Dutch three-time world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) strengthened his lead in the Formula One World Championship with a brilliant win at the rainy São Paulo Grand Prix (Brazil), the twenty-first round of the championship, held this Sunday at the Interlagos circuit. 

Verstappen, 27, started from seventeenth position—having qualified twelfth and received a five-place grid penalty—and led the comeback of the day to claim his 62nd victory in the top category, his eighth of the season, winning—with the fastest lap included—ahead of Alpine’s French drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who finished second and third, respectively.

Verstappen, who hadn’t won since the Spanish Grand Prix in Montmeló (Barcelona) last June, took an important step toward his fourth title, with three races remaining before the season ends on December 8 in Abu Dhabi. The Dutch sports star now leads the championship with 393 points, 62 ahead of England’s Lando Norris (McLaren), who finished sixth after starting from pole.

Mexican driver Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) finished in eleventh place, three positions ahead of two-time world champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), who placed fourteenth at the circuit where he celebrated his two titles (2005 and 2006).

Another Spanish driver, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), and Argentine Franco Colapinto (Williams) retired due to accidents, though no injuries were reported.

In what was, by far, the best weekend of the year for Alpine—who placed both of their drivers on the podium, flanking the Dutch star and moving up to sixth in the Constructors' Championship—England’s George Russell (Mercedes) and Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

In seventh place, behind Norris—the big loser of the day—was Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda (RB), finishing one spot ahead of the other McLaren, driven by Australian Oscar Piastri.

New Zealander Liam Lawson (RB) and seven-time world champion Englishman Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who placed tenth, also scored points. 

The next race, the Las Vegas Grand Prix (USA), the penultimate of the season, will take place on November 24 on the urban circuit of that city in the state of Nevada.