Verstappen loses hope on Title chances: We have to be realistic

His quotes come after a remarkable comeback drive at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where the four-time World Champion managed to finish in third position after starting the 71-lap event in the pitlane.

The Dutchman struggled with rear tyre grip during Saturday's Qualifying session, so much so that he was knocked out in Q1 with the 16th best time. This was the first time that he was knocked out in the first phase of Qualifying since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, and the first time in his entire Formula 1 career on pure pace.

With nothing to lose, Verstappen and the team opted to replace the power unit and floor on his RB21 under parc ferme conditions, resulting in a pitlane start.

On Sunday, the Red Bull driver got off to a solid start, gaining six positions on the opening six laps before being forced into the pits as a slow puncture had developed in one of his tyres.

Nevertheless, Verstappen persevered, putting in multiple fastest laps and performing a myriad of overtakes to climb into the points. On lap 54, he came into the pits for a third time to put on a set of soft tyres, and used them to full effect to pass the Mercedes of George Russell with less than ten laps remaining.

The Dutch driver closed in on the second Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but ran out of time and tyres and eventually settled for third.

Lando Norris of McLaren won the Grand Prix, extending his lead in the Standings over teammate Oscar Piastri to 24 points and to 49 points over Verstappen.

With this in mind, Verstappen has all but written off his chances of securing a fifth consecutive Drivers' crown.

The 28-year-old began by stressing just how well his team did to build a far superior car between Qualifying and the Grand Prix.

He said: "What I like is that, yes, it has been very difficult for us this weekend but the team never gives up.

"We always want to be better, we don't settle for second, otherwise you could easily say after the Sprint 'let's not touch the car, we are not too bad, let's not risk it'. That's not the mentality of the team.

"We always want to find more performance. Of course that didn't work out in qualifying but it did allow us to change the car again and make it a lot more competitive today.

"We also have to be aware that today was quite a bit colder, it probably helped us a little bit, but overall to come from the pit lane all the way to the podium, 10-11 seconds off the lead, with a puncture as well is an incredible result for us," commented Verstappen.

However, the Dutchman admitted that with Norris winning the race, his chances of a record-equalling fifth successive Drivers' Title seems to have gone down the drain.

He continued: "We lost already way too many points in the beginning of the season to the middle of the season. That we were in that up until now already was quite a surprise but we have to realistic, over the whole season we haven't been good enough.

"But we will still try everything we can until the end of the season to score some highlights and try to win races, that's what we are here for," Verstappen concluded.

Verstappen will return for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which commences Sunday 23 November at 04:00 GMT (Saturday 22 November at 20:00 local time).