George Russell lives F1 dream to win debut race: 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix report

F1

Mercedes completed its resurgence with a 1-2 result in the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, bringing a debut F1 win for George Russell, as rifts emerged between squabbling team-mates behind

Tearful George Russell celewbrates winning his first Grand Prix with his team in Brazil

No hiding the emotion of winning his first F1 grand prix

Peter J Fox/Getty Images

Who thought 2022 was petering out into a quiet ending?

It has been a long season, and perhaps that explained why there were some frayed tempers and firm stances taken by drivers at Interlagos. Whatever the reasons, it led to another thrilling weekend and controversial Sunday afternoon.

And some of that controversy surrounded Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, although the latter found himself in the firing line for matters closer to home.

For the first time in 2022 Hamilton had a car to really race Verstappen and it didn’t take long for them to collide. They weren’t the first to come together though, as Kevin Magnussen received a little touch from Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 8 on the opening lap and was tapped into a spin, with the Haas rolling backwards and collecting the McLaren to wipe both out of the race.

Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen joke before the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Ricciardo and Magnussen joked before the race

Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin MAgnussen crash out of the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Tap for Ricciardo ended the GP for both drivers

Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

It was a deflating end to a weekend that started so brilliantly for Magnussen after his pole position, but fitting of the up-and-down nature of the race for so many.

The safety car was immediately deployed and Mercedes’ dream start suddenly came under threat. George Russell had led away on the initial launch and also got a good restart on Lap 7, but behind him Hamilton was slightly caught out and had to go defensive against Verstappen.

The two adversaries went side-by-side into Turn 1, with Hamilton pushing Verstappen as wide as he could. But the world champion kept his foot in and when the gap closed at the apex of Turn 2 there was contact. Hamilton suffered some floor damage and dropped to eighth, while Verstappen’s front wing was broken and he received a five-second time penalty that he had to take at a later pit stop.

“To be honest I went round the outside and I immediately felt he was not going to leave space,” Verstappen said. “So I just went for it, he did not leave space, so I knew we were going to get together. It cost him the race win, for me it gave me five seconds.

“It would not have mattered anything for my race because we were just way too slow. But it’s just a shame, I thought we could race quite well together but clearly the intention was not there to race.”

Hamilton was on the back foot but soon started making progress, clearing Mick Schumacher, Pierre Gasly, Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris in order to run in the top four six laps later.

Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris smile and talk ahead of the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Norris and Leclerc appeared best friends ahead of GP...

Charles Leclerc crashes into a barrier at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

...but Leclerc was scathing about him after being sent into the wall

Having been unwell all weekend, Norris was also ailing with suspected steering issues, but that was totally self inflicted. Just five corners after Verstappen and Hamilton had come together, Norris took too much kerb on the inside of Turn 6 and understeered into Charles Leclerc as he went round the outside, sending the Ferrari spinning into the barrier.

“I thought I had left space, well I’m pretty sure I left space,” Leclerc said. “I think he lost the rear and touched me, so it’s a shame. It wasn’t a small touch with the barriers.”

Like Verstappen, Leclerc had to pit for a new front wing and you’d have been forgiven for thinking their races were done. But there was so much more to come.

Temperatures had cooled from a high of over 30C early in the race but the tyres were still proving a challenge, with the likes of Fernando Alonso committing to a three-stop race to try and recover from his 17th-place starting position after collisions with Esteban Ocon on Saturday.

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Only Russell looked comfortable, extending his lead over Perez gradually while Carlos Sainz – having started on mediums compared to softs for the top two – appeared to be a threat. But then Sainz suffered the misfortune of a visor tear-off becoming stuck in his right rear brake duct and an early first stop for softs was required, hurting his chances.

After Perez, Russell and then Hamilton stopped for mediums, the latter had offset his tyres by six laps over Perez and started showing ominous pace, and on Lap 45 he went round the outside of the Mexican to take second. By then Sainz had made a second stop for another set of mediums and was running quickly, and the final set of pit stops had a major bearing on the outcome of the race.

