The 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2022) is a Formula One motor race held on 13 November 2022 at the Interlagos Circuit in São Paulo, Brazil. The event takes place across the weekend of 11–13 November. It is the twenty-first and penultimate round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship. It is the third and final Grand Prix weekend of the 2022 season to use the Formula One sprint format. In the aftermath of the 2022 Brazilian general election on 30 October, a safety concern is raised over the unrest in the country. Some Brazilians take to the streets to protest the election results, which cause disruption of activities in the country. There are reports that team logistics trucks belonging to Ferrari are blocked by protesters while on their way to the circuit from Viracopos International Airport. The political instability in Brazil raises questions about whether the FIA will cancel the round or if the race will go ahead as scheduled. Reports indicate that the FIA and Formula One rights holder Liberty Media are monitoring the situation to decide on the fate of the race. On 2 November, Formula One confirms the event will go ahead. Going into the weekend, both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles have already been decided at the Japanese and United States Grands Prix, respectively. Max Verstappen leads the Drivers' Championship with 136 points from teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 141 from Charles Leclerc, third. Red Bull Racing leads the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari by 209 points and Mercedes by 249 points. In the days leading up to the Grand Prix, Liberty Media publishes the category's financial reports, showing that Formula 1 has recorded positive results both in terms of revenue and earnings.
Compared to the period July-September 2021, the same quarter of 2022 shows an increase of 47 million dollars in revenue and 2 million dollars more in earnings. Specifically, total revenues rise from 668 to 715 million dollars (+7%), and operating profit increases from 80 to 82 million dollars (+2%). The teams share payments of 370 million dollars, an increase from the 338 million dollars in 2021. Revenue from race promotions declines slightly, mainly due to the French Grand Prix in July (which was held in June the previous year), and the absence of the more profitable Russian Grand Prix, which was canceled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ahead of the race, doubts arise about the participation of British McLaren driver Lando Norris. It is suspected that he has been a victim of food poisoning. He rests on Thursday and misses the traditional press conference. The British team announces that their reserve driver is Dutch Nyck de Vries, who has already replaced Alexander Albon at Williams during the season, making his Formula 1 Grand Prix debut from the third free practice session of the Italian Grand Prix after the Thai driver was diagnosed with appendicitis. However, the problem is resolved in time, and Lando Norris participates in the Grand Prix as scheduled. The São Paulo Grand Prix is chosen, for the second consecutive season, as the third and final event, out of three in total scheduled for this championship, alongside the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix held in early April and the Austrian Grand Prix held in early July. The race weekend is characterized by the Sprint format, a 100 km race with free tire compound choice and no pit stops required, the result of which determines the starting grid for the Grand Prix. At interlagos, with the World Championships already awarded, the only goal remains for Scuderia Ferrari to take second place with Charles Leclerc. Laurent Mekies, Racing Director of Ferrari, on his passion for motorsport and the memories he has brought with him since he has been with Ferrari declares:
"It all started, as is the case for most kids around the world, by being attracted and passionate about cars since a very early age, then being lucky enough to turn this passion into a job a few years later. Fortunately there are some great opportunities to start in the grassroots categories of motorsport after university, to then climb the ladder to eventually reach Formula 1. After a long stint at Scuderia Toro Rosso and another one at the FIA, I was (again) lucky to cross Mattia’s path at a time when he was always looking to strengthening the team and that’s how I got the opportunity to join Ferrari. The best memory? Monza 2019 of course, as winning in front of our tifosi is something incomparable".
On the characteristics of the Interlagos track and how to exploit the potential to go fast there, Laurent declares:
"It is one of well established venues on the calendar. It has plenty of character with a superb mix of middle speed corners and a seriously long uphill straight line at the end of the lap. So it’s a tough one for setup choices, downforce levels and so on. It’s also a track where we have often had to deal with heavy rain in the past which makes for very unpredictable racing".
On the format of the Sprint Race and how it can be useful for the team and the drivers, Mekies argues:
"With the Sprint format you go straight into qualifying after only one hour of practice and that’s it. You cannot change the setup of the cars from that point onwards. So it puts some serious emphasis on the quality of your preparation work back at home, in terms of simulation and in the simulator with our drivers. It also puts all drivers to the test, having to nail a qualifying lap after so little time to adapt. From that point onwards, it is a little bit like a 400km race, interrupted by a red flag after the first 100 km".
In Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen is happy to return to racing in Brazil and focuses on the Sprint Race format and the team's goal:
"It’s always nice to be back in Brazil, it's beautiful here and so rich in culture. Interlagos is a short track and with all the elevation changes and cambered corners, it's a really cool track to drive. There's obviously a lot of history at the track too, which I love. The Sprint race set up this weekend means we only have a short practice window, so that always makes it a slightly more difficult, ensuring that the car is perfect and that we set up the car well with limited time. As a team we want to finish first and second in the Championship so it's important that we make sure Checo stays ahead of Charles".
Sergio Perez, the other Red Bull Racing driver, comes to Interlagos with the goal of closing the World Campioanto in second place, behind his teammate:
"I am going into the final two races of the season still feeling like I have everything to win. We might be Constructors’ champions but as a Team, and for me personally, it is hugely important to secure a one-two in the Drivers’ Championship. For that I need to keep fighting and stay driven to achieve the best possible result in every race, including this weekend’s Sprint. The Sprint is a chance to score vital points, so it is important we get a good practice session in on Friday morning and qualify well. If we put everything together this weekend, we are the Team to beat and we are still so driven maintain the incredible form we have going this season".
