George Russell Victorious in Sprint Race to Claim Pole Position for the São Paulo Grand Prix

George Russell picked up his first win in Formula 1 as he comfortably went on to win Saturday’s sprint race to earn Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr came home to finish in second place but will have a five-place grid penalty for the race on Sunday which will move him further down the order. Lewis Hamilton took third place meaning he will move up to second and Mercedes will lock out the front row for the first time this season.

The twenty-four lap sprint race would determine the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Haas F1 Team driver Kevin Magnussen started right at the front after claiming a surprising maiden pole position in qualifying on Friday.

All the drivers started on the soft tyres apart from Max Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi, who decided to go for the medium tyres and play it more safely with their strategies.

Magnussen got a great start off the line and led into turn one. Verstappen was defending Russell from the off and this gave Magnussen a little gap out ahead. However, after only three laps, the Dutchman overtook Magnussen for the lead of the race and a lap later, the Dane had moved down the order to fourth after being overtaken by Russell and Sainz.

As we got to the halfway stage in the sprint race, Verstappen seemed to be struggling for pace which may have been down to an issue with the car or that the medium compound was just not as effective as the soft tyre out on track. With some great wheel-to-wheel racing, Russell tried to make a move on the Dutchman but was just being kept behind after some great defensive work from Verstappen.

The battle continued and on Russell’s third attempt at overtaking Verstappen, Mr Saturday as he is known, managed to get the move done and subsequently took the lead of the race on lap fifteen as he started to extend his gap away from the World Champion. Russell comfortably led the rest of the race and came across the chequered flag as a winner in F1, sort of.

Verstappen’s day, however, got worse four laps later as Carlos Sainz overtook him and moved up into second place, doing so, he damaged the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver’s front-wing which made it even more of a challenge to maintain third position. A lap later, Hamilton made his move on Verstappen and moved up into third place as the Dutchman had to settle for fourth place.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez finished behind him in fifth place, picking up four points. The remaining points finishes went to Charles Leclerc in sixth place who had quite a quiet race. McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris finished in seventh after dropping a couple of places. Sprint race pole sitter Magnussen took the final point after having a challenging race.

What about the rest?

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team just missed out on points as Sebastian Vettel finished in ninth place. Lance Stroll on the other hand finished in seventeenth place after being given a ten-second time penalty for dangerously moving over on his team-mate as he forced him out onto the grass.

Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda finished in tenth and sixteenth place, they will be hoping that they can finish in the points for tomorrow’s race.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in eleventh place with his team-mate finishing inside the points. Mick Schumacher finished just behind the Aussie in twelfth with his team-mate also picking up a point. The German driver gained eight positions during the twenty-four laps which should give him a confidence boost going into the race on Sunday as he fights to remain in F1 next season.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN continue to struggle in their search for points as both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas finished the sprint race in thirteenth and fourteenth.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team had a day to forget as both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished in fifteenth and eighteenth place after starting the sprint race in sixth and seventh. The Spaniard and the Frenchman had a coming together on Turn four on the first lap which ruined both drivers races.

After the race, Alonso was handed a five-second time penalty for clashing with his team-mate. This means that Alonso has been demoted to eighteenth place, moving Ocon up to seventeenth, Stroll up to sixteenth and Tsunoda up to fifteenth.

Williams Racing found themselves down at the bottom of the order once again as Latifi finished in nineteenth place and the only DNF of the race came through Alex Albon, who stopped his car away from the track at turn two which brought out the yellow flags. Luckily there was no need for a virtual or full course safety car.

All attention will now turn to the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday as Mercedes will be hoping that they can pick up their first Grand Prix win of the season as they look to go ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

São Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Full Results: