Verstappen expects Brazil challenge after 'insane' weather disrupts qualifying

Max Verstappen believes that he will have a fight on his hands for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory after a “close” qualifying session.

Verstappen took his 11th pole position of the season on Friday, besting Charles Leclerc to the top spot on the front row.

The Dutchman's lap came just in time before heavy rain pelted the circuit in the second half of Q3, resulting in Race Control throwing a red flag.

Verstappen's effort was three-tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc, who couldn't repeat his pole position speed from Mexico last weekend.

With Red Bull being defeated just once this year so far, Verstappen is expecting that another close event will be on the cards in Sao Paulo.

“It seems that it's all very close so you can see that already in qualifying,” he said.

“I expect the same also in the race around here there's always quite a lot of deg from the tyres.

“So it's all about that management and last year we didn't get that right but I think we will be better this year.”

Insane weather

As for the heavy rain that hit the circuit late on, Verstappen added: “We didn't know if it would hit but then it did hit.

“This is insane weather. Charles and I were just discussing our laps, they felt terrible.

“I think the wind started to change and started to be very strong and we lost a lot of lap time because of it. But it was quite hectic in the last lap.”