Russell out-duels Verstappen to secure Brazil sprint win
Mercedes' George Russell took a famous victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race after managing to out-duel...
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Mercedes' George Russell took a famous victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race after managing to out-duel Max Verstappen in an epic battle for the lead.
In the aftermath, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton also managed to pass a rattled Verstappen, who also suffered damage to his front wing. Although Hamilton was unable to pass the Ferrari on track in the closing laps, he will inherit second on tomorrow's Grand Prix grid due to Sainz' engine grid penalty.
Pole sitter Kevin Magnussen had held the lead at the start of the race but succumbed to Verstappen on lap 2. Russell, Sainz and Hamilton also passed him shortly afterwards and the Haas ended up finishing in eighth place.
The weather was cloudier than it had been for final practice, but it was still bright and dry as the cars headed to the grid for the start of Saturday's sprint race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace. Having pulled off a shock pole in Friday's qualifying session, all eyes were on Haas driver Kevin Magnussen who now had the biggest test of his life ahead of him: keeping the lead going into the first corner of the Brazilian GP sprint race ahead of the merciless Max Verstappen in the much faster Red Bull.
When the lights went out, Magnussen got an excellent launch and secured the initial advantage over Verstappen, who was the only one of the top ten to opt to start on the slower medium tyres. It left him struggling to fend off George Russell on the opening lap, while Lando Norris was sliding all over the place as he fought to keep hold of fourth place only for the McLaren to be picked off by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
Coming off worst at the start was Fernando Alonso, who suffered damage to his front wing endplate when his Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon ran wide as the pair went into turn 2 side-by-side. There was further contact later in the lap, forcing Alonso to pit for repairs, while Ocon carried on despite having sustained damage to his A522.
Magnussen's command of the race lasted a single lap before Verstappen's medium tyres were fully up to temperature and he was able to blast his way past the Dane into turn 1. After that, Russell and Sainz also quickly put the Haas to the sword over successive laps.
By lap 8 of 24, Verstappen had pulled out in front, but Russell was on a mission and determined to stick close to the back of the Dutch driver as he probed for openings. Sainz was up to third, and Lewis Hamilton had quickly recovered from his poor grid spot and was now the latest to pass the pole sitter for fourth. Magnussen still held on to fifth ahead of Norris, Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly and the ailing Esteban Ocon.
Perez was soon able to cut past Norris despite a worrying amount of smoke coming from the back of the Red Bull. Behind them, there was a no-holds-barred battle between Aston Martin team mates Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll which must have had the team on pit wall covering their eyes, and certainly attracted the attention of the race stewards. Although no harm was done by the time Vettel clinched 11th, Stroll was hit with a ten-second penalty for a 'dangerous manoeuvre' by the stewards, by which time he had fallen foul of an opportunistic strike from McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen had seemed to have broken out of DRS range of Russell, but the situation kept swinging back and forth. By lap 11 the Mercedes was back within half a second of the leader and on lap lap 12 Russell was applying the pressure into turn 4, only just managing to avoid contact in a fast-speed game of chicken. As we've come to expect from the two-time world champion, Verstappen remained implacable: everytime Russell got side-by-side, Verstappen was able to hold the line and keep the lead.
There was a small pause in the breathless when DRS was disabled due to Alex Albon pulling off track with a technical issue on the Williams, and then it was time for Russell to get back on the attack. With Verstappen reporting that he had hit some debris (presumably from Alonso's damaged front wing) and struggling for grip, Russell managed to stick the nose of the W13 ahead down the straight. Verstappen was finally forced to yield, a vanishingly rare occurrence in a banner year for the driver. Russell then proved his superior pace by quickly pulling away.
Further back, Hamilton was laying on the pressure on Sainz for third place. Both of them were closing on Verstappen, and on lap 19 the Ferrari dived down the inside and banged wheels with the Red Bull as he prised his way into second. Worse still for Verstappen, his front wing was damaged by contact with Sainz' rear wheel leaving him wide open to be picked off by Hamilton on lap 20, as the Red Bull shed debris from its injury.
Russell was four seconds clear at the front. Sainz was reporting that he was losing pace with three laps to go and Hamilton threw everything into the chase. Although the Spaniard had a five place grid drop for tomorrow's race for an engine update - meaning that would be an all-Mercedes front row for the start of tomorrow's Grand Prix - Hamilton still wanted the place on merit and kept the pressure up all the way to the chequered flag only to run out of time to pull off the pass.
Russell duly took victory - his first in Formula 1, even though it won't count as a full Grand Prix win in the records books. That could come tomorrow, but for now the medal and the wreath were very well deserved. He was followed across the line by Sainz and Hamilton, with Verstappen finishing in fourth ahead of Perez.
Charles Leclerc hadn't shown much pace today but the Ferrari driver still secured sixth from Norris, Magnussen, Vettel, and Gasly. Just outside the top ten was Ricciardo ahead of Mick Schumacher, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, with Stroll classified in 17th after his penalty was applied. Ocon limped home in P18 while Nicholas Latifi was in a customary last place, his team mate Albon the only retiree.
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