Carlos Sainz Jr., after dismissing the Ferrari's performance in Mexico as an isolated case, shows himself focused on the second place to be conquered in the Constructors' Championship and declares:
"I expect that Mexico is destined to remain an isolated case, because in that race, our performance suffered from a combination of problems linked to balance and the way the power unit performed because of the altitude. We are expecting variable conditions and here, when it rains, the track characteristics change completely and it becomes even more treacherous. The Constructors’ Championship is an important goal, although clearly not as good as taking the title, but all year we have been either first or second, so it wouldn’t be good to end up third".
For Charles Leclerc, the Grand Prix to be held at Interlagos will be crucial to try to beat Sergio Perez and finish the World Championship in second place:
"I think we will be in the running, just as we were in Austin where, if it hadn’t been for a penalty because of a power unit change, we would have had an all Ferrari front row. I really like this system because it forces you to use a good dose of instinct when it comes to preparing for qualifying. This puts a premium on the team’s planning work at home and usually, over a single flying lap, the quality of the driver is even more to the fore than when you have three hours of free practice. It’s not like a street circuit, but the level of difficulty is really high. It’s an old style track with little room for error and it has some really exciting sections. The race can be really fun and usually there are some nice fights. I’d like to finish ahead of Checo (Perez) in the classification, but it’s more important to use these last two races as preparation for 2023. Having said that, if everything goes to plan, the results should be very good and probably we can get the positions we want. We will do our very best".
On Friday, November 11, 2022, Formula 1 returns to the historic Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos, for the qualifying of Sao Paolo Grand Prix. Qualifying here in Brazil takes place on Friday because on Saturday there will be the last Sprint Race of the 2022 World Championship. It’s a warm day with an air temperature of 24 °C and a track temperature of 46 °C even if it’s quite windy and there is a high rate of humidity (68%). Weather forecasts predict rain but for the moment the track is dry although there are stormy clouds on the horizon. The first free practice session starts at 12:30 p.m. local time and given the Sprint format these are the only 60 minutes available for teams to understand and fine-tune their cars ahead of qualifying. It’s the Mexican driver Sergio Perez who set the fastest lap in 1'11"853, followed by Charles Leclerc and the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen: these three are within eight thousandths. The Dutchman struggles a little and is clearly not happy with his car set-up as he says:
"It still doesn't turn, waiting for the front end. Everywhere except six, seven - it just really doesn't turn".
Carlos Sainz Jr. with Ferrari, on soft tyres, takes fourth, just under two-tenths back. It is to say that, due to the change of the ICE component in the engine, the Spaniard will face a five-place grid penalty on Sunday’s race. Scuderia Ferrari who hasn’t been on a strong run lately and has struggled in the high altitude of Mexico City, appears to have regained competitiveness perhaps because this track could well suit their car. Mercedes are back at the top, finishing fifth and sixth, with the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton ahead of his teammate, despite stating that it Feels like the rear is just floating around and locking up at the start of his soft tyre run. Sebastian Vettel puts his Aston Martin seventh, as Haas driver Mick Schumacher, the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly round out the top 10 positions. Alpine pair closed the session 11th and 13th fastest, but neither of them was running on soft tyres in the session. Their direct rivals for the fourth place in the Constructor Championship, the McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, have not done better: the young Brit ends 15th fastest and the Aussie finishes last. It must be said that Lando Norris suffered from food poisoning on Thursday and was therefore not sure whether he could drive or not, so Nick de Vries was ready for a possible replacement. Despite this, the British driver showed up at the circuit even though he was not 100% recovered. Alex Albon finishes 12th ahead of his Canadian teammate only 17th. The other Canadian driver, Lance Stroll, ends the session in 14th position, after his mechanics solve some technical issues. Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda completed the field. It has been a busy session, productive for most driver with a few issues ironed out. Everyone kept it clean, there were no red flags although we did see a few drivers run wide and lock up on track as they got to grips with the track. Qualifying starts at 4:00 p.m. on a wet track, so this is going to be interesting and unpredictable. Red Bull seems to be the favorites, even if Charles Leclerc is the man to beat in qualifying with the most pole position of the year. The air temperature dropped to 19 °C and the track temperature to 27 °C: 20 °C lower than in FP1. The risk of further rain has risen to 60%. There is a queue at the end of the pit lane before the green light appeares, headed by the Haas pair: everyone wants to get on track before the weather gets worse. The conditions of the track are tricky, it’s not completely wet but at the same time is not enough dry for slicks tyres. Q1 begins and several are the cars on the track, all with intermediate tyres.
"Rain expected in ten minutes".
Is the message for Leclerc, one of the first on track.
"The track looks quite dry".
Observes Sainz Jr., and that’s right: there are patches of much lighter tarmac, and it won't be long before a dry line starts to appear. Although with rain on the way it is essential to choose the right tyre and the right timing to establish a time that ensures passage into Q2. Leclerc is the fastest in 1'19"191, Norris is second with Stroll ahead of Perez. Now every driver is on track, also Verstappen ad Alonso who waited more than the others in the boxes. With thirteen minutes to go Leclerc is still the fastest, followed by Gasly and Tsunoda. Russell slots into fifth and Hamilton into 12th. Bottas, who looked good earlier in practice, goes fifth, bumped down by Sainz. The track will continue to evolve and improve as it dries. With ten minutes to go this is the top ten: Alonso, Verstappen, Perez, Russell, Leclerc, Norris, Zhou, Sainz, Ocon and Stroll. Norris on the radio says it is still intermediate conditions but at the same time Gasly swaps to the softs, it’s a brave choice and now all eyes are on him trying to find out if he made the right choice. Tsunoda remains on the interns, as AlphaTauri split strategies. The Williams drivers and Ricciardo followed the same strategies as the Frenchman. Gasly doesn't seem to have made the right call, with the rain increasing; but surprisingly on the second lap on soft tyre he is the fastest in 1'16"557, purple in the first and second sectors: the track is now for slicks. These are hectic moments as all the drivers rush back in the pit lane to pop slicks on with less than five minutes available to make it into Q2. The situation in the Ferrari pit is confused, with the mechanics not knowing which tyre put on Leclerc’s car. Charles Leclerc agrees with his team that new intermediates must be mounted, but then - while mechanics are already doing this - the team change their mind and opt for new softs:
"So... go with new softs! Go with new softs".
