Verstappen concedes defeat in championship quest despite Sao Paulo fightback
November 10, 2025
5 min read
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen/ Photo Courtesy Red Bull (X)
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.
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.
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