Verstappen concedes: "Mercedes seems unbeatable"

Brazil's sprint race was marked for Verstappen by an unusual strategic miss from the otherwise faultless Red Bull team. Unlike most other cars on the track, Verstappen drove the sprint race on medium tyres. Only Nicholas Latifi followed the same strategy and he finished last with a 20-second gap to the next closest driver. Verstappen managed to take the lead from Kevin Magnussen early in the race but was soon overtaken himself by George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen sees few opportunities for the team

Verstappen himself acknowledged that he and the team had completely misjudged the approach. "It was much harder than we expected," Verstappen said. "I didn't expect the medium tyre to have so much wear. But even on the softs we hadn't been fast enough. This is something we have to try to fix before the race on. At the moment, Mercedes seems unbeatable."

Due to Sainz's grid penalty, Verstappen will start the race from third place, alongside teammate Sergio Perez. The front row of the grid is entirely in Mercedes' hands for the first time this season.