Max Verstappen calls for Red Bull investigation: 'There is something wrong'

Max Verstappen is adamant Red Bull must establish what "went wrong" with his car during the São Paulo Grand Prix, after he encountered "extreme" levels of oversteer at Interlagos.

Verstappen scythed through the field in the opening laps, having started down in P21, to finish second behind Lando Norris, in difficult, changeable conditions.

It was yet another imperious performance from the four-time F1 drivers' champion in Brazil. However, whilst the Dutchman was formidable on the intermediate tyres the pack started the 71-lap race on, he was significantly less satisfied with how his RB22 felt after moving onto the two stints on soft tyres in the middle of the grand prix.

Reflecting on the result, Verstappen explained the various problems he was dealing with. Despite the remarkable charge from the back row of the grid to the podium, he was not completely satisfied.

"When you start that far back, you need to try to get by the guys ahead of you as quickly as you can," he told media, including RacingNews365.

"I do think that first stint went really, really well. We got very quickly back into the top 10, and I think the pace wasn't bad.

"But as soon as I switched to the slicks, I had an extreme amount of oversteer in the car in the high-speed corners, which made it super difficult to drive.

"So, we need to understand if something broke on the car, some kind of aero loss or whatever, because this was not normal.

"I sit here, of course, very happy with second, but at the same time, I know there was more in it if the car had been in good shape.

"Unfortunately, that was not the case. I actually did most of the race with a car that was not in good shape, and to finish second, of course, is fantastic."

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Verstappen hopes for higher Interlagos starting position

Verstappen would be forgiven if he felt he had a case of déjà vu visiting Interlagos, with history seemingly repeating itself when the 29-year-old visits São Paulo.

For the past three years, the Red Bull driver has reached the podium having started well down the order. In 2024, he won from P17 on the grid, and went from the pit lane to third 12 months ago.

If left Verstappen wondering what would have been possible without the power unit grid penalties he incurred, before being beseiged again with the deteriorating issue he and Laurent Mekies have warned about in recent months, whereby the Red Bull degrades in performance across a race. 

"Maybe next year I'd love to start a bit further up front instead of starting from the back or the pit lane, but we'll find out next year," he added.

"It's been good. In the wet, it probably also gives you a few more opportunities to get by cars. You can do some different lines and have more opportunities, so that definitely helped me.

"But we also have to understand why or what went wrong with the car as soon as we went to the slick tyres, because even when I switched back to the Inter tyres at the end, the car was night and day different to my first stint, which shows that there is something wrong."