Max Verstappen won his first title after a fierce fight with Lewis Hamilton, in 2021. He then began an era of broad dominance in F1, with three more titles in the following years. Now, he is experiencing a new experience, looking for a hitherto unlikely turnaround in the championship.
The Dutchman arrives at Interlagos for this Sunday’s stage (9) in third place, with 321 points, and a possible threat to the McLaren drivers’ title – Lando Norris leads with 357. Next is Oscar Piastri with 356. The distance between them has been decreasing in the last few races.
”We were consistently on the podium [nas últimas corridas]which is already a huge improvement compared to the rest of the season. We will try to be as competitive as possible. I know there is still this small chance of fighting for the title. We’re going to do our best and see where we end up”, he told Sheet.
The driver has four stages until the end of this season to overtake his McLaren rivals. The Brazilian phase has 33 points up for grabs, as the schedule includes a sprint race – a shorter race held on Saturday, at 11am (Brasília time) –, in addition to the Grand Prix, Sunday (9), at 2pm (Brasília time). The championship continues with stages in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
In 2024, in Brazil, under a lot of rain, Verstappen did not qualify well for the race, starting 17th — qualifying training will be on Saturday (8), at 3pm. The driver had to serve a penalty, but he climbed the field, gained 16 positions and won the race.
His expectation now is to relive what he described as ”crazy emotions”.
”The weather can change every day and we have to check the forecast daily. The projections are different. We are ready to race in the dry and wet,” he said.
