The 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix delivered one of the season’s most compelling strategic moments when Max Verstappen found himself leading the race despite starting from the pit lane. However, beneath the podium finish lies a fascinating question: whether a different tyre strategy could have delivered the Dutchman an improbable victory at Interlagos.
Max Verstappen Could Have Won the Brazilian GP — F1 Expert
The race pivoted dramatically at lap 50 when Lando Norris dived into the pits for his second stop. Verstappen, having recovered from the pit lane through pace and strategy, suddenly inherited the lead for the first time in the 71-lap contest.
Norris emerged with fresh soft tyres, initially trailing the Red Bull by eight seconds, but Verstappen remained on ageing medium tyres with sixteen laps remaining. Red Bull faced a critical decision: commit to the medium rubber and gamble on durability, or bring Verstappen in for fresh soft tyres to chase the podium.
The Milton Keynes outfit opted for the pit stop. On lap 54, when the lead had shrunk to 6.5 seconds, Verstappen entered the pits for soft tyres, dropping to fourth place. Yet this decision raised an intriguing question about the alternative scenario that never unfolded.
F1 expert Andrew Benson gave a clear analysis of the situation and what decision would’ve pushed Verstappen to the top. In the recent episode of BBC’s F1: Chequered Flag podcast, the journalist explained, “It’s one of Verstappen’s greatest drives, there’s no question about that, but the lingering question is: Could he have been better? Because I know, other teams, at one point, had Verstappen winning the race from Norris.”
During the pit-stop, Red Bull decided to go with medium-soft tyres for the final stretch of the race, and according to Benson, that is what made the difference.
He explained, “If they’d committed to a medium, medium two-stop and managed tyres accordingly from that point on, he would’ve been leading the race in the final laps.”
🗣️ Andrew Benson: “It’s one of Verstappen’s greatest drives […] I know other teams at one point had Verstappen winning the race […] If they’d committed to a medium, medium two-stop and managed tyres accordingly from that point on, (Max) would’ve been leading the race in the… pic.twitter.com/bnZJ4kAOVR
— Cameron (@CxmeronCc) November 10, 2025
He also added that the result and whether Verstappen would’ve held Norris off would depend on the margin between the two drivers, but he believes that it was a possibility.
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The telemetry data from the Brazil GP reveals why Red Bull made their pit stop call. Verstappen’s lap times on the medium tyres showed sharp degradation after lap 50, dropping into the 1:14s range by lap 54, while Norris consistently ran low 1:13s on fresh soft tyres.
This one-second-per-lap gap meant Norris would have closed the gap within approximately three additional laps. Verstappen’s later experience fighting Antonelli showed how tyres blistered in the cool conditions, suggesting older mediums would have deteriorated faster. These factors made Red Bull’s pit stop pragmatic, securing the podium rather than gambling on an unlikely victory.