Max Verstappen reveals cause of Kimi Antonelli attack failure

Max Verstappen has revealed that he was unable to get close enough to attempt an overtake on Kimi Antonelli in Interlagos due to his tyres having begun to overheat. 

The four-time world champion sensationally recovered from a pit lane start and an early puncture to finish in third in the São Paulo Grand Prix, behind Lando Norris and Antonelli. 

Verstappen had progressed to 13th before being forced to pit in the opening laps due to a puncture, before quickly working his way back through the field. 

In the closing stages, the Dutchman found himself with a tyre advantage having fitted a new set of soft tyres, while those ahead were on used mediums. It allowed him to overtake George Russell for third, before having just over a handful of laps to hunt Antonelli for second. 

Unfortunately, despite having DRS for several laps on the Mercedes rookie, Verstappen failed to find a way past and had to settle for third.

It still marked a remarkable turnaround having been eliminated in Q1, with Red Bull's decision to fit a new power unit and make several set-up changes having been a valuable one.

Asked how much better the car was compared to qualifying, Verstappen replied: "Yeah, miles better than our qualifying, that’s for sure. Just a very strong race. I think we had much better pace.

"I think it was a bit colder, which maybe helped us. The car just felt a bit more responsive. Even with the puncture that I picked up on the hard, to then drop back to last and come through the field again on the Mediums—I think we did the right strategy at the end. 

"Even on the soft, it seemed like it was OK. Just when you start getting close and I passed George, you already wear your tyres a bit. And then when I was getting close to Kimi, the tyres just started to overheat and you lose a lot of grip. 

"The soft is a bit more difficult than the medium for that. But overall, a super strong race. Coming from the pit lane to the podium, 10, 11 seconds off the lead—I think for us it's a very strong result and definitely didn’t expect that waking up."