Speaking to the Dutchman over the radio after the race, Lambiase said: "Can only apologize for yesterday mate, this was a race winning drive. Sorry."

The reference was, obviously, to Saturday’s disastrous qualifying, where Verstappen was shockingly eliminated in Q1 with the sixteenth fastest time, largely compromising his weekend despite the brilliant recovery that followed.

Responding to his race engineer, Verstappen instead wanted to thank the team for the tremendous work overnight in turning around a weekend that, until today, had looked all but lost.

Finishing third represents a significant damage limitation compared to the scenario imagined ahead of the race, but the Dutchman still leaves Brazil having lost a total of thirteen points across the sprint race and the Grand Prix.

Verstappen managed to claw back some valuable points on Oscar Piastri, whose race was affected by a ten-second penalty, but he still lost ten points against Norris, leaving the Brit clearly favored for the title.

Norris can now manage a 24-point lead over his teammate and 49 over Verstappen, with three weekends still to go.