Tells Marcos on the radio, and the Monegasque answers:
"It’s drizzling. I don’t know how much it will rain. But ok, let’s do it".
But Leclerc, while running, notices that his tyres are used and tells it to the team:
"We are on used softs guys! Let’s go! What are we doing?"
He goes back to the boxes, where is forced to stand on the easels for 40 minutes while, one by one, new softs are mounted on his car. The Monegasque seems frustrated as he is losing time; then, on his flying lap, he finds himself slowed down by Tsunoda, later called a joke. Meaning he has one last attempt to pass the cut. Albon now goes second fastest on softs, been one of the first to switch on slicks it makes clear that a couple of laps are required to warm the tyres up sufficiently. The track is improving quickly so everyone needs to hurry up setting the perfect lap. At the end of a frantic Q1 Norris is the fastest in 1'13"106, 0.297s faster than Hamilton and another 0.15s faster than Alonso; both Aston Martin and McLaren’s drivers make it in Q2; Magnussen is seventh while his teammate is eliminated, same situation for Williams drivers: Albon makes it in eight position while Latifi is out. So the eliminated of this session are Latifi, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda e Schumacher. The Finn says on the radio:
"I made the wrong call with the inters".
He went through two sets of the intermediate tyres before swapping to the softs a little bit too late, which explains what happened to him. It’s a shame seeing the good pace he had during FP1. Here are his words:
"It’s a disappointing result, especially after we looked strong in FP1 earlier today. In the end, we made the call to go with intermediate tyres when pitting and that turned out to be the wrong choice: on my in-lap, I saw a Williams struggling and decided to stay on the inters. We realised softs were the best option and pitted again, but two laps were not enough to bring these tyres into temperature. Still, there’s everything to play for: we have two days to get into the points and, given our pace in the dry, we still have a chance to bring home a good result".
It’s green light again ad Q2 gets under way, and with these highly uncertain conditions choosing the right strategy is important and can make the difference. The threat of rain isn’t quite dissipated but given the fact that the track is dry DRS is enabled for the session. Everyone is on track with slicks: used red tyres for Mercedes, Redbull and Ferrari’s drivers, new tyres for the rest of the grid. With ten minutes to go Norris is ahead of Verstappen, Gasly in third and then Alonso ahead of Leclerc. Ocon reports that there is a bit of rain on his visor but he is told that there isn't any rain on the radar. Both Mercedes struggles on those used tyres, Russel is 13th and Hamilton 15th at risk of elimination. Russell on team radio says:
"It is spitting. We are risking too much by staying on the scrubbed tyres, we need to get out there on fresh softs".
Halfway through the session Verstappen is the fastest in 1'11"318, followed by Alonso ad Leclerc. Now a lot of driver reports drizzle and rain: it looks like it’s raining on the finish line and at the Junçao. Despite this, there are improvements on lap times: Russell jumps up into third with his teammate two tenths behind; Sainz and Perez need to push because they’re not safe in 9th and 10th position and the Ferrari’s driver says it is raining heavier. Vettel improves to eighth dropping Sainz into 11th position and there are only a few more minutes to go. The Spaniard completes his lap with the second fastest time ahead of his teammate and it’s now safe from elimination. Russell is fourth, Norris fifth, Alonso sixth. Magnussen with an incredible performance has put in some super laps in this session and it’s now seventh. Perez is only eight, Hamilton ninth and Ocon tenth. At the end the eliminated drivers are: Albon, Gasly, Vettel, Ricciardo and Stroll, with the rain returning just as the chequered flag flew out. The sky is now darker than ever and the rain looks like it is about to intensify. Q3 promises to be spectacular but reading the conditions and making the right choice in term of strategy is as important as setting the perfect flying lap. It’s almost time for Q3, there is still a minute to go before the green light but there is already a queue at the end of the pit lane: Magnussen leads on softs, ahead of the Ferrari pair, both Red Bulls, Alpine and Mercedes. Everyone is on soft tyres except Leclerc who gambles with intermediates: Ferrari splits strategies between the two drivers. Unless rain heaves it down in the next thirty seconds the track remains too dry for interns. The Monegasque driver crawled around on his out-lap but he stayed out to lap on these tyres: apparently there is a miscommunication between the driver and his engineer: he is called into the box to switch on softs after he passes the pit lane line. Perez, who is right behind Leclerc’s rear wing, sees his first lap compromised by the slow Ferrari. In the meantime, everyone else is setting time with slicks: Magnussen is on fire and goes fastest with a 1'11"674, Verstappen is two tenths back and Russell is third ahead of Norris and Sainz; follows Ocon, Alonso, Hamilton and Perez. Leclerc now pits for slicks after 90 seconds of incredible struggling and just after the red flag is out: Russel is stuck in the gravel at Turn 5. There are still 8 minutes to go and Leclerc is 10th with no time set while everyone else did it on slicks. Obviously Leclerc is furious over the radio not only about the wrong tyre, but especially about the failure to return to the pits after the launch lap as they called him in too late. The Danish driver is in virtual pole position.
"You’re kidding".
Said to his engineer when he is told of his provisional pole-position.
"Don’t celebrate yet".
