Max Verstappen and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner both found solace after the three-time F1 champion's sprint race run finally came to an end in São Paulo where he was also handed another time penalty.
Verstappen went into the 24-lap race at Interlagos on the back of six consecutive wins in the one-third-distance event, including in Brazil last year where he took the chequered flag from fourth on the grid.
Starting in the same grid position one year on, Verstappen initially had to settle for third behind a McLaren one-two, spearheaded by Lando Norris, who was gifted the victory by team-mate Oscar Piastri in a bid to help the Briton's drivers' championship quest.
Verstappen, however, was later handed a five-second time penalty for an infringement under virtual safety car conditions, to add to the five-place grid penalty he will serve for the grand prix due to his RB20 requiring a new internal combustion engine.
These also follow on from the two 10-second penalties Verstappen was handed in last Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix following incidents with title rival Lando Norris.
The plus point for Verstappen, however, was that he was able to stay in touch with the McLarens and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc throughout the sprint, indicating his car appears to have finally found some race pace, which bodes well for the grand prix.
Verstappen's progress was hindered by a DRS train as Piastri kept Norris in touch due to the Briton coming under threat from Leclerc and the Dutchman.
"I had to wait for my moment to have a go at Charles," said Verstappen, speaking to media including RacingNews365. "He had a few moments during the race, and then he made a mistake in Turn 1, so then I had a good run out of Turn 3, and I could get him. Unfortunately, a bit too late.
"But there was not much else I could do because when everyone is in a DRS train and you can't attack, that was it.
"But the pace is good. It seemed like we could at least be in that fight, which hasn't really been the case in the last few races, so I think that's promising."
Verstappen's comments were echoed by Horner on Sky Sports F1. He said: "The most encouraging thing in that race for us was the race pace was decent.
"To stick on the tail for 24 laps, pass Charles, that was encouraging. There are some things that we're starting to understand."
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