Verstappen's telemetry shows how he climbed from 21st in Brazil

Starting from the back of the grid in wet conditions, Max Verstappen climbed to 12th after the first lap of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and was soon in the podium positions. Telemetry shows he gained nine places on the opening lap alone, and passed Lewis Hamilton on Lap 4 after Hamilton lost rear grip on the exit of Turn 12.

Verstappen matched the pace of Lando Norris, who was running in clean air, and was consistently about a second per lap quicker than Hamilton during the opening laps. He passed Lawson on Lap 11 to take fourth, five seconds behind his teammate and 15 seconds behind leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

By the time Verstappen pitted on Lap 18, his gap to Antonelli had shrunk to under 10 seconds. The data indicates he recovered most of that time through the slow-speed corners in Sector 2.