Verstappen: This is one of my best races

In Sao Paulo, Max Verstappen achieved his 62nd victory in his career, but he won this race, which took place in the most difficult conditions, more than four months after his previous victory. But he believes it will be among his top ten achievements in Formula 1.

Question: Max, what a victory! Certainly one of your best?
Max Verstappen: I don’t even know where to start because today I experienced different moods. At first I almost destroyed our garage out of anger, but now I’m happy with the victory. You understand, if you start from 17th position…

I knew we could perform well in this race, but even during qualifying it was clear that there was only one section of the track. In general, I knew that overtaking would be very difficult. But we managed to get a good start in the race, and this immediately simplified the task.

We had a great first lap and after that we were ahead of a number of competitors. I think after that I got a little stuck in the group of cars that had piled up behind Yuki Tsunoda. But we tried to stay calm, because the race was obviously very long.

We made the right decisions: when some went to the pits and the rain got heavier, we stayed on the track, even though it was very risky. And when I saw that Esteban Ocon was ahead of me by about four seconds per lap, I thought: “I’m just lucky that I was able to keep the car on the track!”

My point is that the race should have been stopped at some point with red flags. It was impossible to drive on tires even in heavy rain, because this track has profiled turns, creating rivers of water on the asphalt and making it seem like you are speeding on a jet ski. With this amount of water you can definitely drive a jet ski, and I think it is possible to ride it even faster.

Question: You said you were very upset after qualifying: what do you think you could count on if you started from 17th position?
Max Verstappen: I was in a very fighting spirit, I wanted to have a good race and thought I just had to see how it would go and how things would unfold. When a race takes place in the rain, crazy things can always happen.

But I soon overtook several cars, after which I was able to drive a few laps on the open track. I was always riding faster than everyone else, I knew that, and I just had to try to stay ahead of those still in front of me. I felt comfortable behind the wheel – at least I like driving on a wet track. And if the car drives normally, the fun is double and you can maintain a high pace.

Question: Max, during the race you drove 17 fastest laps, five of which were in a row. At what point did you think you could win?
Max Verstappen: I think when I overtook Esteban in Turn 1. Until now I tried to build up the pace gradually. Once the red flag period was over, everyone went very fast on the restart, and then, after the safety car, I started to overtake Esteban, and even though the tires were cold I managed to stay ahead of him on the restart.

After that I just tried to keep an eye on the condition of the tires, because you never know what can happen at the end of the race. On this circuit the tire wear is always very intense. But of course I was in a good mood, because the car had a very good balance. I just had to stay focused and not make any mistakes because the asphalt was very slippery.

Question: Of course you achieved a brilliant victory, but if you look at the situation more broadly, you have increased the lead over Lando Norris in the individual competition to 62 points, with three races and one sprint to go until the end of the championship. Do you feel like this is the defining moment of the season?
Max Verstappen: Maybe it’s time to think about it, and this win was incredibly important, because I expected to lose some points today. In general, I just want to do a normal race now without getting into trouble. I don’t think I can secure the title early in Las Vegas or anywhere else at all. I just want to have normal races.

Question: How important was it to achieve success again, since you had failed to win for 10 stages in a row?
MaxVerstappen: Of course it was important. Of course I wanted to win early. But we are going through a difficult period, and although we kept working continuously, we did not understand why our opponents were so fast, especially in races?

I have done everything I can to improve the car. But this morning, when I started from 17th position, I didn’t feel like we could win. So yes, this is an incredibly important result for us and will give strength to the team. To be honest, it was very difficult for us.

But the team showed resilience, remained calm and simply tried to increase the speed of the car to bring about an improvement in the situation. Going into the three remaining stages, I am confident that we can win again, especially on the circuits where we will be more competitive.

Question: In 2016 you put on a real show for the spectators at the Brazilian circuit, and that race also took place under difficult conditions. Today you repeated this: do you think this race can be considered one of the best of your career?
Max Verstappen: Obviously both races are in my top ten. But the significance of this is certainly much greater. Then I had nothing to lose. I didn’t fight for victory in the championship and started from the back because of a tactical mistake we made. But now the stakes were much higher, so we had to be more reserved and think more about the championship. So it really was one of the best races ever.

As for the rain conditions, it reminded me of the days of karting. The guys who raced well in the rain back then perform well in Formula 1. We drove with Esteban and Pierre Gasly in karting, and they also drove well on wet asphalt, because you have to learn that in your youth and train a lot .

Question: Racers have complained a lot about the track surface being too uneven. What can we say about her condition after two days of continuous rain? Has everything just gotten worse or better, or has not much changed?
Max Verstappen: Yes, the condition of the track surface is still very poor. In some areas it is even impossible to drive, because the car scrapes too much with its bottom on the asphalt even in the rain. Something definitely needs to be done for next year’s race.

I know that many people’s efforts have been spent, and I don’t want to speak ill of them. I understand they tried, but the track is too rough for modern Formula 1 cars, I can say that for sure.