He implores. The session restarts at 4:59 p.m., but the rain is heavily increasing and the tarmac became more and more wet; Perez is out on intern showing that there is too much water in track for slicks. The rest of the driver are at the box. It’s a surreal situation, the stopwatch keeps dropping, four minutes to go, everyone is already out of the cars. Magnussen is in his car, pulling all sorts of faces at the cameras. There are less than two minutes to go and this is looking like a Haas pole position. Magnussen is in tears, he made and heroic lap 203 thousandths quicker than Verstappen. The Haas garage is a picture of anxiety as the minutes pass, finally the checkered flag is out, what seemed to be just a dream has become reality. Kevin Magnussen takes his first career pole position, and it is also the first pole position for the American team. The Danish doesn’t seem to have any words, understandably choked with emotion. Kevin Magnussen takes his first career pole position since his Formula 1 debut in the 2014 season with the British team McLaren, at Grand Prix number 140 in the category, the third-largest margin in the history of the world championship before he took pole position, following Pérez and Sainz Jr. who took the first career pole this season.
The Haas driver, in his 100th Grand Prix with the U.S. team, is the 106th different driver in the history of the world championship to get the pole start, the first Danish national in the history of the category, the 24th nation to represent a driver in the first position, as well as being the sixth different driver to take pole position this season after Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz Jr., Pérez and Russell. Magnussen had qualified fourth in Q3 at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but the result did not count as Haas' highest-ever start given the Sprint race, which is valid for the formation of the Grand Prix grid. The Dane is the 72nd oldest driver in the history of the category to seal a pole position, at 30 years, one month and eight days. For the U.S. team, it is the achievement of the first qualifying position for the first time in its history since the manufacturer's debut in the 2016 season, the 41st different team to achieve the pole start, the fourth in the championship after Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. Haas achieves pole position in Grand Prix number 143, the longest streak for a manufacturer, beating former British stable BAR's eighty-seven-race streak with Jenson Button's pole position in the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix, as well as being the first U.S. manufacturer to achieve pole position since former stable Shadow in the 1975 British Grand Prix. His F1 career was over at the end of 2020 but he came back this season after a very late call up and now has a pole position to his name:
"It’s incredible. I want to say thank you to Gene Haas, Guenther, and the whole team for taking me back on and giving me the opportunity to have a day like this - I’m so chuffed. The team put me out in the pit lane as the first car and that was the gamechanger. It gave me the best piece of track as it started to rain and we got pole. It was the longest minute of my life trying to stay calm as it looked like it was going to be wet but you never know. I’m so happy".
His teammate Mick Schumacher who qualified last says:
"Firstly, Congratulations to Kevin and the team - they really deserve this. On my side, it was a bit confusing but maybe I underestimated the grip. The track looked pretty damp, but it wasn’t as much as I thought. It’s very frustrating and tomorrow it means the job will be a bit harder but we’re up for it".
Guenther Steiner, Haas’ Team Principal, is euphoric and declares:
"It’s a great moment for Haas F1 Team. We’ve waited seven years for this and we work hard, it shows again that hard work and determination pays off. You must be in the right place at the right time and I think we didn’t luck into this, we worked hard to be there".
So he adds:
"When it came to it, Kevin pulled the lap off and was better than the others out there in difficult conditions. To the whole team, I can’t say more than thank you and I think it's a birthday present for the boss. I told Gene we had to do it a day early as we couldn’t change qualifying. Unfortunately, with Mick he was very quick on the intermediate tires but when we put the dry tires on for his last run, he couldn’t get the feeling with the car. Now we focus on tomorrow, we are still in a fight for eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship and we’ll put 100 percent effort to achieve it. Thanks again to the whole team and to the fans for supporting us all the time".
George Russell who caused a red flag by taking too many risks says:
"There were some mixed emotions for me in that session. It was a pretty unique experience in Q3 - we were one of the last cars on the road, and as the lap progressed, the rain was falling harder and harder - and it was a lot wetter in the final corner than on the lap before. On the next lap, I lost the car into Turn 4 and actually broke the headrest because my head was bouncing round so much; then I tried to do a 360 and beached the rear tyres in the gravel, which wasn't my best decision. There's a lot of gravel in there but the guys will have to take it to pieces to get everything out, so hopefully it will all be okay. Even so, P3 is a good starting position for tomorrow, and I have to say a massive congrats to Kevin and Haas on pole. These kinds of unexpected results are exactly what make sport so special".
Lewis Hamilton after a disappointed session and a meagre 8th place adds:
"That was a difficult session overall. It wasn't an easy session to predict the weather, and then it was getting so dark that it was hard to see the rain drops out there. We were among the final cars on track, so it was getting wetter out there on my lap compared to the cars in front. I think we probably lost some tyre temperature while queuing in the pit lane, so it just didn't come together on the one timed lap that we got in and the grip just wasn't there for me. We did a lap on Inter at the end, just to scrub the tyre, but the track was always going to be slower than when it was dry. So P8 is not ideal - but George did a great job on his lap, and a big congratulations to Kevin for pole".
Max Verstappen is overall happy with second place:
"We were working with pretty tricky conditions today and I locked up into turn 8 which cost me pole today. It’s just difficult out there and you have to see how far you can push, but you don’t want to make any big mistakes that can be costly. Tomorrow is looking good but in these conditions anything can happen. We are still up there at the front which is the most important thing. Let’s see how competitive we are going to be tomorrow in the race, we have no clue what will happen with the weather but that always makes Interlagos so special for everyone. Well done to Kevin and the Haas team today, I hope they enjoy every moment".
Sergio Perez, blocked by Leclerc did not have the possibility to make good lap so he remained stuck in ninth position. He is quite frustrated by that:
"It was an unfortunate qualifying. I was held up by Leclerc and Ferrari. It was very clear to me that he was too slow on the inter on the outlap and I thought he was going to pit. I was expecting him to box and go onto the slicks. Instead, he stayed in front of me and I had to finish my lap just behind him, that meant I lost too much time. We will never know where I could have finished, top three should have been possible today but instead we finished P9 and I am super disappointed with the result. We will try hard tomorrow to try to recover and get into the points".
