Mighty Max rescues brilliant podium in Brazil

In a sensational charge after a late pit-stop, Verstappen battled from 12th to overtake Sergio Perez's Force India with three laps to go to retake third place behind the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo.

The race was heavily rain-interrupted and saw two red-flag periods delaying proceedings, breaking the race effectively into three parts. Verstappen was lucky to avoid the wall too, losing the rear end on the long drag to the start-finish line, sending him towards the wall before saving it on the entrance to the pit-lane.

Changing back and forth between full wet tyres and intermediates, both Red Bulls found themselves outside of the points scoring positions. But Verstappen, undoubtedly the stand-out driver of the race, showed supreme command of the conditions to battle his way not only past his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, but back up to the podium.

The standout move came against former Red Bull driver, and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in the battle for fifth, as Verstappen held on around the outside of Bico de Pato to take the inside line into Mergulho and Juncao, forcing the German over the rumble strips and on to the grass.

Ricciardo's race was hit with a penalty when Marcus Ericsson's Sauber crashed in the entrance to the pitlane, bringing out the safety car. That crash closed the pitlane though, and Ricciardo pitted nonetheless, earning himself a five second penalty. He served his penalty at the next pitstop, but it cost him dearly as he could only finish eighth.