Event: Brazilian Sao Paulo Grand Prix
Track: Autodromo Interlagos
Weather: dry 22.5°C
Tarmac: wet 34.6°C
Humidity: 71%
Wind: 1.2 m/s NW
Pressure: 924 bar
George Russell won the third Sprint qualifying event of the 2022 F1 season for Mercedes. He started from P3 and passed Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen to win the Sprint.
For two laps Haas driver Kevin Magnussen could hold the lead of the Sprint. Verstappen took over the lead at turn 1 of lap 3 from the Danish driver. Behind him both Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso had a few collisions that damaged both cars. Alonso had to pit for a new front wing and Ocon was dropping back due to cooling problems.
In lap 8 the order was 1. VER, 2. RUS, 3. SAI, 4. HAM, 5. MAG, 6. PER, 7. NOR, 8 LEC, 9. GAS & 10. OCO.
In lap 13 Alex Albon retired. In front a fierce battle developed between Mercedes driver George Russell and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen for the lead. The young guns battled for five laps and Russell overtook Verstappen on track in lap 13.
Behind them Ferrari driver on P3 and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on P4 where having a battle also and came closer each lap to the struggling Red Bull of Verstappen.
In lap 19 Sainz also passed Verstappen in turn 1, but both drivers collided and Verstappen damaged his front wing and also got passed by Hamilton at the end of that lap.
Sprint Quali 2022 Sao Paulo GP
P | No | Driver | Team | Time | Laps | Points |
1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 30:11.307 | 24 | 8 |
2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +3.995s | 24 | 7 |
3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +4.492s | 24 | 6 |
4 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +10.494s | 24 | 5 |
5 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | +11.855s | 24 | 4 |
6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +13.133s | 24 | 3 |
7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +25.624s | 24 | 2 |
8 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +28.768s | 24 | 1 |
9 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +30.218s | 24 | 0 |
10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +34.170s | 24 | 0 |
11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +39.395s | 24 | 0 |
12 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | +41.159s | 24 | 0 |
13 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | +41.763s | 24 | 0 |
14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +42.338s | 24 | 0 |
15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +50.306s | 24 | 0 |
16 | 18 | Lance Stroll* | Aston Martin | +50.700s | 24 | 0 |
17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +51.756s | 24 | 0 |
18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso* | Alpine | +53.985s | 24 | 0 |
19 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +76.850s | 24 | 0 |
20 | 23 | Alex Albon | Williams | DNF | 12 | 0 |
*Penalty:
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin #18: Received a 10-second time penalty for dangerous driving and got 3 penalty points on his F1 licence.
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine #14: Received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision and got 2 penalty points on his F1 licence.
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The best Sprint thus far, but unnecessarily risky defending by Ocon & Stroll against their teammates.
Ironically, Alonso still re-caught & passed him towards the end.
The downside of good racing throughout the field is that several passes didn’t get broadcasted.
didnt catch every lap of the sprint or any interviews but what I did see was King Max and King George going at it like two young superstars, fabulous, but what on Earth was Max doing on those tyres? Yes its a Merc front row,performance levels are very odd, Ferrari feck ups, Perez off form, Was it a bad call from Rb about tyres or was Max having an offday All i know is well have some sickening interviews from the Dame about how Brazil has inspired him blah blah , Oh and Christian was spouting off about the Dames new contract, saying hed have to take a pay cut...!!!, Louise will not like that that one bit
Usual anti LH rant from shoddypost. Anyhow congrats to GR and hopefully the signs the team are getting closer to the fast RBs.
Yeah, it looked like Ferrari's strategist had a visit at Red Bull to give some good advice on the tyres...hahaha
Looks to me like mercedes has reintroduced Totos special engines for the last two races, where did they find that extra speed, I mean they were flying., adding a little nitro perhaps. He, he.
Is Christian Horner taking strategy advice from Bin-Jog-Il over at Ferrari? What the hell is going on? Mind you, Boi George and The Dame were banging-on with a purpose. Noice!
Knuckles put Vettel on the grass with a vengeance. I have to agree with Crusty and Bungle - the 10 second penalty was too light. It could have turned out far worse - Vettel just missed the end of the barrier as he sped by. Then Knuckles was doing it again with Schumacher. The guy is a dolt! I don't see Alonso putting up with that shit next year.
The bit that really jarred my preserves was the Ocon crowding Fernando off the track. Alonso busted his front wing on his own, but none of it would have happened had Ocon driven with "due care and attention".
Apart from all that, it was good exciting racing.
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