‘Maybe it’s the best place to take it’ – Verstappen sets out goal from back of the grid in Sao Paulo

Max Verstappen is targeting a fun outing at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix as he attempts to work his way forwards from the back of the grid, with Red Bull opting to serve an engine penalty at Interlagos.

It was confirmed prior to Qualifying that Verstappen had amassed 30 places worth of penalties due to going beyond his season allocation for the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Turbo Charger and Exhaust, meaning that he joins the likes of both Ferrari drivers and Mercedes’ George Russell in taking penalties this weekend.

When it came to Saturday’s session, Verstappen participated in Q1 and, despite progressing to Q2, did not run in that segment, meaning that he wound up P16. His penalties, however, drop him back to second-to-last place in P21.

The four-time World Champion managed the challenging conditions of the session – which was delayed in getting underway due to heavy rain – but conceded when speaking afterwards that the plan had been to simply record a lap.

“I know that I have to start from the back, so we don’t want to take too much risk and [we] just put a lap on the board in Q1,” Verstappen explained. “And yeah, that’s what we did.”

Verstappen famously enjoyed a stunning rise through the field during a rain-affected race in Sao Paulo back in 2024, with the Dutch racer climbing up the order to go from P17 to victory.

Quizzed on the thinking behind taking his penalty at Interlagos, Verstappen responded: “I mean, we saw an issue and we decided to take the penalty here.

“Maybe it’s the best place to take it, but who knows. We’ll see tomorrow how far we can move up to the front. [We’ll] try and have a bit of fun out there.”