Verstappen distracted by Perez-Alonso duel: 'I almost left the track!'

Max Verstappen was barely in sight during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The Dutchman drove away at both the start and the restart and soon disappeared on the horizon. It marked his 17th win of the Formula 1 season and the 52 of his F1 career, passing Alain Prost.

Verstappen after dominant win in Brazil

"The starts were good and I think we also did the right strategy and pitted in the right way. Only on the softs and to a certain extent also on the mediums, Lando could keep up reasonably well, but in those last five to 10 laps in the stint I was able to gain some distance each time," Verstappen told Viaplay.

As for those starts, Red Bull Racing has been working on that, as it has not exactly been the RB19's strongest point so far. "It's a lot better now. It can't always be perfect, but in general it's a lot more stable," Verstappen explained.

He drove a dominant race, but was briefly under pressure from Lando Norris at one point. "He had those new tyres, new softs, so then of course you know you have a bit more grip those first two or three laps. I was also managing quite a lot. He pushed quite extremely in one lap and then I had to defend for a bit, but I think he also realised very quickly that he also had to start saving up himself, otherwise of course you don't make that stint," Verstappen continued.

Verstappen distracted by duel between Perez and Alonso

The Red Bull driver enjoyed a comfortable lead over Norris and therefore had time to follow the duel between Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso on the TV screens. However, this left him a little too distracted: "I was watching in the last two, three laps. I almost drove off the track myself when I saw it!"

"When I saw that fight on the straight, I almost drove straight off the track in Turn 4," he laughed. "It was very close together and in those last two laps they often swapped places. Pretty nice, though," concluded the three-time world champion.