Christian Horner, Team Principal and CEO of RedBull racing, adds:
"Firstly, well done to Kevin Magnussen and Haas on pole. Conditions were tough, the rain was all around us throughout Q1, Q2 & Q3 but the guys did a good job of navigating their way through to Q3. Unfortunately, a small mistake at turn 8 cost Max a bit of time but nevertheless, being on the front row is very positive for the sprint race. Checo was unlucky, Charles was out on a set of inters and I think Checo was expecting him to come into the pits but he stayed out. This compromised Checo’s lap but I’m sure he can race well from there tomorrow, so it promises to be a very exciting Grand Prix weekend".
It is Saturday and it is time for FP2, before the last Sprint race of the season. The session starts and the first fast lap is recorded by Valtteri Bottas on softs, in 1'16"463. immediately the two Ferraris get on track, together with Mick Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou, Lance Stroll, Sebastian Vettel and Logan Sargeant, who is running for Williams. Russell, Perez, Hamilton, Ocon, Ricciardo, Zhou, Sargeant and Latifi are still in the boxes. Everyone is trying the race pace, with Leclerc e Sainz lapping around 1'16"4. Perez takes the second place, thanks to his hard tyres; Russell and Gasly are on softs. Charles Leclerc tries again and laps around 1'17"0, while Sainz returns to the box. Good lap from Esteban Ocon, who takes the lead in 1'16"604. Almost all the drivers on track opted for softs, but due to the hight temperature of the asphalt (50 °C) there is a lot of degradation; Carlos Sainz improves in 1'15"856 but remains ninth, while his teammate Charles Leclerc is now tenth: with hard tyres the Monegasque does not seem to have the right feeling. George Russell is back on track on hards, but he does not achieve a good result: he runs with a time of about 1'17"0. The FP2 comes to an end, with Sergio Perez undoubtedly the best on track, between 1'15"0 and 1'16"0 on softs. The teams will have to make the right decision regarding the tyres in view of the Sprint race. Later in the day, it is time for the last Sprint race of the season: as the tyre blankets are removed on the grid, finally the tyres used by the teams are revealed. Verstappen is one of only two runners to opt for mediums, along with Nicholas Latifi, while the rest is on red-marked softs. Lights out, and the poleman Magnussen goes off the line to defend his position advantage over Verstappen, who is under pressure from Russell, but manages to hold on to P2. Behind, Sainz Jr. comes close to pulling a move on Norris, while the Alpine duo Ocon and Alonso goes wheel-to-wheel and makes contact at Turn 4, before another close moment on the pit straight, which will be investigated by the stewards.
"I lost the front wing, thanks to our friend. He pushed me in Turn 4, and then on the straight".
Says Alonso on the radio, as he pits for repairs. Sainz tries again a move on Norris at the start of Lap 2, with Verstappen again forced to carefully place his car to keep Russell at bay. Verstappen builds up some more temperature in his tyres to close in and breeze past Magnussen along the main straight on Lap 3, with Russell and Sainz following one lap later. Further back, Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc run now P4, P5 and P6 respectively, further demoting Magnussen. After the scrap between the Alpine drivers, another battle of the team mates sees Lance Stroll pick up a 10-second penalty for an aggressive defensive move against Sebastian Vettel on the run between Turns 3 and 4, which forces the German to take to the grass. Back up front, it is Russell’s turn to attempt a pass with DRS on Verstappen, who is struggling on his mediums. After an initial try on Lap 12, and a slight delay to his attack when Alex Albon parks up his Williams, Russell passes Verstappen on Lap 15, on the outside of Turn 4. Also Sainz makes his way past the Dutchman into Turn 1 on Lap 19, but the rear of the Ferrari clips Verstappen’s front wing mid-corner, inflicting damage that also opens the door for Hamilton to get ahead. Russell continues to go and win the Sprint, assuring himself the P1 on the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, with Sainz beating Hamilton to P3 and the Red Bull pair Verstappen and Perez in fourth and fifth respectively. Leclerc finishes P6 after his qualifying struggles, with Norris also getting in front of Magnussen, who claims the final point. Vettel is ninth, followed by the lead AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, the other Haas of Mick Schumacher and the Alfa Romeo pair Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton, Ricciardo and Zhou are all set to be investigated after the race, with potential start procedure breaches being flagged, meaning there can yet be a change to the points-scoring positions if the Mercedes driver is penalised. Alonso is 15th after his incidents with Ocon and trip to the pit lane, as Yuki Tsunoda, Stroll, Ocon and Nicholas Latifi complete the order and Albon being the sole retirement. The stewards later state that Alonso has been at fault for the second incident with Ocon, handing him two penalty points and a five-second time penalty that drops him to P18 on the grid for Sunday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Tsunoda, Stroll and Ocon all move up a place. George Russell wins his first career Sprint Race and gets the first Grand Prix start.
"That result just goes to show all the hard work that everybody is putting in and the progress that we have made as a team. The car has been feeling great since we brought our last update to Austin, but I wasn't expecting to have that much pace. Obviously, it's difficult to know how Max would have got on had he been running the Soft tyres - but it's still a great feeling to come out on top. It was a nice battle - in the Sprint, you're always managing the balance of risk and reward, and I didn't want to take too many risks and end up starting at the back - but I also wanted that victory. Lewis did a great job coming from P8 and it's crazy to think we're both starting at the front, it's going to be exciting. I'm sure Max will be flying tomorrow, but we're in the nice position where we can maybe split the strategies and go for the win".
