Sao Paulo GP: George Russell takes first F1 Grand Prix win as Lewis Hamilton seals Mercedes one-two

George Russell led a Mercedes one-two from Lewis Hamilton at the Sao Paulo GP to take the first Grand Prix win of his Formula 1 career and his team’s first win of the season.

Russell started from first after taking his first career Sprint win on Saturday, and never relinquished control during a dramatic race at Interlagos on Sunday, which featured two Safety Car stops.

On the restart after the first Safety Car on lap seven, Hamilton and world champion Max Verstappen collided, with the Red Bull driver suffering injuries that forced him to pit and a five-second time penalty, before eventually fighting back to finish sixth.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collide at turn two after the race restarted after the first Safety Car.

Hamilton dropped to eighth but brilliantly recovered to second, before a Safety Car following the retirement of Lando Norris brought him within striking distance when the race resumed with 11 laps to go.

However, Russell kept his composure to keep Hamilton out of the DRS range in the closing stages and cap a brilliant debut season with the team where the 24-year-old leads the seven-time world champion by 23 points ahead of next weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“What an amazing feeling,” Russell said. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster this season.

“This was a tough race, I felt I was in control.

“Lewis was super fast and when I saw the Safety Car I thought this is going to be a really difficult finish, he put me under so much pressure. I’m speechless.”

The win also offers significant consolation for Mercedes in a season where their eight-year run of constructors’ titles was ended by Red Bull, taking them to within 23 points of second-placed Ferrari heading into the final race.

Moments after the Hamilton-Verstappen incident, Norris and Charles Leclerc also collided, with the Ferrari driver fighting back from the back of the field to finish fourth, behind team-mate Carlos Sainz, who completed the podium.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Max Verstappen refuses to let teammate Sergio Perez through and is furious with Red Bull on team radio.

Verstappen, who sealed his second consecutive title in Japan last month with four races remaining, ignored a team order on the final lap to let Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez through to help the Mexican in his battle with Leclerc for second in the drivers’ championship .

Perez had let Verstappen through earlier and was promised his team-mate would return the favor if he could not claim further places, but finishing seventh leaves him level with Leclerc on 290 points heading into the final race of the season.

The failure of Norris’ car, which followed his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo’s first-lap retirement after a collision with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, capped a hugely disappointing day for McLaren, as Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished fifth and eighth respectively to move Alpine 19 points clear in the battle for fourth place in the constructors’ championship.

Valtteri Bottas finished ninth for Alfa Romeo to secure a second consecutive points, while Sebastian Vettel took the final point for Aston Martin in the penultimate race of his career, before retiring at the end of the season.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix: race results
1) George Russell, Mercedes
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
6) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
7) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
8) Esteban Ocon, alpine
9) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
10) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

An emotional George Russell says he drove the race of his life to win his first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Early chaos among crashes and overtakes

After a fantastic wet qualifying on Friday where Kevin Magnussen took his and Haas’ first pole in Formula 1, and a thrilling sprint on Saturday where Russell prevailed over Verstappen, Sunday’s race had tough action to follow.

But the brilliant Interlagos circuit, which has produced so many classic F1 moments in the past, delivered again as the 71-lap race delivered almost constant drama and action.

Russell, starting from first for just the second time in his career, was given a perfect escape to lead comfortably into the first corner from Hamilton, who also moved past Verstappen and Perez in third and fourth.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

George Russell keeps his lead off the grid before Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnusen crash to bring out the safety car on the opening lap of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

But the action was quickly halted when Ricciardo, attempting to overtake Magnussen at Turn 9, made contact with Haas, seeing both cars retire and a Safety Car deployed.

The race did not resume until lap seven, when Russell this time made a strong rolling start to clear, but left Hamilton desperate to fend off Verstappen into the first corner.

The Dutchman was level as they went around the first corner, but Hamilton had come back as they approached the second turn and with little room for Verstappen on the inside, resulted in a significant collision as the world champion chose not to back out of it. .

Hamilton went off track and dropped to eighth, while Verstappen needed to stop for a new front wing, leaving him at the back of the field.

The stewards deemed Verstappen responsible for the incident and handed him a five-second time penalty to add insult to injury. He had company at the back of the field, however, as Leclerc was also forced to retire after his collision with Norris.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris collide, causing the Ferrari to spin into the barriers, but his car is ok to continue.

Leclerc had lost a place to McLaren at the start and then tried to go around the outside at Turn 9, when Norris initiated contact that sent the Ferrari flying into the barrier, also earning himself a five-second penalty.

Remarkably, Leclerc was able to continue and made it back to the pits before producing a brilliant recovery to finish fourth and level his battle with Perez.

Late Safety Car sets up Red Bull drama

The race was given an added flavor of drama by the interruption caused when Norris retired on lap 53.

Initially only a virtual safety car was ordered, during which Sainz and Alonso raced for fresh soft tyres, before a full safety car was deployed as the marshals struggled to move Norris’ car without the aid of a recovery vehicle.

Perez, who Hamilton had passed to take second ahead of the Safety Car, was the only member of the front runners on the medium rather than the higher performance soft tires when the race resumed with 11 laps to go, and was quickly passed by Sainz, Lecerc and Alonso.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says he had his reasons for not awarding the seat back to teammate Sergio Perez at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

That left the recovering Verstappen behind and prompted Red Bull to order Perez to let the Dutchman through to give him a chance to pass Alonso for fifth, with the proviso that their order would change if the world champion failed.

With Verstappen out of reach of Alonso on the final lap, he was told over the radio to let Perez through, but ignored the order, eventually saying he had already given the team his “reasons”.

Verstappen was seen talking to his manager and team principal Christian Horner in the paddock after the race, before they addressed the media, while Perez said he was “really surprised” and “disappointed” after all he has done to support his team-mate on his way to consecutive titles.

Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes they will work as a team in Abu Dhabi after Max Verstappen refused to let Sergio Perez pass at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Verstappen claimed he had his “reasons” for defying the order and insisted he would be willing to help Perez in Abu Dhabi next weekend if he could.

However, the incident added a sour note to what has been a brilliant season for Red Bull, with Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok saying it was “short-sighted” of Verstappen not to help Perez.