Verstappen: 'We had no chance on this track'

Max Verstappen has confessed that a fifth-place finish was about as good as Red Bull could have expected from Sunday's Grand Prix in Brazil.

The young Dutchman didn't settle from the start and his car failed to get to grips with the surface, having performed with distinction under sodden conditions around the same circuit last year.

The 20-year-old insisted, however, that on this track and under the heat in Sao Paulo, that was the result that the team was expecting.

"It was definitely the best position we could achieve today. We just lost out on the straights, as you could see when Lewis passed me," Verstappen said.

"We have no chance on this track. It's really hard. On the positive side, the first 10, 15 laps in the stint, we were competitive.

"But then you try to compensate what you lose on the straights and you're asking maybe a bit too much from the tyres and the car balance, not like in Mexico for example, and you have more drop-off.

"Then it just gets a bit more difficult."

Verstappen complained regularly on team radio throughout the race about the condition of his tyres, saying that they were 'as hard as rocks'.