Lewis Hamilton, at his home Grand Prix, hopes to achieve good results also tomorrow:
"I'm so happy to be standing here - it's been an incredible week so far. It was a difficult qualifying for me but the crowd at the circuit today has been amazing. First, congratulations to George - my race was all about working my way up from P8, and this result goes to everyone back at the factory, everyone here at the track, they have just been working so hard this year. For us to be on the front row tomorrow is incredible: from there, we should be able to work as a team and hopefully hold off the cars behind. We're going to be pushing as hard as we can and if we can have good tyre degradation and hopefully some good weather, then we will have a nice fight on our hands”.
Carlos Sainz got P2, but due to the penalty, tomorrow will start seventh:
"It was a good Sprint today. We had a solid pace, so we were able to overtake a few cars and then I defended well to finish P2. Tomorrow we can expect a very busy race as I will have to serve the penalty and will start from seventh. We still have some work to do if we want to fight at the very front, as Mercedes is also very competitive here. However, I’m confident we can run a good race and I think we are up for a very interesting battle. Now it’s full focus on tomorrow".
Charles Leclerc will continue to push as hard as he can:
"Starting from P10, my target today was to gain as many positions as possible without taking too many risks. That’s exactly what I did and with the good pace we showed today, I will push as hard as I can in the race to bring home a strong result for the team".
Laurent Mekies, Ferrari’s Racing Director, is overall satisfied about today:
"All in all, this Sprint went reasonably well for us, as we had decent pace and moved up the order, with both drivers securing good grid positions for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Carlos and Charles showed great fighting spirit and did an excellent job in bringing home as much as was possible today without taking too many risks".
So he adds:
"Carlos drove a great race, pushing right from the opening lap, then attacking Max for second place and finally defending from Hamilton’s comeback. Thanks to his aggressive drive he will start from seventh tomorrow, thus mitigating the impact of the penalty he has to serve after changing the engine. Charles also did very well by gaining four places, thus securing a place on the third row, which is what we had targeted. We expect a long and demanding race tomorrow and we will now prepare for it thoroughly, going through the data we gathered today".
Today’s poleman Kevin Magnussen is satisfied with starting in the top ten tomorrow:
"I really enjoyed today - and we got a point, and that’s also a very important point given our battle for eighth with AlphaTauri. We knew we weren’t going to win this race and that wasn’t really the aim. It was all about enjoying staring from the pole position and then really trying to get a point out of it. The dream was to try and finish ahead of Lando just behind all the big cars, that didn’t quite happen, but we’re still happy with the point for eighth. We start from there tomorrow and that’s a position we’d be very happy about in regular qualifying. So, we start from inside the top 10 and hopefully we can go for points tomorrow too".
Difficult day for the 2022 World Champion Max Verstappen:
"It was a really difficult race for us today, I honestly didn’t expect that type of performance. To be that slow in such a short race wasn’t great, maybe the mediums were slower than I expected they would be, but at that pace, I don’t know if the softs would have got me where we wanted. We need to understand why our degradation was so bad too. There wasn’t much I could do, the front and the rear were sliding around a lot - I had no grip. At the moment I’m not feeling too confident for tomorrow but let’s see what we can do overnight, there’s a lot of data to analyse".
Same for Sergio Perez:
"There is plenty to analyse tonight because today wasn’t great, it was a poor afternoon out there. For some reason we had higher degradation than we expected and generally the car balance wasn’t there. I was expecting a lot more pace and it was very difficult to make any progress, I couldn’t fight with Lewis or Carlos ahead of me, and in the end I couldn’t get close enough to Max. We are behind Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, they are very strong and seem to have a lot more pace than us. We lost a lot of performance from FP2 to the Sprint race, I felt a lot happier this morning with the car. I think if we continue with this trend we could struggle in the race, so we need to improve, get back into our rhythm and understand what happened today. Hopefully we can turn it around".
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal and CEO, concludes:
"We felt that the soft was limited in range so we took the decision to start on the mediums, thinking if we could survive the first half of the race, we would be alright. However, when we got there, we found we were suffering worse degradation than anticipated. To add to that, Mercedes had a quick car today and those two factors meant we couldn’t hold them off. They have been developing the car all season and continual upgrades have enabled them to get closer and closer throughout the year. I think the soft tyre would have been better but the advantage is we go into tomorrows race with an extra set, so what we gave up strategically today we get back tomorrow. Mercedes will be quick, they will drive a tactical race and its two Red Bulls against two Mercedes with Ferrari thrown in. It sets up a fascinating grand prix tomorrow".
On Sunday, the Sao Paulo circuit is ready to host the penultimate race of the 2022 season. Although Max Verstappen has already been crowned World Champion and Red Bull has placed first position in the Constructors' Championship, there are still several battles going on. In fact, both the fight for the place of Vice World Champion, between Checo Perez and Charles Leclerc, and in the constructors’ for second between Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes are still on. These tight fights could find a conclusion right on the Brazilian circuit, we just have to wait for the green lights and see what it will have in store this Sunday. Saturday's Sprint Race saw George Russell take pole position followed by teammate Hamilton, the first in search of his first career win, the second of a first win this season. Following them the two Red Bulls, Leclerc, Norris and Sainz, are penalised with 5 grid places for use of additional power unit elements. Tsunoda will start from parc fermè due to changes of some parts on his single-seater. Track conditions at the moment look optimal, with 24 °C outside and the track up to 53 °C. According to the strategies presented by Pirelli, the race could take place on two stops or more, it’s unlikely to be able to finish the run with just one stop. The grid in terms of compounds is a mixture of softs and mediums: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Mick Schumacher, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Nicholas Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda taking mediums, the rest on softs. The only one to start with hards will be Alex Albon. Lights out and the race starts. Excellent start for the two Mercedes who maintain the position and are the first to approach Turn 4, followed by the RedBulls. Leclerc has a slow start with medium tires and Norris takes advantage of that, taking the fifth position from the Monegasque. The action does not take long to arrive: at Lap 4 Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo have a contact at Turn 8. After being hit in the back by the Australian's McLaren, Haas spins and then overwhelms Ricciardo in turn, thus marking the end of the race for both of them. The Aston Martin Safety Car enters and Alex Albon takes the occasion to go to the pits and change tires putting mediums, clear that the hard does not work well. In the meantime, Leclerc is also reassured that a reported engine issue should not be a problem during the race.
