George Russell had quite the weekend at Interlagos. The Mercedes’ driver began the weekend in the gravel trap on Friday, won the Sprint race on Saturday then followed that up with his first Formula 1 win on Sunday.
Russell led a Mercedes’s 1-2 finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the end of 71 laps by 1.5 seconds for an emotional victory.
“What an amazing feeling,” said Russell. “Just a huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster this season.”
Russell’s Mercedes team performed flawlessly as did their driver leaving all the drama to those behind him including Hamilton who tangled with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen on the first lap. The two drivers came together on the opening lap with Verstappen coming away with a damaged front wing. The situation was made worse when the stewards’ ruled Verstappen was responsible for the contact and handed him a five second penalty which he served during a pit stop that put him back in the pack effectively ending his chance for a race win.
“What can I say,” Hamilton said later. “You know how it is with Max.”
In the closing laps the attention was on Hamilton, Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz Jr. But Mercedes was strategy was spot on while Red Bull’s left Perez dropping through the field on well-worn tires to seventh as Sainz took the third podium spot.
There was more drama between teams and their drivers in the final laps. Leclerc, who also suffered early race contact to drive up the field to fourth, radioed the team to ask Sainz to let him through “for the drivers’ championship” standings, where he is trying to finish second to Verstappen and is in a battle with Perez. Ferrari did not radio back, and Sainz finished third, on the final step of the podium, and ahead of Leclerc.
“I think we can be happy with this,” Sainz said. “And congratulations to George.”
Also, as the laps wound down, Red Bull radioed Verstappen to ask him to let Perez pass him, and Verstappen refused, saying, “I am not talking about this anymore. I have already given my reasons.”
After finishing sixth, Verstappen later he expanded on the team orders refusal.
“That’s why I first went to speak to the team, I gave my reasons,” Verstappen said. “I’m not going to say why, it’s more important as a team that we put everything on the table, and we move forwards. If there’s a chance to help him, I will.
“I understand why he is disappointed, but they also have to understand my reasons. I’m not going to say. Everything understood it, we are professional enough to move forward.”
As for the contact with Hamilton:
“I just went for it, he didn’t leave me space, I knew we were going to come together. We were way too slow, I thought we could race quite well together but clearly the intention was not there.”
The day however belonged to Englishman George Russell whose win comes in his first season with Mercedes.
“I’m speechless. On the in-lap all of these memories sort of came flooding back. Starting off with my mum and dad in go karting and going through all the support I’ve had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, my manager,” an emotional Russell said.
“Then obviously the likes of Gwen Lagrue who gave me the opportunity to get on the programme with Mercedes and [Mercedes strategy chief] James Vowles and Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team boss] – the list is endless. I can’t thank them enough, [I’m] super proud.”
For his part, a still winless this season Hamilton seemed genuinely happy for his teammate.
“I feel really good,” Hamilton said. “We’ve worked so hard this year, to be fighting for front row and get a one-two, I’m elated for the whole team.
“Who knows! We didn’t expect to be as quick as this weekend, it’s incredible to turn around. Never giving up, huge congratulations to George – a wonderful win for him.”
Fernando Alonso overcame his poor Saturday showing to finish fifth just ahead of Verstappen as Perez, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Kevin Magnussen who won the pole for Saturday’s Sprint race on Friday, made contact with Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. Neither was able to continue, and both were scored with DNFs.
The 2022 season finale will take place in Abu Dhabi next weekend, November 18-20.
FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN GRANDE PRÊMIO DE SÃO PAULO 2022 – RACE RESULT
| Pos | Driver | Time/Retired | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:38:34.044 | 26 | |
| 2 | +1.529s | 18 | |
| 3 | +4.051s | 15 | |
| 4 | +8.441s | 12 | |
| 5 | +9.561s | 10 | |
| 6 | +10.056s | 8 | |
| 7 | +14.080s | 6 | |
| 8 | +18.690s | 4 | |
| 9 | +22.552s | 2 | |
| 10 | +23.552s | 1 | |
| 11 | +26.183s | 0 | |
| 12 | +29.325s | 0 | |
| 13 | +29.899s | 0 | |
| 14 | +31.867s | 0 | |
| 15 | +36.016s | 0 | |
| 16 | +37.038s | 0 | |
| 17 | +1 lap | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 | |
| NC | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Russell scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Gasly received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.