The Championship Winner scored his seventeenth win of 2023, passing Alain Prost on the list of Formula 1 drivers with the most victories. Verstappen controlled the race from pole position, in an overall dramatic Brazilian GP with six retirements.
No trouble of sorts for the Dutch driver apart from one close moment with Norris at turns 1 and 4 on lap 8. However, he was able to pull a comfortable 3s gap on the McLaren in second place after that, which grew to 8s by the last of the 72 race laps.
After the end of the race, the Red Bull driver described the key moments of his race at Interlagos, citing in particular the race start and restart after a red flag to repair the barriers from a Turn 1 incident between the Haas drivers and Albon was issued, and the part of the race where he was able to pull most of his gap:
“I think the starts were very important today, both of them I think were really good. After that the whole race was about the management of the tyres. We were good on every tyre, but I think especially in the middle stint because we could create a bit of a gap, overall we were really strong.”
Asked if the advantage on Norris in second had allowed his mind to wander off during the long race, Verstappen strongly denied it, as there is always much to do on a race car:
“With the high deg around here you are constantly correcting the car, so your focus constantly needed to be there, but luckily it worked out great today.”
Photo credits: Red Bull Racing
Ultimately, he also talked about the upcoming race in the United States, which will see Formula 1 race at Las Vegas. The three times championship winner warns that such a different, new track might bring unexpected results:
“Very different to this one, a lot colder, let’s see what we will do at the track, on a street circuit. It’s new for everyone, and I think it’ll be full of surprises for sure.”
“Hopefully to the end of the year we can add one or two more,” added the champion, looking forward to the last two races of 2023.
His friend Lando Norris came second both in yesterday’s Sprint Race, where he was starting from pole, and today, starting from P6. The McLaren driver was able to fight with the Dutchman only once, at the beginning of the race, which left Verstappen impressed by his performance:
“I think for every stint for the first half of it, Lando was doing the same lap times as me, but it was always the last five to 10 laps where it seemed like we had a little bit more pace than McLaren today, and we could extend our gap a little bit all the time, so that was definitely positive for us today.
“He gave it a good run – that lap where I had to defend, it was close and he got by me, but I think also Lando realised I have to save my tyres to make sure we make it to the end of the stint in the best possible way,” he concluded, recalling the particular racing moment where his leading position had been in danger.
Asked if he had been pleased with the resurgence of McLaren’s pace since their very tough beginning of the year, which allowed Norris to score seven podiums in 2023, Verstappen admitted that he always looked forward to race against the British driver:
“Yeah, but I’m not surprised. I know how good Lando is and it’s nice to see him there. He deserves that as well, McLaren deserves that. Hopefully we’ll have many more battles.”