On Lap 7, the SC regime ends and the race is ready to restart. Feeling like a flashback from last year, Verstappen makes contact with Hamilton in Turn 2. The British's single-seater seems to come out unharmed, but drops in eighth place, on the contrary the Redbull of the Dutchman needs a change of the front wing. But they are not the only ones to have a contact, while Leclerc is trying a move, his nose clips Norris’ car. The Monegasque ends up on the wall but fortunately manages to go back to the track and pit to change the front wing, while Norris carries on without any issue. Both contacts have been noticed by the race direction and are under investigation. After both returning to the pits, Leclerc rejoins the track eighteenth and Verstappen seventeenth, both with a new medium set. In front, Russell is still leading, followed by Perez, Sainz, Norris, Vettel. Hamilton manages to make some moves and quickly overtakes in a few laps Schumacher, Gasly and Vettel, placing himself fifth. In the meantime, the first news about the investigations arrive: 5 seconds of penalty for Verstappen and Norris. Hamilton also manages to overtake Norris and take fourth place. Next is Sainz, who however returns for an early pitstop since there is a stuck tear-off in his rear-right brake duct. On Lap 23 Leclerc pits again for new soft, dropping to seventeenth ahead only of Latifi and behind Tsunoda. Stop also for Perez who puts mediums and comes back sixth behind Bottas but ahead of Sainz. Verstappen also stops for used soft and serving the penalty. Russell is also forced to stop to cover the Redbulls and gets back in front of them. Hamilton is currently the leader but has yet to stop, along with the British only Stroll has yet to pit. On Lap 30, Hamilton enters for new mediums and comes out fourth, behind Sainz’s Ferrari. At the moment the grid sees Russell, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Alonso, Bottas, Vettel, Ocon, Gasly. Leclerc is still 13th and Verstappen 16th, trying to rebuild his race after serving the penalty. Russell slowly extends his advantage, leading with a five-second margin over Perez. Carlos Sainz makes a second pit stop on lap 37 for new mediums, coming out ahead of Bottas who is currently in fight with Vettel. Meanwhile, Hamilton is in the DRS zone of Perez, going for the second place. The Mexican tries defending himself against the Silver Arrow but fails to hold the position and is soon overtaken with the DRS on the straight.
At the moment there are two Mercedes in charge. Leclerc surpasses Norris but immediately after he returns to the pits to put softs for the last stint. Russell has a 9.6s lead over Hamilton. Perez pits leaving the virtual podium to Sainz. Hamilton is also called back to the pits, despite his complaints, exiting with eight-second deficit to Sainz - and a two-second lead on Perez. The British driver in fact has claimed to still have good tires, but the team decided to stop him in order to cover off the Perez stop. Pit-stop also for Russell who has a 22 second lead from Sainz, then is still the leader of the Brazilian Gran Prix. Leclerc continues his climb through the grid that is interrupted only by a yellow flag following the stoppage of Norris on Lap 52 in the central sector at Turn 10 due to a loss of power. It comes to develop a VSC to recover the machine, but soon a safety car comes out because of the need to use a crane to move the McLaren. There are 13 laps left till the end of the race, the SC is still on the track, but the dubbed are free to go, except for Tsunoda who remains behind Sainz. The two Mercedes still occupy the first two positions and when the SC will end they are given the green light to compete:
"You are racing, just be respectful".
Russell is told. Problems between the two Red Bull drivers, as Verstappen decides not to help Perez in his fight for the second place in the Championship, by refusing to give him the sixth place which would permit to the Mexican to arrive at the last race of the year with some advantage over his rival Charles Leclerc. At the restart, Giampiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s track engineer, asks to the driver to pass his teammate in order to take some points away from Leclerc and Alonso. Meanwhile, the same is said to Perez:
"Don’t fight with Max. If on the last lap you two are together, we will change the positions again. Let Max go away at the end of the straghtline".
During the last laps, Verstappen does not talk anymore to the radio, while Lambiase asks him more than one time to let Checo pass:
"Max, if we don’t pass Fernando before Turn 12, let Checo pass please. Don’t worry about DRS Max, let Checo pass".
The again:
"Let Checo pass".
And last:
"Max, let Checo pass, please".
At the green flag, Russell has still the leadership, followed by Hamilton, Perez and Sainz, while Leclerc passes Bottas and goes fifth. Alonso overtakes Ocon taking the seventh position, as the French driver was told to not fight with his team mate at the restart, and right after the Spaniard goes for Bottas. Sainz takes the third position overtaking Perez, who shortly after is also passed by Leclerc. The Mexican now has behind his teammate who also overtakes him, but is being told to Perez that Verstappen will give him back the position back before the end of the race. Leclerc also asks for Sainz’ position but Ferrari deems the swap too risky, leaving the Spaniard in P3. Chequered flag, applause and screams from the bleachers, Mercedes’ box explodes with joy: George Russell wins his first Formula 1 race. Second comes Hamilton, with Mercedes’ first one-two finish of the season, then Sainz and Leclerc, Alonso, Verstappen, who has declined to give the position and finished ahead of Perez.
"I told you already, you guys, don’t ask that again to me - are we clear about that? I gave my reasons, and I stand by it".
