F1 Brazilian GP: Russell overhauls Verstappen to win sprint race

The Briton battled fiercely with the two-time champion, the pair dicing wheel-to-wheel for three laps before eventually the W13 driver seized first place and ran away to victory.

As Verstappen continued to tumble before sustaining damage, Lewis Hamilton completed a double Mercedes podium behind Carlos Sainz, while shock polesitter Kevin Magnussen took eighth.

Verstappen and 16th place-starting Nicholas Latifi were the only drivers to start on the medium tyres as everyone else favoured the quicker but less durable, red-walled soft compound.

With more grip from the off, Magnussen launched strongly to hold the lead into the downhill Turn 1 and pulled half a second on his front-row rival Verstappen, who had to heat his tyres.

With Russell’s rubber immediately up to temperature, he was able to stick the nose of his Mercedes alongside the Red Bull to challenge for second place before the RB18’s superior straightline speed made itself known and he eked away from the W13.

The punch of the Honda engine then allowed Verstappen to tuck into the tow of Magnussen, with him eventually relegating the compliant Haas driver under braking into Turn 1.

Russell followed suit with DRS to pass around the outside of the Dane over the start line. Before long, Sainz lunged up the inside of Magnussen to knock him off the podium.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, George Russell, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Verstappen looked strong as he pulled 1.1s clear of the chasing Silver Arrow, but Russell kept his quicker soft tyres alive to reel in the leader and gain DRS from lap 10.

With the overtaking aid again activated, he tried to pass around the outside into Turn 4 but Verstappen held his nerve under braking to sure up the position through the middle sector.

There was almost a carbon copy of that dice next time around on lap 14, with Verstappen then getting better drive off the exit to keep hold of the lead for another lap of Interlagos.

But then, on the 15th tour, Russell nailed his exit onto the back straight to gain the tow and DRS once more to pulled clear of Verstappen into the braking zone and definitively nick first.

The W13 then came on song in clear air, with Russell marching 1.6s clear as Verstappen then was under threat from Sainz, with the Spaniard robustly passing at the start of lap 19.

The British GP victor threw his F1-75 up the inside of Turn 1 with the pair bashing wheels and as Sainz came back across the racing line, he clipped the front wing of the Red Bull.

That damaged endplate and a compromised line for Verstappen then meant, after running over debris, he was under threat from Hamilton. But the Dutch racer squeezed his bitter 2021 championship rival through Turn 6 to hold on to third place for the time being.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, battles with George Russell, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

But as lap 18 came to a close, Hamilton gained DRS to sail past over the line and cement third before chasing after Sainz - now complaining that he was losing the soft tyres.

He managed to hold on by less than half a second from Hamilton, but it was Russell who bagged the spoils nigh on four seconds clear to score Mercedes its first win of the year.

Verstappen continued to fourth but was 6s down on Hamilton, as Sergio Perez recovered from ninth to fifth ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, while Magnussen’s anticipated fade ended with eighth place.

Sebastian Vettel bagged ninth after surviving a trip over the grass while attempting to pass his uber-defensive team-mate Lance Stoll, and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

Stroll dropped to 17th with a 10s penalty for his move on Vettel - two places down on Fernando Alonso, who was forced to pit for a new front wing after colliding with fellow Alpine driver Esteban Ocon.

Ocon dropped to 18th ahead of only Latifi and Alex Albon, who retired on lap 13.

Brazilian Grand Prix - Sprint Race Results

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	George Russell		Mercedes	24	-
2	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	24	3.995	3.995	3.995
3	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	24	4.492	4.492	0.497
4	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	24	10.494	10.494	6.002
5	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	24	11.855	11.855	1.361
6	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	24	13.133	13.133	1.278
7	Lando Norris		McLaren	24	25.624	25.624	12.491
8	Kevin Magnussen		Haas	24	28.768	28.768	3.144
9	Sebastian Vettel		Aston Martin	24	30.218	30.218	1.450
10	Pierre Gasly		AlphaTauri	24	34.170	34.170	3.952
11	Daniel Ricciardo		McLaren	24	39.395	39.395	5.225
12	Mick Schumacher		Haas	24	41.159	41.159	1.764
13	Zhou Guanyu		Alfa Romeo	24	41.763	41.763	0.604
14	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	24	42.338	42.338	0.575
15	Fernando Alonso		Alpine	24	48.985	48.985	6.647
16	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	24	50.306	50.306	1.321
17	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	24	50.700	50.700	0.394
18	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	24	51.756	51.756	1.056
19	Nicholas Latifi		Williams	24	1'16.850	1'16.850	25.094
	Alex Albon		Williams	12
View full results