Max Verstappen’s come-from-behind win in the pouring rain at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday didn’t just put him a lot closer to a fourth straight Formula One title.

The reigning Formula One world champion was in unfamiliar territory: Starting seventeenth on the grid, with only two cars behind him (and one in the pit lane), and his title rival, Lando Norris, way, way ahead of him on pole position.

Max Verstappen said he “just got stuck” behind Charles Leclerc on his way to victory at Interlagos on Sunday, joking he was “actually quite decent” at defending against him. Verstappen made multiple brave moves down the inside at the Senna S on Sunday as he worked his way through the field,