F1: Verstappen on the hunt for first GP victory in Brazil since 2019

Max Verstappen is on the hunt for his first Grand Prix victory in Brazil since 2019. The world champion will start from pole position in the Red Bull at the São Paulo Grand Prix, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Pole for the race! Crazy conditions at the end of the Qualifying, but a solid start to the weekend @redbullracing 👊 Thank you for the support and I hope you all get home safely. See you tomorrow 🇧🇷#BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/DIrFF4zbnl

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 3, 2023

Verstappen drove to an unchallenged victory in the sprint race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace on Saturday after overtaking Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) at the start. "Hopefully we can show something similar," he said afterwards. Last year, Verstappen got stuck in sixth place in Brazil, and the year before he had to concede victory to Lewis Hamilton.

But the young world champion was able to secure pole position despite the bad weather conditions. “We lined up to go out for Q3 and you could see the sky was just black,” Verstappen said. “Throughout the lap, the rain and wind were coming in, the car was sliding all over the place I was shouting at the team over the radio but they told me to keep pushing. I have never experienced something like that, you could see the weather was quite extreme but it makes it quite interesting for Sunday,” he told the Guardian.

The Red Bull driver broke his record last week with his 16th win of the season at the Mexico GP. With three races still to go, he can extend his record to 19 more Grand Prix victories in a single season.

The São Paulo Grand Prix starts at 6 p.m.