Russell wins F1 Sao Paulo GP, and ‘Brazilian’ Hamilton completes Mercedes double

Englishman George Russell, from Mercedes, won the first victory of his career at the São Paulo F1 GP this Sunday (13). An undisputed victory in which the Briton led from start to finish and finished ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Spanish Carlos Sainz.

But it was the symbiosis between Hamilton and the Brazilian fans that drew the most attention at the Interlagos circuit.

The seven-time champion, who started from second position, but suffered from a crash from Dutchman Max Verstappen, had to make a recovery race to consolidate Mercedes’ double on the podium. The Dutchman, champion of the current season with four races to go, finished in 6th place.

Russell’s quiet victory does not reflect the temperature of the circuit at Interlagos.

Shortly after the start, Australian Daniel Ricciardo, for McLaren, and Dane Kevin Magnussen, for Haas, crashed on the first lap. 13th in the Drivers’ Championship, Magnussen had achieved a surprising pole position for the sprint race, qualifying, which took place on Saturday (12), for this Sunday’s official race.

After the safety car left the track, Russell held the lead, while Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought a separate duel, with the Dutchman touching the Englishman’s car.

The collision earned Verstappen a five-second penalty – the same for McLaren’s Lando Norris after he crashed into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which spun around the track and came back with a broken nose.

The Brazilian public became even tougher with the Dutchman, who ran under boos. For Hamilton, applause. In this scenario, the Englishman was making a recovery test and came to take the provisional lead of the race when Russell went to the pits.

It was up to Emerson Fittipaldi, 75, the first Brazilian to win in the category and to win the Drivers’ Championship (1972), the mission to give the final flag. “It’s something that brings back a very strong memory since I started racing at Interlagos, since I raced on a motorcycle, of the many races I’ve done,” said Fittipaldi, who this year ran for a seat in the Italian Senate, but did not was elected.

The São Paulo GP this Sunday, held two weeks after the most tense elections in the country, went smoothly. The hottest moment came shortly after singer Iza, accompanied by the Heliópolis Symphony Orchestra, sang the national anthem of Brazil. Part of the audience started screaming “Mito”, and the other responded with “Lula”.

This verbal dispute between supporters of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) lasted a few minutes, until the moment the start was given.

Before the race started, the report located two men near one of the access gates to the racetrack distributing sheets, in A4 format, with the flag of Brazil and the message #BrazilWasStolen [O Brasil foi roubado]🇧🇷 In the material, the phrase Ordem e Progresso was replaced by “No censorship!”.

The protesters, who did not want to reveal their names, explained that the objective is to take advantage of the F1 race to show the world media how much supporters of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) are under censorship.

The campaign was supported by a minority. Perhaps the highest point was when some F1 fans raised the posters and called President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) a thief. “Nobody is a bad loser, the contestation is because there was no transparency and we just wanted fair elections,” said businesswoman Letícia Feller Pereira, 27.

The next and last F1 race will be on Sunday (20), in Abu Dhabi.