Max Verstappen has admitted that he was “expecting to lose points” to rival Lando Norris prior to his incredible comeback win in the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen went into the encounter in Brazil without a main race win since Spain in June and with his points lead having been cut to 44 points amid Red Bull’s issues.
But while an ill-timed qualifying stoppage and a five-place grid drop resigned him to 17th place on the grid, Verstappen starred in the wet to bag a memorable triumph.
The Dutchman’s masterclass coincided with Norris surrendering his pole position advantage and slipping to sixth place, leaving the gap between the pair at 62 points.
Verstappen, who showed visible emotion as he stood atop the podium, has acknowledged that Interlagos marked an integral step towards him taking a fourth F1 title.
“This was now, of course, looking at it was incredibly important, because, in a way, I was expecting to lose points today,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week.
“So from now I just want clean races to the end, I’m not thinking about clinching the championship in Vegas or whatever I just want clean races.”
Verstappen relieved to end F1 win drought
Verstappen conceded that Red Bull experienced a challenging stint over recent months as the team struggled to understand the issues that derailed a dominant start.
But the reigning F1 champion is optimistic that Red Bull’s RB20 being competitive in all conditions last weekend shows it can be strong at the remaining three rounds.
Asked how important it was to end his barren run, Verstappen replied: “Of course that was important. I wanted to win a bit sooner.
“It’s been tough for us. We always kept pushing, we didn’t really understand why the others were so fast in the race, especially.
“We’ve been trying a lot of things to improve the car.
“Starting P17 this morning It didn’t look like we were going to win the race again.
“It’s an incredible result for us, a massive boost for the team because honestly it’s been tough.
“But it is also a big strength of the team to stay calm and just try to work on performance and try to improve our situation.
“I’m confident for the last three races that we can fight again and especially in the race that we will be more competitive.”
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