F1: Russell battles Verstappen to Sao Paulo GP Sprint Race win (Update)

Pierre Gasly avoided adding to his Formula 1 penalty points tally after receiving a warning for driving too slowly, while Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou Guanyu were cleared for a start infringement at Interlagos.

It means that Hamilton keeps second place on the grid for tomorrow’s race after Carlos Sainz’s five-place drop for an engine change on Friday is applied, while Ricciardo and Zhou retain P11 and P13 respectively.

Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were caught up in some intra-team drama during the F1 Sprint at Interlagos as two separate collisions cost them valuable points, along with starting positions for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix – with the stewards demoting Alonso to P18 with a post-Sprint five-second penalty.

After expressing his frustration at Ocon over the radio, Alonso offered further thoughts when speaking to the media post-race, saying: “There was a lot of too-close [fighting], unfortunately. It’s far from ideal when it’s your teammate, but it’s been a little like this [with him] all year long.”

Asked if he will speak to Ocon about their run-ins, Alonso added: “It’s one more race and then it’s over, finally. I was very close to the wall in Jeddah with him, close to the wall in Budapest, today in Turn 4 now here… Sometimes it’s very competitive inside a team; it happened to him with [Sergio] Perez, with Verstappen here unlapping himself so… it’s one more race.”

“I feel bad for the guys today,” he added, “but I will try to have a good race tomorrow.”

After beaching his car in qualifying Friday, George Russell came good on Saturday and easily won the São Paulo GP Sprint race over the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. by 3.995s.

Lewis Hamilton was 3rd across the line but is under investigation for a start procedure infraction along with 2 other drivers.

If Hamilton is not penalized, it will be an all-Mercedes front row for the feature race on Sunday.

“Mega congrats to George, that was awesome,” says Hamilton, as his race engineer Bono reminds him that thanks to Sainz’s penalty, he will also be on the front row.

Or will he? Hamilton is one of three drivers set to be investigated for a starting infringement.

“It was incredible, I wasn’t expecting to have that much pace, but it shows how much progress we as a team have made,” said Russell.

“Standing here is a great feeling. It’s crazy to think we are both starting on the front row – I’m sure Max will be flying tomorrow, but we’ll go for the win.”

“We normally have a bit more deg than the Mercs, I had to be aggressive because I have the penalty and I think P2 was the maximum,” said Sainz Jr.

“The Mercs will be very quick in the race. I’m sorry if I had a bit of contact [with Verstappen] but that’s racing.”

“I’m so, so happy to be here. Difficult day yesterday, congratulations to George, this is for everyone at the factory who have been working so, so hard,” said Hamilton.

“Starting on the front row, we should be able to work as a team and we’ll try as hard as we can tomorrow if we can have some good degradation and some good weather. A win here would be incredible.”

Max Verstappen, started on the medium tires, which proved to be the wrong tires, and he was a sitting duck from all the other drivers who were on the red soft Pirellis.

Verstappen also had a damaged left front wing when he touched the rear tire of Sainz  when he was being overtaken by the Ferrari.

There will be a debrief at both Aston Martin and Alpine later on, with Alonso and Ocon colliding not once but twice and both losing plenty of positions. Meanwhile, Vettel might not be too impressed with being driven wide by his team mate, who was handed a time penalty as a result which dropped him to 17th in the end.

All in all, if tomorrow has half as much drama, it should be a cracking race. Verstappen trying to fight back from third, with Perez as a rear gunner up against two very quick looking Mercedes cars. That is assuming Hamilton stays second on the grid – the stewards are yet to rule on that start infringement involving him, Zhou and Ricciardo.

Sprint Race Results