Motor racing-Verstappen writes off title chances after Sao Paulo qualifying

Max Verstappen wrote off his Formula One title chances after the Red Bull driver qualified a surprise 16th for Sunday's Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The Dutchman, third in the standings behind McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and chasing a fifth successive world championship, had earlier finished fourth in a sprint race won by Norris. "I can forget about that," Verstappen, now 39 points behind the Briton, told reporters on Saturday when asked for his thoughts on the championship.

Norris qualified on pole for the main race with Piastri fourth. Asked whether he really thought that, the Dutch driver replied: "Yes, for sure.

"Where we are starting, that's not going to work. And with these kind of performances, I mean, forget about it." Verstappen had said before Brazil that he needed perfection to have a real chance, and some luck, with four races and a sprint remaining.

Instead he struggled for grip at Interlagos and changes to the car did not work out either. "It's just not been good. It seems like we don't really understand why it's going that way," Verstappen said.

"Definitely something is off and we don't seem to understand how to fix it at the moment." Speaking to Sky Sports he added: "It was just bad. I couldn't push at all. The car was all over the place, sliding around a lot."

The 28-year-old won the grand prix last year after starting 17th in one of his greatest races ever, but suggested he did not believe that lightning will strike twice. "Different circumstances," he said.

Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda fared even worse on Saturday, qualifying 19th with the only driver behind him on the timesheets being Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto -- who crashed in the sprint and was not on track for the later session.