“Of course I was very frustrated with qualifying,” Verstappen added. “But we tried to just use it as a good motivation in the race. Luckily we had a great start and from there onwards, we were just having a really good feeling in the car.
“We made all the right calls again, stayed calm, and executed when we needed to, so incredibly happy with today. Honestly, it’s crazy. I never expected to go from P17 to P1. I was hoping for good points, but this is absolutely crazy.”
WATCH: Colapinto slams into the wall to bring out the red flags during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Asked, meanwhile, if he now felt he had stepped closer to a fourth title going into the final three races of the season, Verstappen replied: “Now it’s of course a great result, which if you look a few hours ago, was definitely the other way around, looking like we were going to lose a lot of points!
“So I’m very happy, but still three tough races [to go], so we just need to stay calm and make no mistakes.”
Red Bull, meanwhile, scored 32 points from the Sprint weekend – 31 of them earned by Verstappen, after Perez failed to score in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix – to rivals McLaren’s 27 and Ferrari’s 20, meaning the third-placed team closed the gap in the constructors’ standings.
