Max Verstappen 'sensational' recovery compared to unforgettable moment as Red Bull came 'alive'

Max Verstappen's performance in Sunday's São Paulo Grand Prix has been hailed as "sensational" as his victory last year after his Red Bull finally came "alive" at Interlagos.

A year ago, Verstappen arguably claimed the best result of his F1 career in taking the chequered flag after starting from 17th on the grid as he mastered the difficult wet conditions.

Twelve months on, from a pit lane start after qualifying a wretched 16th, leading to the team fitting a completely new power unit, the four-time F1 champion rose to third at the line.

In doing so, he became only the eighth driver in F1 history to score a podium after starting from the pit lane, finishing 10 seconds behind race winner Lando Norris in his McLaren, and 0.362s adrift of second-placed Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes.

In noting the difference in the RB21 on Sunday, compared to the rest of the weekend, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies initially praised his star driver.

"First of all, credit to Max for the sensational drive," said Mekies, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365.

"He won here last year from P17 in the wet, and I think we will probably agree that it was as sensational as last year, to bring it to P3 from the pit lane in a dry, relatively uneventful race."

Red Bull 'risk' sparked 'pain'

Turning to the performance of the car, which also underwent suspension setup changes, as well as taking on a new PU, going into the race, Mekies outlined why the transformation was necessary.

"The simple truth is that we were not happy with where the car was in terms of car balance and driver feeling after the sprint race," he said. "We finished P4, but it was effectively a P5 without Oscar's stoppage.

"Nobody wanted to settle for a car that would have been at that level. We felt the optimum window was not where we were. We played our only card, at that moment, to change it before the main qualifying. We obviously got it wrong.

"But it's the way we go racing. We take risks, and if we don't take that amount of risk, we don't think we'll be able to win. So we took that risk. It didn't work. It's painful. We got the quali wrong, and that's what it is.

"We have taken a lot of these risks in the past few months. I insist it is the way this team goes racing. That's our spirit.

"We've had our highs and lows. We had a very difficult Budapest, I'm sure you will recall, and we've had some good highs.

"After that, we decided to change the car again, to fit a new PU as well, and try to put the car in a little bit of a window., and it was alive. That's the most important thing.

"The car was probably good enough to fight for the win, and that's what we were after, after the relatively average result of the sprint."