Max Verstappen's race engineer apologizes to him for Red Bull debacle after sensational Brazilian GP podium

Max Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, apologized to him for Red Bull's qualifying debacle after he secured a magical podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Dutchman put in a champion's drive at Interlagos to go from a pit lane start to finishing on the podium in P3.

The pit lane start came as a result of Red Bull breaking the parc ferme to work on Verstappen's RB21 after a dismal qualifying. On Saturday, he got knocked out in Q1 for the first time since 2021, a consequence of the massive setup changes after the Sprint Race backfiring.

Red Bull changed multiple parts on Max Verstappen's car, including opting for a new power unit. It turned out to be the perfect setup for the four-time F1 champion to put on a show for the fans. He seemed to be so at one with his car that he overcame a puncture en route to a podium finish.

Verstappen's race engineer apologized to him on the team radio for the mess-up in qualifying on Saturday after his drive from P19 to P3.

"Can only apologize for yesterday mate," said Gianpiero Lambiase. "This was a race-winning drive. Sorry."

Verstappen immediately replied, saying that an apology wasn't necessary, and thanked the team for the brilliant turnaround.

"Nah, don't be. That was a really, really good race for us. We at least try, you know. Thank you very much for today. That went really well."

Lando Norris won the race from pole position to secure a grand slam, securing the top spot in all sessions this weekend. Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished in P2, his second F1 career podium, and held off Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the race.

There were three retirements in the race - Gabriel Bortoleto crashed on lap one by going into barriers while attempting an overtake on Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc lost his front left tire and retired after Kimi Antonelli banged into him as a result of his Mercedes ricocheting off of Oscar Piastri, and Lewis Hamilton retired midway through the race, having damaged his car in a lap 1 collision with Franco Colapinto.

Max Verstappen had no expectations of a podium finish at the Brazilian GP

Max Verstappen sprays champagne on the podium at the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen had to overtake every single rival on the track, barring Esteban Ocon, who started behind him in the pit lane, if he wanted to win the Brazilian GP. If not for an early puncture on his first stint, which forced him to ditch the hard tires for the medium tires, the Red Bull driver could've easily been in contention for the race win.

Despite the puncture and the extra pit stop, he finished just under 11 seconds from race winner Lando Norris. In the post-race interview with F1TV's Jolyon Palmer, Verstappen said:

"Our pace was quite strong, overall, the stints. Sometimes a bit difficult to know fully, with traffic and stuff. To be on the podium from the pit lane, I didn't expect that all, even with the puncture at the beginning of the race as well. That's why we had to box again." "Incredible result for us, very happy with that, and just very proud of everyone within the team as well. Yesterday was very tough for us. But we never gave up. We always try to improve and try to find more lap time, and luckily, we found that today," the 28-year-old added.

After the Brazilian GP weekend, Lando Norris extended his one-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished the race in P5, to 24 points. Max Verstappen gained on Piastri, reducing the 35-point gap to 25 points, but he trails the leader by 49 points.

Edited by Yash Kotak