'It was a good battle' Verstappen gives his take on his Lap 48 defence from Hamilton in Brazil

Max Verstappen doesn’t like finishing second, but without a staunch defence he admitted there nothing increasingly he could do to alimony a sensational Lewis Hamilton from snatching victory in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix – and gave his take on the controversial moment when he fought off the Mercedes man on Lap 48.

Verstappen bolted into the lead at the start and looked in fine shape when Sergio Perez moved superiority of Valtteri Bottas to ride shotgun. But overdue him, title rival Hamilton was flying, scything his way through the field and was soon on the Red Bull driver’s gearbox.

He robustly secure from Hamilton on multiple occasions, including when they both ran wide into Turn 4 and withal the preceding straight, but sooner succumbed to the pressure.

READ MORE: Hamilton takes victory in Brazil without stunning momentum from P10 and pass on Verstappen

“We tried everything we could,” he said. “I think it was a good battle, but at the end we just missed a little bit of pace, but we gave it all today and it was a lot of fun. We had a good start, that was important to get superiority [of Bottas] and from then it was trying to manage my pace and then the Safety car and then the VSC for the debris.\"

And what of that controversial moment on Lap 48 when both drivers went off the road at Turn 4 as Verstappen kept the lead (as you can see in the video below)? The stewards decided no investigation was neceassary, but what did Verstappen make of it?

“At one point Lewis was overdue me, I could see there was a lot of pace. It was once quite tough to match that. We did all the right calls in trying to cover. Not much to say well-nigh that. We were a bit too slow.

\"I midpoint we both of undertow tried to be superiority into the corner so I braked a bit late to get that position. I was on the whet of grip. That’s why I think I was once on the noon and it’s a safer way of running a bit wide there. In a way I was happy stewards decided we could alimony on racing. I could see the racing in unstipulated was really good today.

“This weekend they were quick on the straights,\" he added. \"It’s not platonic when they sail past you and that’s all you can do. Of undertow I like to win. Second today, with the defence I did, is moreover satisfying. You can see one weekend it’s good for you, the other it’s good for them. Hopefully like that for the rest of the season.”

Hamilton reduces the deficit to Verstappen to 14 points with three races – and a maximum of 77 left on the table. “It’s been like this the whole year,” he said. “A lot of things can still happen.”

READ MORE: \'I don’t remember flipside weekend like this\' says Hamilton without sensational last-to-first comeback in Brazil

Verstappen’s team mate Perez valiantly tried to alimony Hamilton overdue for as long as he could, surpassing dropping to third and then losing that spot to Bottas, who benefitted from stopping under the Virtual Safety Car to undercut the Mexican.

“It was important to try and alimony him there, otherwise he would put pressure into Max straightaway,” said Perez. “It was impressive the straight-line speed that they [Mercedes] have.

“Most of the time, I looked in my mirrors, he was so far away, and then I squint at the end of the straight and he was right next to me. He [Hamilton] was just on flipside planet today.”

He added: “We were extremely unlucky with the VSC, unfortunately that hurt and helped Mercedes to undercut with Bottas. We did the weightier we possibly could today. It is a bit of a shame, we should have finished superiority of Bottas.”