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.
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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.
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Watch the best overtakes from Max Verstappen’s stellar performance at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix which took him all the way from the pitlane to the podium
He told Sky Sports F1: “We lost already way too many points in the beginning of the season to the middle of the season.
“That we were in that 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.”
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Highlights of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
‘I like that the team never gives up’
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.
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Max Verstappen is eliminated in Q1 at the Sao Paulo GP as Jos storms out of the Red Bull garage
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.
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Last lap drama as Lando Norris wins in Sao Paulo as Kimi Antonelli holds off charging Max Verstappen to claim second
“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.”
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 21-23, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime