Red Bull settle for points at Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint event

Red Bull would take points but no victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix’s sprint event, with Max Verstappen taking a 4th place finish.

Verstappen had won the previous two sprint races in Belgium and the United States, but there was no joy for him in Brazil as he finished 4th, in a race where he was unable to get onto at least the sprint podium in a chaotic race at Interlagos.

For his 4th place finish, Verstappen picked up 5 points, which sees him lose a little ground on championship leader Lando Norris after the McLaren was victorious in the sprint event, with second place man Oscar Piastri crashing out.

Teammate Yuki Tsunoda made limited advances after starting from the pit-lane, with Tsunoda finishing in 13th position, but primarily thanks to the misfortune of others.

Ahead of the full distance Sao Paulo Grand Prix taking place tomorrow (09/11), Verstappen remains third in the standings. The Dutchman is 39 points behind championship leader Norris, 30 behind Piastri and 62 ahead of George Russell.

Tsunoda sits 17th in the standings on 28 points, with the Japanese driver currently 7 ahead of former Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and 2 behind RB’s Liam Lawson and Haas’ Esteban Ocon, who are level on points.

The second-to-last sprint race scheduled for 2025 marked part of one of the final race weekends of the year, with only 3 races of the season left after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

Verstappen began the race in 6th after struggling in sprint qualifying, while Tsunoda was taken off the grid and starting from the pits after Red Bull made set-up changes.

Off the line, Verstappen was able to pass Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, although he initially settled in-between the veteran Spaniard and Russell.

Things then took a dramatic turn on lap 6, as Piastri crashed from third on the track into turn four after getting caught out by damp areas around the curb on the edge of the corner. Verstappen himself was picked up as having nearly lost the car in this section, though he was able to carry on. By contrast, two others weren’t so lucky, with Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto also crashing. The Sauber would continue while the Alpine would retire on the spot along with Piastri.

A red flag was duly brought out, with racing resuming with a rolling restart after a lengthy delay to proceedings. On that, Verstappen very nearly got involved in incidents after running wide, though he was able to stay ahead of Alonso. He was however unable to catch Russell, with the Dutchman spending the remainder of the race after the resumption stuck in fourth.

Tsunoda meanwhile remained in the lower section of the order. He was able to gain places from 19th on the grid, but all places gained came through the misfortune of others. This included Hulkenberg following his spin in the early stages, Liam Lawson after the RB was given a penalty for a first lap collision with Ollie Bearman and Alex Albon after the Williams suffered a puncture at the start of his last lap. That came after Albon picked up the front wing of Gabriel Bortoleto, who had an enormous crash in his Sauber at the start of the final lap, although he was able to walk away ok.

Red Bull’s attention now turns to the full-length Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which takes place at 5pm tomorrow but where they will be on the back foot after both drivers suffered eliminations in the first part of qualifying. Verstappen could only qualify 16th while Tsunoda qualified 19th, setting the slowest time of all as 20th place Bortoleto didn’t take part in qualifying at all.

This was Verstappen’s first time being eliminated in the first part of qualifying since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, albeit that time was in a race where he did not set a time due to pre-planned engine penalties. It was also the first time since 2006 where Red Bull have seen both cars eliminated in the first part of qualifying in a race.