It was a race to remember for MK’s Red Bull Racing in Brazil

A stellar drive from Max Verstappen saw him come from 21st on the grid to finish second in a chaotic Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.

To cap an excellent weekend for Tilbrook’s Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar followed the Dutchman home to finish third in a repeat of their 2-3 finish in Azerbaijan in September.

Engine penalties forced Verstappen to start from the back of the pack at Interlagos. Changing weather conditions saw both he and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, also starting from the wrong end of the grid, carve through before switching to dry tyres.

Hadjar was running strongly at the top end of the pecking order, picking off world champion Kimi Antonell when they switched to slicks while the fast charging Verstappen came charging through, allowed by by the Frenchman in a vain bid to catch runaway leader Lando Norris.

More rain fell towards the end of the race, but both Red Bull cars survived the downpour to finish on the podium keeping them firmly in third place in the constructor’s championship as Mercedes wrapped up the crown.

“Starting P21 and making our way up to P2 was a crazy result,” said Verstappen afterwards. “We had a lot of fun in the first stint, with great pace and quite a few overtakes, so I was really happy with that.

“When we switched to slicks, we struggled with a lot of oversteer, which made the car difficult to drive, so I felt there was potentially more in it. Once we switched back to the intermediates, things improved again.

“To finish second here is fantastic. Hopefully next year we can start a bit further up the grid, but racing in the wet always gives you more opportunities, and that certainly helped us.”

After securing his third career third place, Hadjar said: “It was such a demanding race, with incredibly challenging conditions, but I really enjoyed it.

“I’ve never faced so many challenges in a single race, but we handled them really well as a team and I’m very happy we came away with a double podium.

“I struggled a little during the middle of the stint on intermediates, but things started to improve and we were very competitive on the softs, even with the rain returning towards the end.

“I really enjoyed the battle with Kimi in the final laps. It was great racing him and even better to finish on the podium alongside two fantastic drivers.”