George Russell wins sprint ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes pilot George Russell won the Formula 1 sprint race in São Paulo. The Briton finished first after 24 laps in the Autodrom José Carlos Pace on Saturday and will be rewarded with eight world championship points and first place on the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday (7:00 p.m. CET, in FAZ live ticker for Formula 1on RTL and Sky).
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was second, record world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) third. However, Spaniard Sainz will be dropped five places for Sunday’s starting grid due to an illegal engine change. Sebastian Vettel finished ninth in the Aston Martin and went away empty-handed, Mick Schumacher in the Haas-Ferrari was twelfth after starting from last place. Schumacher’s stable mate Kevin Magnussen from Denmark, who the day before with a hussar ride in the rain sensationally conquered the pole positioncouldn’t keep up on a dry track, finished eighth and thus secured a championship point.
There could hardly have been a better present for Gene Haas: On his 70th birthday, the American team owner was able to watch his driver Kevin Magnussen in the Haas VF-22 in front of the world champion Max Verstappen started the short race from pole position and led the field for two laps before he was passed from first place to fourth at the beginning of the third lap. First Verstappen overtook him at the end of the start-finish straight, shortly afterwards he also had to let Russell and Sainz go.
In the team’s six-year Formula 1 history, a Haas car had never been at the start at the front, a fifth place from magnussen in Canada had hitherto been the highest of feelings.
While Magnussen went backwards, Mick Schumacher got off to a brilliant start and quickly made up positions. It got tricky in the tenth round when Sebastian Vettel was pushed off the track at high speed by his team-mate Lance Stroll and only thanks to some effort and skill did he not shoot uncontrolled into the barrier but kept the upper hand over his Aston Martin. “Ok,” Vettel commented laconic on the hair-raising incident over the radio. The Canadian Stroll was given a ten-second time penalty by the race control for this dangerous manoeuvre.
Verstappen on the wrong tire
Only Max Verstappen and backbenchers had for the third and final sprint of the year Nicholas Latifi chose the medium-hard tires in the Williams, everyone else started with the soft Pirellis. Pit stops are not mandatory for this format, which means that drivers are not required to use at least two different types of tyres. Red Bull, as it soon turned out, had made the wrong choice.
At the front, George Russell worked his way up to Verstappen and attacked at the end of the long straight at the beginning of the twelfth lap. The world champion fought back and initially stayed in front. This game was repeated on the following lap, again before turn four. Verstappen struggled with his tires, which offered less grip than the soft rubber and also proved to have a shorter lifespan. But the world champion knew how to position himself in this gripping duel in such a way that the Brits only had the unfavorable outer lane to attack.
Ten rounds before the end, however, the Mercedes driver found his way past the known spot with excess speed, and Verstappen was beaten. The silver arrow quickly pulled away, the Dutchman couldn’t keep up. Behind them raked Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari fighting for third place.
Six laps before the end things got worse for Verstappen: first Carlos Sainz squeezed past him, destroying the front wing of the Red Bull car. Shortly thereafter he also had to let Hamilton pass and was therefore only fourth. The world champion had already struggled in Sao Pãulo on Friday, struggling in his understeering RB 18. Now he had to watch Russell for Mercedes took the first win of the season. A small but sweet triumph for the series winner of yore.
Before the penultimate Grand Prix of the year, which leads over 71 laps on Sunday, Max Verstappen has long since secured his second world championship title and his Red Bull racing team can no longer be caught in the manufacturers’ classification either. Behind it, however, it is still tight. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez (284) and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (278) battle for second place.
Ferrari and Mercedes duel for the place behind Red Bull, but the other teams are also fighting bitterly for every point: the better they are in the final calculation, the more prize money there is – this sometimes has dramatic consequences for the budget and thus the competitiveness in the next Year.
