The Mercedes driver had ended qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix stuck in the gravel after skating on a slippery track, but still started third on the sprint grid as no-one had a chance to eclipse his time. But on a rare occasion when Max Verstappen was vulnerable and pole-sitter Kevin Magnussen was unable to capitalize on Friday’s shock result, it was Russell who produced an outstanding day for Mercedes. Carlos Sainz finished second behind the Briton, whose team-mate Lewis Hamilton was third while Verstappen dropped to fourth. Magnussen had caused the biggest shock in F1 qualifying for many years when he claimed pole, aided by factors such as on-off rain and Russell coasting to trigger red flags that denied his rivals the prospect of anyone else dry running Q3. Saturday’s weather was in stark contrast to a dreary Friday, with the sun shining for FP2, in which Esteban Ocon sprung another surprise by going faster – and skies remained blue but with some cloud cover for the 24 rounds. Magnussen was on the grid at the start and still knew he would have a very good job staying ahead of Verstappen in the opening set of corners, even though the World Champion had bucked the trend by starting on the medium tires rather than the softs used by everyone the others except Nikolas Latifi. It didn’t prove to be the case, however, as the Dane led comfortably with Verstappen facing early pressure from Russell. It was lap three before Verstappen overtook the Haas and next time down the start-finish straight, Russell followed suit. Carlos Sainz demoted Magnussen to fifth, while the Dane also soon had Lewis Hamilton on his tail. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, came into contact with his Alpine teammate Ocon, suffered damage and had to stop for a new front wing. “Well done” was the team’s sarcastic radio message from Alonso, referring to “our friend” – reflecting his seemingly deteriorating relationship with the Frenchman. Two more colleagues came together the wrong way as Lance Stroll defended aggressively against Sebastian Vettel, putting the German on the grass. On his next attempt, Vettel managed to win the Aston Martin battle – and the marshals later slapped the Canadian with a 10-second time penalty. Back at the sharp end, Russell was within DRS range of Verstappen and by halfway he launched a strong challenge on the Dutchman. He pulled alongside for two consecutive laps in some exciting action, towing along Sainz and Hamilton to make it a potential four-way at the front. “I hit some debris,” Verstappen said over team radio, perhaps explaining his struggles. At the third time of asking, Russell overtook the Red Bull, aided by a slipstream, as his Williams replacement, Alex Albon, became the first and only driver to retire – sealing himself P20 on the grid for the race . Sainz then passed Verstappen for second as the pair made contact, the Red Bull suffering front wing damage for the ensuing battle with Hamilton for third, who followed the former champion after another duel . As Russell raced away to his maiden victory and pole position for the main event, Verstappen held off team-mate Sergio Perez for fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Magnussen, who earned a qualifying point his efforts finishing in eighth place. . With Sainz carrying a five-place penalty for the race, dropping him to seventh, it was still not a guaranteed front-row lock for Mercedes. This was because Hamilton had a starting line violation reported to the stewards, who would investigate after the race along with similar incidents involving Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo.
Sprint Result
1 George Russell Mercedes 24 laps2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +3.9953 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +4.4924 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +10.4945 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +11.8556 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +13.1337 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 13.1337 Hamilton Vessen +13.1337 Hamilton, 30.21810 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +34.17011 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +39.39512 Mick Schumacher Haas +41.15913 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +41.76314 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +42.33815 Fernando Alonso Alpine +48.98516 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +50.30617 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +50.70018 Esteban Ocon Alpine +51.75619 Nicholas Latifi Williams +76.85020 Alex Albon Williams DNF
