Damon Hill lauds 'Sennaesque' Max Verstappen drive and Kimi Antonelli's podium at F1 Brazilian GP

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has lauded Max Verstappen's fantastic drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix, comparing him to the great Ayrton Senna. The 65-year-old also praised rookie Kimi Antonelli, who secured a career-best P2 finish at Interlagos on Sunday.

While Lando Norris converted his pole position into yet another race win at the Brazilian GP on Sunday, the story of the day was certainly Max Verstappen's drive from the pit lane to the podium. However, the Dutchman was unable to overtake Kimi Antonelli for P2, with the Italian rookie holding on to secure an incredible result.

After the race, the 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill took to X to share his thoughts about yet another action-packed Brazilian GP. The Briton gave special mentions to both Verstappen and Antonelli and wrote:

"Another brilliant Brazilian GP. Love that track. Brazilians love their F1 too. But just amazing from Max. A Sennaesque drive from the pit lane. Puncture. 4 stops. Passes. Senna would have loved that drive and that race today. And Antonelli has arrived. 19 yrs young. Wow! Imagine."

Max Verstappen was disappointed after being eliminated in Q1 during qualifying for the Brazilian GP on Saturday. Instead of starting from P16, Red Bull chose to make changes to Verstappen’s RB21 and fit a new power unit, meaning he started from the pit lane.

An early safety car allowed the 4x world champion to make an early pit stop, but his advantage vanished, as he suffered a puncture and had to pit again. Verstappen still managed to charge through the field on medium tires and even took the race lead in the later stages.

However, Max Verstappen later pitted for softs, rejoined in P4, and overtook George Russell to reclaim a podium spot. He then set his sights on Kimi Antonelli in second, but the 19-year-old impressively held off the reigning champion to secure his best F1 result yet.

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Max Verstappen "very happy" after recovery drive to podium at Brazilian GP

Max Verstappen on the podium after the Brazilian GP - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen expressed his delight after an impressive drive at the Brazilian GP, as he came from the pit lane to finish P3. The 28-year-old was also "very proud" of the Red Bull team that provided him with an impressive car on Sunday.

Speaking during the post-race interview, Verstappen shared his thoughts on his podium finish at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace:

"It’s an incredible result for us so I’m very happy with that and just very proud of everyone within the team as well. Yesterday was very tough for us but we never give up. "We always try to improve and try to find more lap time and luckily we found that again today," he added.

Red Bull’s setup changes helped turn what seemed an almost undrivable RB21 on Saturday into one of the quickest cars on the grid on Sunday. Race winner Lando Norris even claimed that he felt Verstappen's car was quicker than his during the race.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam