the standout teams in pre-season testing was Williams, who looked to have made a step forward with their 2025 car and have two drivers capable of exacting the maximum performance out of it.

That was seen at different stages of the qualifying session, but in the end it was Alex Albon who came out on top in the team mate battle, securing sixth on the grid, ahead of Carlos Sainz in 10th.

Although Albon out-qualified both of the Ferraris, he was pipped to a top five qualifying spot by a car that hadn’t been on most people’s radar after testing: Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls.

Tsunoda was quick in FP2 to set the fourth fastest time, but with the top four teams all trading quick laps throughout the weekend it was still a surprise when he managed to put together an excellent final lap in Q3 to start on the third row.

Both drivers will be eyeing big points from their impressive grid positions, but the big question now is whether they have the race pace to match their starting spots.

Williams looked more competitive than the Racing Bulls on Friday, but with teams still learning so much about their cars at this early stage – and with track position important at Albert Park – there’s every chance they can fight for a good haul on Sunday.

3. Hamilton’s Ferrari race debut

There has been a huge amount of interest in Lewis Hamilton’s fresh start at Ferrari over the past few months, and the seven-time world champion has regularly referenced his excitement at all of the different firsts he is experiencing.

After his first time at the team’s factory, his first simulator session, his first drive in an old Ferrari, his first drive in the latest one, and his first pre-season test in red, Hamilton now will embark on his Grand Prix start as a Ferrari driver.

Hamilton will start from eighth on the grid after a disappointing qualifying session for the Scuderia, but he will be alongside team mate Charles Leclerc – and Ferrari had strong long run pace in second practice.

So there should be potential for both to move forward, but however the race pans out it’s going to be another milestone for Hamilton as he looks to settle in as quickly as possible at his new team.

4. Antonelli and Lawson from the back

There is huge excitement around the rookie class of 2025, and two of them are getting to drive in competitive machinery, with Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes and Liam Lawson at Red Bull. But the problem for both drivers is how competitive the other eight teams are, as they became casualties of an extremely competitive Q1 on Saturday.

Antonelli sustained bib damage and was knocked out in Q1 by just 0.007s, despite being only 0.6s off the fastest overall time. Lawson’s day on Saturday was even more challenging, as a power unit problem stopped him running in FP3, and on a track where he is the only driver to never race – the other rookies having competing in Formula 2 – he struggled in qualifying to end up 18th.

Both will have to fight through the field on Sunday – but both have cars that are clearly quick after their team mates ended up sharing the second row. Seeing how they handle the situation will be an interesting aspect of the race to follow.

Prospects are a little less exciting when it comes to Ollie Bearman’s hopes of moving forward, as the new Haas driver has endured a nightmare weekend so far. He crashed in FP1, missed FP2 as a result, spun into the gravel at the start of FP3, and then had a gearbox issue that prevented him from setting a time in qualifying. Just completing the race distance to gain experience would constitute a success

5. The weather

The weather forecast has been an intriguing subplot to this race weekend, after a week in Melbourne that started with heat warnings but then cooled down somewhat on Thursday and Friday.

That gave way to an extremely hot Saturday – with the temperature continuing to climb into the evening after qualifying finished – but as the high temperatures come down again it could still result in heavy rain come Sunday.

The temperature is forecast to drop steadily from midnight onwards, meaning the teams might be dealing with different track conditions compared to Friday and Saturday regardless. And although the risk of rain appears to be decreasing, if any does hit the track it’s likely to be fairly significant as the weather breaks.

Although there were some light showers in pre-season testing, only Haas ran an intermediate tyre for a short spell, so in reality no team has any significant data to fall back on if the race is wet, and the already uncertain competitive picture could be further mixed up.

Source: Formula 1

Category: Formula 1

Verstappen concedes defeat in championship quest despite Sao Paulo fightback