The third and final Sprint format of the season is implemented this weekend at the Brazilian GP. Therefore, the qualifying session took place on Friday. In qualifying, where conditions were constantly changing, Kevin Magnussen surprisingly achieved the first pole position of his career and qualified to start the Sprint race from first place.
After the qualifying laps, the second training session took place on Saturday and in this session the teams focused more on race settings and pace.
After the second workout, eyes turned to the 24-lap sprint race. Before the race, Max Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi preferred medium pasta. Except for these two, all had soft rubber.
With the 5 red lights going out, the last sprint race of the season began. Magnussen got off to a good start enough to hold onto the lead and took the lead into turn one.
Verstappen, who preferred medium dough, felt the disadvantage of rising with harder dough, and both George Russell and Lando Norris sided with Verstappen. However, the Dutch driver was able to maintain order going into the first corner.
On the way to Turn 4, the Alpine riders got very close and even made contact. Ocon gave Alonso a relatively aggressive inside attack into turn 4, dragging the Spaniard off the track. After Alonso went off the track, he lost the rear of his car and made contact with Ocon.
At the end of the first lap, on the start/finish straight, the two touched again. While attempting to overtake Ocon on the main straight, Alonso touched the rear of the French driver’s car and broke his front wing.
The two-time champion said: “My front wing broke because of our friend”, and after this contact he pitted and changed his front wing. Ocon, however, suffered damage to the rear of his vehicle. Two Alpine pilots were also under investigation for these contacts. Apart from that, we left behind an uneventful first lap.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
Photo: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport images
Although Magnussen completed round one as leader, he started to drop places as expected. Verstappen, Russell, Sainz and Hamilton; By the time we got to round five, he had passed Magnussen.
Verstappen was unable to release the lead from leading Russell and the gap between the two was under second. The choice of medium paste from Verstappen and Red Bull was a slower strategy for this race.
By the time we got to lap 10, Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Magnussen, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon were in the top 10.
As we got to lap 12, Russell got too close to Verstappen and these two entered turn 4 side-by-side. However, Verstappen braked late to stay ahead. On the following lap, Russell attempted to overtake again at turn 1, but Verstappen still maintained his position by positioning his car perfectly.
On lap 14, again into turn 4, Russell completed the pass before the corner this time and was able to take the lead. Behind them, Sainz and Hamilton were fighting for third place.
After Russell completed his pass for the lead, he quickly took 1.5 seconds and was out of Verstappen’s DRS range.
Sparks behind George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo: Andy Hone / Motorsport images
Medium-sized Verstappen was losing too much time against riders on soft tires and Sainz, second in the standings, attacked Verstappen on lap 19. The Spaniard launched into a very aggressive attack into the first corner and completed the pass even though he touched Verstappen’s front wing.
Verstappen’s front wing was broken by this contact and Hamilton overtook Verstappen on the following lap. Thus was formed the top 5 of Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez.
Russell made no mistakes in the remaining laps after that point and managed to win the final sprint race of the season. Thus, the British driver qualified to start from the front row in tomorrow’s Grand Prix and scored 8 points.
Sainz took second place, leaving Verstappen behind with an aggressive attack. Although the Spaniard finishes the sprint race in 2nd place, he will start from 7th place in the Grand Prix due to a five-place grid penalty.
Hamilton, on the other hand, left behind a positive race by finishing the race in 3rd place, where he started 8th. The British rider will start from second position thanks to Sainz’s penalty. Thus, Mercedes will start from the first two places in the Brazilian GP.
Verstappen, who was unable to maintain the pace he wanted throughout the race due to his preference for medium paste, finished fourth. Perez, on the other hand, took 5th place ahead of Leclerc, who was fighting for 2nd place in the championship.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport images
Lando Norris finished seventh, while Magnussen, who started from pole position, finished in 8th place bringing home the last point of the day. Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly complete the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo took 11th place, while Mick Schumacher started the race from last place and finished 12th in the race.
The Alfa Romeo drivers shared 13th and 14th place, while Alonso, who had contact with his team-mate on the opening lap, finished 15th.
Yuki Tsunoda saw the checkered flag in 16th place, while Lance Stroll was 17th after a 10-second penalty for pushing his teammate off the track.
Ocon, damaged after contact with Alonso, finished 18th, while Latifi took the last place. Alexander Albon was unable to complete the race due to a technical problem.
The Brazilian GP gets underway on Sunday November 13 at 21:00 CEST.
Race result:
George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, the rest of the field at the start of the Sprint race
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport images
