Mercedes double victory in Brazil: Russell celebrates

The Brit, who had already won the sprint the day before, triumphed on Sunday in the penultimate race of the season in Sao Paulo ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and reached the top podium for the first time in the 81st attempt. Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari came third, world champion Max Verstappen ended up in sixth place after a crash and catching up. “Unbelievable, this is just the beginning. “I’m so proud of you,” Russell said happily on the pit radio: “I need some tissues.”

For Red Bull, however, a series of nine wins in a row ended, Hamilton came second for the third time in a row. The season finale will take place in Abu Dhabi next Sunday before the premier class goes into the winter break until the beginning of March. Verstappen has been declared world champion ahead of schedule for a month now, and Red Bull had already secured the world title for the designer.

Russell defended his lead on the first lap ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez. The two Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz started on the harder medium tires compared to the top four and initially fell behind them. A crash between McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo, who spun the sensational qualifying winner Kevin Magnussen off the track in the Haas, caused an early safety car phase at the 50th anniversary at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.

Like old times: Max Verstappen against Lewis Hamilton. © ANSA / Sebastiao Moreira

The race continued after seven laps – and there were two more crashes. First Verstappen drove sideways into Hamilton's Mercedes, then Leclerc was spun off the track by Lando Norris in the McLaren. Leclerc crashed into the barrier but was still able to continue driving, as was Verstappen, who had to change his wing and, like Norris, received a five-second penalty. While Verstappen and Leclerc struggled laboriously through the field, Russell, in the lead, confidently completed his laps on the 4,309 km long course.

Behind him, Hamilton, who had lost a few places because of Verstappen, fought his way back to the top field. The record world champion, who recently became an honorary citizen of Brazil, overtook Perez, who was in second place, after 45 laps to the cheers of the home fans. Since Norris rolled out just under 18 laps before the end of the race, a safety car phase made things even more exciting. Perez was temporarily third and was the only one in the top field with the slower medium tires and was passed on.

Meanwhile, Russell stayed cool and defended his lead over Hamilton. The two Alpine pilots Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon delivered an impressive comeback, moving up from starting positions 15 and 18 to fifth and eighth.

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Mercedes double victory in Brazil: Russell celebrates

Mercedes driver George Russell won the Brazilian Grand Prix and celebrated his first victory in Formula 1.

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