Verstappen: I didn't expect to be on the podium.

      Max Verstappen is pleased to have finished on the podium in Mexico…

      Question: Max, you managed to fight back in the race, even though a couple of days ago the car didn’t give any reason to hope for that…

      Max Verstappen: Personally I didn’t expect to be on the podium. Even in the first stint of the race it wasn’t obvious. At that moment I thought we had tyre problems and lacked pace. Then, when I switched to the Softs while the others were on Mediums, we became more competitive. Not on Lando’s level, but we could fight with the others.

      The Soft tyres were clearly the best in this race. Third place is a very good result for us at the end of a difficult weekend.

      Question: Considering the long straight to the first corner, many were surprised when you decided to start on the Mediums…

      Max Verstappen: I was surprised that the others started on the Softs.

      Question: How seriously did you consider starting on the Softs?

      Max Verstappen: I didn’t think about it at all, which is why I was so surprised.

      I had a good start. Then I was just driving in the slipstream — three-wide, four-wide, just following what the car next to me was doing. Then I ended up on the kerb and clipped it with the underside. It was a tense moment. We had a little rally between the first and second corners, it was fun. Then I got back on track. I quickly realized there was no grip; at first it was difficult just to follow the cars ahead.

      Question: You have closed in on the world championship leader again. You’re now only 36 points behind. How optimistic are you ahead of the remaining four rounds?

      Max Verstappen: I look at it differently. I lost 10 points to Lando. Before the weekend started I said that everything would have to go perfectly to win. And this weekend was not perfect. There’s your answer.

      We’ll see what we can do at other tracks. Of course, I hope we won’t have weekends like this anymore, but it again shows that we’re not quick everywhere.

      Question: Were you upset when a virtual safety car was declared at the end of the race?

      Max Verstappen: Not particularly. Over the course of my career I’ve occasionally been lucky with the safety car. Sometimes it helps you, sometimes it doesn’t. This time it helped Charles more, who was defending, than it did me, but the fans surely enjoyed it.