Perez was struggling and stopped earliest, taking on mediums on Lap 47 to ensure he’d make it to the end. Hamilton was called in for a set of softs – despite protesting that his tyres were fine – and comfortably covered off any undercut threat, leaving Russell to do the same and emerge just ahead of Sainz who still had to stop again.

Smoke from the rear brake of Carlos Sainz Ferrari in the pits at the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Early stop for Perez to clear visor tear-off from his brake duct

Dan Istitene/F1 via Getty Images

That stop became less penalising when Norris’s tough weekend was capped off when he lost power and stopped exiting Turn 10, leading to a long virtual safety car that became a full safety sar when the McLaren couldn’t be moved.

And then things got really interesting.

Sainz made his final stop for softs and was fourth on the road behind a Mercedes one-two and Perez, with Russell asking for the rules of engagement against his team-mate.

“So you are racing, just be respectful,” came the reply.

Others weren’t so courteous, as Ocon – eighth in the queue behind Bottas in fifth, Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel –  was told not to fight Alonso. The Spaniard was directly behind on new softs thanks to his strategy, but Ocon declined and said he needed to overtake Vettel first.

Carlos Sainz behind Sergio Perez in the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Perez on medium tyres couldn’t hold Sainz back

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

With 12 laps to go on the restart, Mercedes nailed it. Russell and Hamilton pulled away without drama while Perez slipped backwards. Like Saturday, the Red Bull was no good on the mediums, and Sainz was quickly through, soon followed by Leclerc who had instantly dispatched Bottas.

The same phrase can be used for Ocon’s treatment of Vettel, and to his credit the Frenchman then didn’t make life too hard for Alonso as the Spaniard followed him through, clearing Bottas and set off after the top five.

With six laps to go Alonso attacked Perez at Turn 1 and received a robust defence, but used DRS to Turn 4 to take fifth place. That left Perez with Verstappen as his apparent rear-gunner as he looks to secure second in the drivers’ championship, after a brilliant outbraking move on both Ocon and Bottas into Turn 1 promoted his team-mate to seventh.

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But Verstappen was not in the mood to help Perez’s cause. Having overtaken him into Turn 1 under the proviso he would return the position if no further progress was made, Verstappen caught Alonso but wasn’t close enough to pass. Despite a reminder on the final lap, the Dutchman duly crossed the line sixth, and then lambasted his team after being asked why he ignored the team order.

“I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, OK? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.”

Verstappen wouldn’t elaborate on his reasons post-race, while Perez was left “disappointed, especially after all I’ve done” but similarly kept conversations that threatened to overshadow a landmark victory behind closed doors.

Leclerc had also asked Ferrari to move Sainz aside to aid his cause in the fight against Perez, but Alonso’s close proximity led to Ferrari deeming it too risky.

“Obviously we had a discussion with the team before the race otherwise I don’t ask for this type of thing,” Leclerc said. “But the decision has changed for some reason and it’s like this. I will speak with the team to understand why it has changed.”

That meant Sainz crossed the line third behind debut winner Russell and a remarkable Mercedes one-two that seemed unthinkable mid-season.

George Russell crosses the line to win the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix

Victory for Russell, as Hamilton and Sainz follow behind to complete the podium

DPPI

“So many emotions, I think I’ve dreamt of this moment, for sure, many, many times,” a tearful Russell said. “And you never really know how it’s going to pan out and I think the race was well managed, everything was under control.

“I knew how quick Lewis was and when that safety car came out, I thought ‘God this is going to be very, very tricky now’. But I put together a really strong string of laps. Very little mistakes and you know the pressure Lewis put me under was immense.

“But I’m so proud of the whole team. The progress we’ve made since the start of the year is just unbelievable. And what a boost it’s going to give us going into next season.”

Somehow, in the space of an afternoon in Interlagos, Red Bull’s intra-team dramas and Mercedes’ resurgence reignited a feeling that next season can’t come soon enough.