Three time Formula One World Champion, Max Verstappen of Red Bull, earned a green flag to checkers victory Sunday at the 2023 Brazillian Grand Prix driving on the Interlagos Circuit, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The win was the 52nd of his career and the 17th for the 2023 World Champion this season.

McLaren's Lando Norris continued his impressive late season push finishing second for his fifth podium appearance in the last six Grand Prix's. The British native started the Brazillian Grand Prix outside the third row (P6)

In what was a relatively uneventful race, the action got heated in the final stages as Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, and Aston Martin's veteran driver, Fernando Alonzo, battled for third.

After doggedly following Alonzo in the final laps, within the DRS limits, Perez eventually passed Alonzo on lap 70 of 71. Alonzo retook the lead in the final lap and the two battled neck-and-neck down the final straight with Alonzo edging out Perez by 53-thousandths (0.053s) of a second.

"We were chipping away at him and towards the end we came really close to the podium. I have to say well done to Fernando because it was a great fight and really fair racing," said Perez.

"I had the opportunity and went for it but he was really fast on the straights and I don't think I could have done anything differently in the final few laps," added Perez, a native of Mexico.

"For the last 30 laps, it felt like I had pressure from Sergio. But when he passed me two laps from the end, I thought the chance of a podium finish was no longer possible," said Alonso. "Then he braked a bit late into Turn One on the final lap, and I said to myself I would go for it into Turn Four. This is a phenomenal result for the whole team."

Fernando's teammate, Lance Stroll, finished fifth, in what looks like a major turnaround for the team from Silverstone, UK.

"Today's result was a great reward for a lot of hard work over the last few months and a difficult couple of races," said Mike Krack, Aston Martin Team Principal.

"It shows what is possible if we provide our drivers with a quick car: they perform exceptionally," added Krack.

Fourteen of 20 cars finished the race. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc could not start due to a hydraulic system failure on the formation lap. Alex Albon of Williams and Haas Racing's Kevin Magnussen were involved in a race start incident along with several other cars that successfully repaired damage during the resulting 25 minute Red Flag delay.

George Russell, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were retired on laps 57, 39 and 22, respectively.

Alpine Racing had a double points result with both Pierre Gasly (P7) and Esteban Ocon (P10) finishing in the top 10.

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda had a season best finish, P9.

(image provided by Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK)