Red Bull “made the right calls” says Verstappen after “unbelievable” win · RaceFans

Max Verstappen said he went through a “roller coaster” of emotions after he came from 17th on the grid to win the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The championship leader scored his first victory in a grand prix for five months in a wet Brazilian Grand Prix, despite originally having started from 17th on the grid.

Verstappen was frustrated after he was knocked out of Q2 in the morning’s qualifying session following a red flag. However, in the grand prix, he methodically picked his way through the field in the rainy conditions and then passed Esteban Ocon after a Safety Car restart to take the lead and win by almost 20 seconds.

“My emotions today have been a roller coaster,” he admitted. “With qualifying, being really unlucky with that red flag.”

Verstappen passed several rivals in the early laps and benefitted from getting to fit fresh intermediates during a red flag period following Franco Colapinto’s crash under the Safety Car.

“It was very hard to pass around here with the new Tarmac,” he explained. “It’s only one line that you can take. But I just knew that I had to go for it.

“Of course, it’s always easy to front lock, just trying to balance that out. I have confidence on the brakes as well, that helps. Turn one is always a great corner to pass.”

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While rival Lando Norris made mistakes and lost critical points to him in the battle at the top of the championship standings, Verstappen says he knew how critical is was for him to not make any errors of his own.

“Starting P17, I knew that it was going to be a very tough race,” he said.

“But we stayed out of trouble, we made the right calls, we stayed calm and we were fine. So all of these things together, of course, made that result possible. It’s unbelievable to win here from so far back on the grid.”