Carlos Sainz was second, but will start seventh due to the engine change and the Asturian suffered a bad pass from his partner. Russell and Hamilton’s Mercedes, first and third
Fernando Alonso will start from the 15th position of the Brazilian Grand Prix after experiencing another incident with Stephen Ocon in the sprint race. And there was not a single lap to wait. When he saw that the Spaniard was about to overtake him at turn 4, the French driver closed in on his teammate until he almost ran off the track. And on the next straight, with both on, a new crash left Alonso worse off. “I just lost the front wing thanks to our friend,” the Asturian radioed.
“He pushed me at turn four and then on the straight. Well done,” Alonso explained, running out of reserves of irony on the inside line. The obligatory passage through the boxes condemned his options in a race of only 24 laps, although at least it saved him a small revenge: on the penultimate lap, after having seen himself at the tail of the race more than 25 seconds late, the Spaniard finished overtaking Ocon.
Things went much better for Carlos Sainzwho finished second after winning two battles: one with Verstappen to advance it and another with hamilton to defend. A good cushion for Madrid, thus cushioning the sanction of five positions that he has for Sunday’s race. I just resisted George Russellwinner of a session that confirmed the good response of the Mercedes on the Brazilian track.
Duel with Verstappen
The Briton had the best moment of the sprint race, a wonderful duel with Verstappen. The world champion was one of the only two (the other, Latifi) who started with a medium tire and ended up paying for it, but first he defended himself with everything he had at hand. Russell sang victory on lap 15 and four later Carlos Sainz did, who that wheel-to-wheel fight gave time to come from behind.
Hamilton arrived almost immediately, and the Mercedes were so strong that they even attacked without DRS. But the man from Madrid, unlike Verstappen, did manage to keep the Briton at bay, and saved a second place that mitigated the blow on the starting grid.
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