Russell wins sprint race and will start at the front in the São Paulo F1 GP

The Englishman George Russell won the sprint race of the São Paulo F1 GP, this Saturday (12), in Interlagos. With the victory, the pilot starts ahead in this Sunday’s race (13) and counts eight points in the general classification.

The Spaniard Carlos Sainz, for Ferrari, and the English Lewis Hamilton, for Mercedes, finished, respectively, in second and third position. However, as Sainz suffered a penalty due to the combustion engine change, and with that Mercedes will dominate the front row this Sunday

Dutchman Max Verstappen, anticipated champion of this season, will come out of third place.

Valid for the penultimate stage of the 2022 season, the São Paulo GP will be held this Sunday (13), at 3 pm (Brasilia time), at the Interlagos race track, in São Paulo.

The competition will be broadcast from 2:30 pm by Grupo Bandeirantes (TV Band, BandNews FM radio, Band.com.br website and Bandplay app), and partly cloudy skies and rain showers are expected in the afternoon, according to Inmet (Instituto National Meteorology).

Qualifying for the official race, the sprint is shorter than this Sunday’s race, without the need for a pit stop and in which each team is free to choose the tires used. In Interlagos, the official race has 71 laps and the sprint, 24.

The sprint grid started with a surprise: the pole position of the Danish Kevin Magnussen, from the Haas team, only 13th in the Drivers’ Championship – he finished the sprint in 8th place. Max Verstappen and George Russell started in second and third respectively.

Verstappen took the lead from the Dane right at the opening of the third round and had been defending himself from the onslaughts of the Englishman George Russell, from Mercedes. Until, on the 15th lap, Russell passed the Dutchman and was greatly celebrated by the public.

The defending champion after he lost part of the front wing in a touch of Sainz was with the fourth place.

The seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, of Mercedes, made a recovery race. He started eighth and finished third.

One of the tense moments of the sprint occurred after the cars Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s teammates, touched on the track, and the Spaniard left the race angry.

“I just lost the front wing. Thanks to our friend,” Alonso said over the radio.

Before the sprint race, some F1 personalities, such as Bernie Ecclestone, former boss of the category, Emerson Fittipaldi, first world champion for Brazil, and journalist Reginaldo Leme received works by the artist from the mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB). from Rio de Janeiro, Waltercio Caldas. The ceremony was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the sport in Brazil.

The promoter of the São Paulo GP launched this Saturday a campaign against prejudice, intolerance and harassment in the stands. The video highlights in the opening the checkered flag and the figure of Lewis Hamilton as champion.

The video asks the audience to be careful with the line between joke and prejudice. This year, the three-time Brazilian champion Nelson Piquet, Verstappen’s father-in-law, was denounced to the Federal Public Ministry for having called Hamilton a “neguinho”. A video recorded in 2021 shows Piquet insulting the English driver, who was involved in an accident with Verstappen at the British GP.

The Dutchman’s title for the current season, with four races to go, took some of the enthusiasm from the crowd at Interlagos this weekend. A very different situation from 2021, when Hamilton was punished twice and won a race full of twists, closing the gap to Verstappen, then leader of the championship. The Dutchman won last year’s title in just the last race, in Abu Dhabi.

The early definition of the championship left scalpers at a loss. Two of them told the report they had difficulties selling tickets this Saturday, while on the eve of the race in 2021 the profit margin would have been 100%. The cheapest ticket, BRL 770 in sector G, was being offered at BRL 500.

The São Paulo GP had five ticket tiers, from R$770 to R$13,600. Entries sold out in June — then the organization traded isolated lots.

The public estimate, according to the organization, is 230 thousand people over the three days, higher than the total of 181,711 spectators in Interlagos in 2021.

The expectation for the increase of fans, despite the championship being defined, is the result of the interest of Brazilians in the sport, according to the promoter of the São Paulo GP.

For this year, new events parallel to the race were organized on the premises of Interlagos, such as eSports events, zip lines and musical attractions. Producer and DJ Kygo from Norway will conduct a show after the race is over.

The singer Iza, accompanied by the Orquestra Sinfônica de Heliópolis, will sing the national anthem of Brazil before the start this Sunday. A new grandstand was also built 30 meters from the slopes, between the Bico de Pato, Mergulho, Junção and Subida do Café curves.