Verstappen ally recalls stunning turnaround after ‘aggrieved’ incident

Max Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, has reflected on the Dutchman's sensational drive to victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix last season.

The Red Bull driver stormed through the field, after starting down the order due to a contentious early elimination from the second part of qualifying, to comfortably win in horrendous conditions at Interlagos.

It was voted Moment of the Year at the recent Autosport Awards, where Lambiase, known as 'GP', picked up his driver's trophy.

In qualifying, the delay in upgrading a Lance Stroll-induced yellow flag to red allowed those fighting for a place in the final section of the session to improve their times, before ultimately being ended whilst Verstappen was on a push lap which saw him knocked out.

The 44-year-old recalled how "aggrieved" the four-time F1 drivers' champion had been by his Q2 exit and the circumstances surrounding it, as well as sharing his pride in Verstappen for the astonishing recovery drive - one that ended a 10-grand prix winless drought.

"This race came at a time of the year when we were having to work extremely hard for everything we could manage come the chequered flag," he said as he accepted the award.

"Max hadn’t won since the Spanish Grand Prix, and to say Max was slightly aggrieved with the outcome of qualifying on Sunday morning is an understatement.

"And then for him to pull out a drive such as that, under such scrutiny [and] pressure, with a championship at stake, was really quite remarkable, so yeah, I'm very proud of him for that."

Verstappen and Lambiase's 'very natural friendship'

Whilst that moment proved pivotal in putting Verstappen over the top as he clutched onto control of the drivers' championship fight with Lando Norris, much has been made of the relationship between him and Lambiase over the year.

The 63-time grand prix winner taking to team radio in a manner some might interpret as aggressive is nothing new, but it instigated considerable backlash for Verstappen over the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Whilst not necessarily directed at Lambiase himself, many within F1 - and outside the paddock - were unimpressed with his conduct.

However, his race engineer, who is known to counter Verstappen as part of a robust and healthy back-and-forth, insists it is all part of the "bond" between them.

"It has to be a very natural friendship, bond, between an engineer and a driver," Lambiase explained.

"I think Max and I have that. And hopefully, people are pleased to see the fruits of that."