George Russell wins sprint ahead of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton

Marcidus pilot George Russell Won the Formula 1 sprint race in Sao Paulo. Britain finished first after 24 laps at the Autodrome Jose Carlos Pace on Saturday and will be rewarded for Sunday’s Grand Prix with eight World Championship points and first place on the grid. FAZ Live Ticker for Formula 1on RTL and Sky).

carlos sanzo (Ferrari) second, record world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) third. However, the Spaniard Sainz will be relegated five places to the starting grid on Sunday due to illegal engine changes.

Sebastian Vettel finished ninth at Aston Martin and went away empty-handed, while Mick Schumacher at Haas-Ferrari, starting in last place, finished twelfth. Schumacher’s stablemate Kevin Magnussen from Denmark, who rode the Hussar in the rain the day before Sensationally conquered pole positionCouldn’t stay on the dry track, finishing eighth and thus securing a championship point.

There could not have been a better gift for Gene Haas: on his 70th birthday the owner of the US team was able to see his driver Kevin Magnussen in front of the world champion in the Haas VF-22 Max Verstappen Started the short race from pole position and led the field for two laps.

“Magnussen is a tough fighter who really fights in vain for his position,” Red Bull Motorsport director Helmut Marko said on Sky. However, he was beaten early in the third round and passed from first to fourth. At first Verstappen overtook him straight at the end of the start-finish, soon after he had to let go of Russell and Sainz as well. In the team’s six-year Formula 1 history, the Haas car had never been the first to start, finishing fifth. Magnussen Canada had the highest level of sentiment ever.

READ Toboggan gold again in Winter Games - ice hockey team against Canada 1:5

schumacher brilliant

While Magnussen went to the back, Mick Schumacher got off to a great start and quickly took the spot. “I had a good first lap, which helped,” said Schumacher on Sky. And further: “But at the start of the race I thought there was something wrong with the engine. So we worked a lot on it, it was a little rusty. If all was well, there would be two more places.”

It got difficult in the tenth round when Sebastian Vettel His teammate Lance Stroll pushed him off the track at high speed and, thanks to just some effort and skill, he did not fire uncontrollably into the barrier but kept the upper hand on his Aston Martin. “Okay,” Vettel remarked briefly over the hair-raising incident on the radio. The Canadian stroke was awarded a ten-second penalty by Race Control for this dangerous maneuver.

Verstappen on the wrong tire

For the third and final sprint of the year only Max Verstappen and the backbenchers had Nicholas Latifik Williams chose medium-hard tyres, with the rest starting with softer Pirellis. A pit stop is not mandatory for this format, meaning that drivers are relieved of the obligation to use at least two different types of tyres. Red Bull, as it soon turned out, had made the wrong choice.

At the front, Georg Russell worked his way up to Verstappen and attacked at the end of the long straight at the start of the twelfth lap. The world champions fought back and were initially in the front. This game was repeated on the following lap, again before turn four. Verstappen struggled with his tyres, which offered less grip than softer rubber and also proved to have a shorter lifespan. But the world champion knew how to position himself in this gripping duel in such a way that the Brits had only the unfavorable outside lane to attack.

READ Biathlon - This is what happens at the Winter Games on Saturday

Ten rounds before the end, however, the Mercedes driver found his way with more speed than the known spot, and Verstappen was beaten. The silver arrow quickly moved away, Verstappen’s gaze on the rear-view mirror. rake behind him Lewis Hamilton In second Mercedes and Carlos Sainz in Ferrari are fighting for third place.

Six laps before the end things got worse for Verstappen: first Carlos Sainz destroyed the front wing of the Red Bull car, leaving him behind. Soon after he had to let Hamilton pass as well and was therefore only fourth.

The world champion was already struggling in So Paulo on Friday, struggling in his understeering RB18. now she had to see russell mercedes Won first win of the season. A small but sweet win for the earlier series winner. “I didn’t think we would have that pace,” commented Russell.

Ahead of the final Grand Prix of the year, which leads over 71 laps on Sunday, Max Verstappen has secured his second world championship title and his Red Bull Racing team can no longer be caught even in the manufacturers’ classification. . However, there is still a link behind it. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez (284) and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (278) fight for second place.

ferrari And Mercedes duel for a spot behind Red Bull, but other teams are also fighting bitterly for every point: the better they are at last count, the more prize money it has—dramatic consequences for its sometimes budget. and thus competitiveness in the following year.