The Dutchman said as he crossed the line. There will certainly be something to discuss at RedBull about what happened. There is a quick investigation for Sainz, who sided with Perez during the Safety Car regime, but the FIA decides not to intervene. So Sainz Jr. is officially third. For Mercedes, it is the first success in the season, the one hundred and twenty-fifth in total, for the first time since the first edition of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Hamilton, the third different manufacturer to win in the season after Ferrari and Red Bull Racing, and the fifty-ninth one-two in the World Championship. George Russell is sparkling with joy. First win in F1 for the British driver who thanks the team, his family and friends for the support they’ve always shown towards him:
"What an amazing feeling. A huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible. It's been an emotional rollercoaster, this season, this race. I felt in control, Lewis was super-fast and then when I saw the safety car, I thought this is going to be a difficult end. He put me under so much pressure. But I'm so happy to come away with the victory. On the in-lap, all of these memories came flooding back, starting off with my Mum and Dad in go Karting, going through and all the support I've had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, my manager. The likes of Gwen, who first gave me the opportunity to get on the programme with Mercedes, and James Vowles and Toto. I can't thank everyone enough".
Lewis Hamilton congratulates his teammate and the whole team on today’s excellent result:
"I have to say huge congratulations to George, what an amazing drive he did today, he did an amazing job yesterday in the Sprint so he truly deserves it. To my Team, I'm so proud of everyone back at the factory and here. This is an incredible result - we've worked so hard through this year to get a 1-2, and to get a win. This is hugely, hugely deserved for everybody, so a big thank you to you all".
Max Verstappen says he felt no pace today. After the incident with Hamilton, the direction gave him a 5 seconds penalty which didn’t affect his race too much. Regarding the swap position with Perez, he says it has already been discussed internally in the team and makes it clear that if the Mexican will need help in Abu Dhabi to do his duty:
"We had no pace again today, similar to yesterday - we were sliding too much and we had bad degradation so it was hard to attack. I didn’t quite understand the five second penalty for the incident with Lewis, but it didn’t affect the race too much as we already lacked pace. We’ve discussed internally as a Team the matter between Checo and myself and have moved on as a Team. If he needs the help and there is a chance to help him in Abu Dhabi, then I will be there, and I will of course support him. We’re fighting for first and second in the Drivers’ Championship, so we’ll work hard to achieve that".
Sergio Perez is not happy with today's performance, he has found the car slow both on mediums and softs and hopes to return competitive in Abu Dhabi. Regarding what happened with Max Verstappen, the Mexican is certainly disappointed but also points out that everything has already been resolved in the team:
"I am a bit surprised by our performance today. We were very slow on the medium tyre and also on the soft. I was competitive, but as soon as we switched, I couldn’t defend. I lost more positions due to the safety car and without that I think I could have finished third or fourth. We were definitely down on pace this weekend so I really hope we can go back to our usual form next weekend in Abu Dhabi. I am obviously disappointed with what happened today between Max and myself. It is something we have discussed internally, we will move on and keep working together as a Team. I am sure if I need support in Abu Dhabi, it will be different, and going forward we will always put the Team first".
Christian Horner says it’s the first time the team leave a weekend with this sort of disappointment, saying that the cause of the problems was the lack of pace. Regarding Verstappen and Perez, remarks that everything has already been discussed internally:
"We haven’t often left a Grand Prix weekend this season feeling disappointed. Coming away from Brazil with P6 and P7 is far from the standards we have set for ourselves this season. The main issue for us was our pace. George drove very well all weekend and the various updates Mercedes have been bringing throughout the year has seen them get quicker and quicker. We need to understand why we gave away performance this weekend and will come out firing on all cylinders in Abu Dhabi. Regarding Max and Checo, we have discussed the matter internally and we go into Abu Dhabi as a Team to do the very best that we can to help Checo achieve second place in the Championship. Max is supportive of that. Ultimately, we work as a Team and race as a Team. It is that ethos that has seen us gain such great success this season and will continue to drive us forward".
Carlos Sainz Jr. is satisfied with how the weekend went in general, focus, pace and speed were there. He then congratulates Russell on his first win:
"The team fought well for this result. We had a strong weekend and a solid race despite the penalty and some setbacks today, namely the issue with the tear-off that meant I had to pit earlier than planned and we had to rethink our strategy. We managed to stay focused, picked up the pace again and were fast during the entire race. We reacted to every challenge today and the boys did great pitstops. We brought home the best possible result for the team and we look forward to racing again in Abu Dhabi for the last time this season. Congratulations to George on his maiden win. He’s had a good weekend and he deserves it".
On the contrary, for Charles Leclerc today's race was not very easy, after the contact with Norris he had to go up the grid but the pace and the feeling with the car were good so he managed to recover well securing fourth place:
"It was a tough race today, the incident shortly after the start dropped me all the way to the back of the field. The pace and the feeling in the car were good and I’m satisfied with my performance and the recovery I made to finish P4. It’s going to be a tight battle with Checo and I look forward to racing in Abu Dhabi where I’ll give it my all for one last time this season".
Mattia Binotto, Ferrari’s Team Principal & Managing Director Ferrari, says that the race was certainly undermined by Charles' incident and the problem with visor in Carlos' brake . But thanks to an aggressive strategy and a great job from the whole team, they managed to finish third and fourth:
"Our race immediately got much harder right from the early stages because of Charles’ incident and, in Carlos’ case because a visor tear-off got stuck in a brake cooling duct on his car, which meant he had to make his first pit stop earlier than planned, while the mechanics dealt with the problem. From then on, it was a case of attacking all the time and, thanks to an aggressive strategy and a great job from the whole team, we managed to finish third and fourth, picking up plenty of championship points that could prove vital going into the final round in Abu Dhabi. Now we are concentrating on ensuring we are as well prepared as possible for this decisive last race. My congratulations to George Russell on his first win".
Now, all eyes are on Abu Shabi, where the last Grand Prix of the season will take place: how will end the fight for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship?