It was yet another eventful race at Interlagos, as drama unfolded lap after lap in the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix. After going from P3 to P1 in the Sprint race yesterday, George Russel stormed off from the pole position, and never looked back, as he secured a very dominant maiden Grand Prix win. Russel didn't put a foot wrong in the entire race and survived Hamilton's attack post 2 safety car periods, to bring home maximum points for him and his team as Lewis Hamilton finished second to make it a first Mercedes 1-2 finish of the season.
The 2022 Brazilian GP saw its fair share of drama, and it came right from the start as Daniel Ricciardo made contact with Kevin Magnussen's Haas on the opening lap itself. The contact sent Magnussen spinning, and his car collected Ricciardo's to send them both out of the race. Post the safety car restart, teammate Norris also collided with Leclerc, and Leclerc had to pit to repair damages, dropping him down to last. Not long after, 2021 title rivals Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton also had a coming together on Turn 2, and Verstappen broke his front wing in the incident. Both Verstappen & Norris were given a 5-second time penalty for 'causing a collision', and while Verstappen recovered to finish in the points, Norris had a mechanical DNF towards the end of the race.
Sergio Perez had held on to P2 for a long time, but in the last stint where Red Bull chose to put medium tyres on Perez's car, Hamilton pitted to put on softs. Carlos Sainz meanwhile was on a different strategy as he had to take an early pitstop to clear off a stuck visor tear-off from his car, and was also running slightly older soft tyres on his last stint, as Norris' DNF triggered a safety car period. Post the restart, Perez struggled to keep up his pace, and dropped behind several drivers to finish P7. Carlos Sainz finished on the podium, and with Leclerc finishing P4, Leclerc & Perez are now tied for the P2 spot in the championship heading into the final race of the season at Abu Dhabi next weekend. A 1-2 finish for Mercedes also means that the team has reduced the points deficit to Ferrari, and should it outscore the Scuderia by 20 points in the next race, Mercedes will finish P2 in the constructors championship.
