Max Verstappen reveals how Sergio Perez almost cost him Brazil GP win

Enthralled by Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso battle raging behind him, Max Verstappen almost “drove straight off the track” as he watched it play out on the big screens at the Interlagos circuit.

Leading all but a handful of laps at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen was in command of the race heading into the final 10 laps as he’d built up an advantage over the chasing Lando Norris.

That gave him time to watch his teammate Perez take on Alonso for the final podium position in what was an enthralling tussle.

Max Verstappen almost crashed watching the Perez/Alonso battle

Hounding Alonso throughout the final stint, Perez made his move on the penultimate lap as he stormed down the home straight to overtake the Spaniard on the inside at Turn 1 and run third.

Alonso tried to fight back with DRS into Turn 4, the door ajar after Perez made a small mistake at Turn 3, but the Mexican driver was able to keep him at bay and led Alonso across the line at the start of the final lap.

It was, however, the Aston Martin driver who won the battle as he pounced on another moment from Perez at Turn 1 to glue himself to the Red Bull’s rear wing before using DRS to make the pass at Turn 4.

He narrowly held on to claim third place by 0.053s across the line.

It was a battle that strangely almost cost Verstappen the Grand Prix win.

“The last few laps I was watching – I almost drove off the track myself when I saw them fighting on the straight,” he told Viaplay.

“At Turn 4 I almost drove straight off the track because I was watching the screens so much.

“It was very close together, but those last two laps they were also constantly changing. Very nice.”

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Alonso reveals his tactics in Perez battle

Alonso kept Perez at bay for close on 30 laps as the Red Bull driver hunted him down but wasn’t able to make a pass until lap 70.

Alonso revealed that’s because he was changing his lines through the corners lap after lap to throw Perez off which also meant turbulence on the nose of the RB19.

“I think being the car in front, you have a little bit of an advantage in terms of grip in the last three corners,” he said.

“So I was just making sure… Not making any mistake in those three corners, because if not, Checo will be too close. I was using the energy also in the straights just to make sure that there was no opportunity for Checo.

“And yeah, in the lines, we were just changing lines sometimes. I didn’t want to be always on the same line, if possible, like this. If he goes on the inside, I was from time to time on the inside from time to time on the outside.

“So it was not a clear direction for him to really change the racing line and take the opportunity for some clean air. So I was just trying to get some turbulence to his front nose.”

Sunday’s podium meant Alonso broke his six-race podium duck while for Perez his run outside of the top three is now up to six races.

Read next: Brazil GP conclusions: Alonso’s genius, Perez’s pulse and Brundle’s gem