Max Verstappen was on a mission at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Not even a pit-lane start and an early puncture could stop his charge to the podium.

Red Bull has since discovered the cause of Verstappen’s puncture. It was due to a piece of carbon fibre, says Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko, and there is a 50 per cent chance that Lewis Hamilton was the instigator, thanks to his collision with Franco Colapinto.

Max Verstappen puncture may have come from Lewis Hamilton debris

Eliminated in Q1 on pure pace for the first time in F1 career, Verstappen’s Red Bull underwent “drastic” changes between qualifying and the Grand Prix at Interlagos. Setup changes were made, and a brand new Honda engine was bolted in. That forced a pit lane start for the Dutchman.

The result was a mesmerising drive to third; only the sublime defensive driving of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli denied the reigning four-time world champion second.

On Grand Prix Sunday, Red Bull and Verstappen were able to overcome what Marko describes as the “biggest shortcoming” of the RB21, by getting it back into its working window.

“Naturally, many fans are now asking themselves: What worked for Max’s car in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix that hadn’t worked in qualifying?” Marko began in his Speedweek column.

“We experimented with two different underbodies in Brazil, but in qualifying we fell out of the working window in which the car harmonises with the tyres. We don’t know exactly why we fell out of this window.

“Generally speaking, we are referring to the biggest shortcoming of the RB21 racing car: the car has such a narrow working window that even the smallest changes have a major impact; we are talking about variations in ground clearance in the range of half a millimetre or a change in track temperature of a few degrees.

“We are not alone with this problem: Mercedes has struggled with it extensively this year, as has Ferrari.

“Thankfully, we managed to sort it out for the race, and that’s what matters to me, as does the resurgence of the whole team after a really difficult phase in the summer.

“Back to Sao Paulo: After making numerous changes to the car and installing a new engine, we decided with Max in Brazil to start from the pit lane. To be honest, I thought Max might finish between fifth and seventh place. But then he once again demonstrated his outstanding talent, and he might even have finished second.”

Verstappen was forced into an early pit-stop after Red Bull detected a slow puncture.

It was a dramatic opening lap-and-a-bit at Interlagos, with Gabriel Bortoleto nosing into the wall at Turn 10, while Hamilton whacked the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine going up the main straight. That cost Hamilton his front wing and inflicted enough floor damage to later force his retirement.