The inside story: Max Verstappen would have made only one stop without the puncture | F1 Brazil GP. Helmut Marko reveals that Max Verstappen’s Brazil GP strategy was originally a single-stop plan.

From a pit-lane start to a final third-place finish, with the complication of a puncture, Max Verstappen’s São Paulo Grand Prix kept fans glued to their screens. The Dutch driver never gave up and delivered a thrilling comeback that brought him close to second-place finisher Andrea Kimi Antonelli and just ten seconds behind race winner Lando Norris. The chase for the Drivers’ Championship has become even more challenging, with Max Verstappen now 49 points behind Norris with only three GPs and one Sprint race remaining.

Behind the scenes

Max Verstappen made three pit stops at Interlagos: he started on Hard tires, switched to Mediums on lap 7, another Medium stint on lap 34, and finally Softs from lap 54 to the finish. However, Helmut Marko revealed that Red Bull’s plan for their champion was very different: “We had a puncture on the first set of tires, which forced an early pit stop. We had calculated a single stop, but the puncture ruined everything. The Hards weren’t the right tires, so after the two Medium stints, only the Softs were left. Without this incident, second place would have been possible.”

In an interview with Sky Deutschland, Helmut Marko also discussed Red Bull’s setup challenges during the Brazilian GP weekend: “On Saturday, we were nowhere, but in the race, we were able to match Lando’s pace. It was a great comeback, even though we lost 10 points. We limited the damage, but we could have achieved much more. We need to widen the car’s operating window; there is still a discrepancy between the simulator and the track reality.” – the Red Bull advisor pointed out following the Interlagos race.