© Getty ImagesBattling Bulls Claim P2 And P4 In BrazilSão Paulo sees Max claim his 15th podium of the season.
MaxVerstappentookhis15thpodiumfinishoftheyearafterfinishingsecondbehindLewisHamiltonattheSãoPauloGrandPrix.ValtteriBottastookthefinalpodiumspotasSergioPérezfinishedinfourthplace.However,theMexicandriverrescuedanextrapointonthefinallapwithalatesofttyreruntoclaimfastestlap.
Leading The Pack Into Turn One© Getty Images
When the lights went out at the start both Bulls made superb getaways. Max pulled alongside pole sitter Bottas on the run to turn one and then muscled his way past the Finn through the Senna S to take the lead. Checo, meanwhile, profited from a poor start by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to slip through to third place. Sainz was then tagged by Norris who passed the Spaniard around the outside, with the result that Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took fourth place.
Further back Hamilton was on a march. Starting P10, the Mercedes driver picked up four places on the first lap and by lap four he was up to fourth after passing Leclerc. That became third as Bottas eased off at the start of the next tour and Hamilton swept around the outside into turn one to take third place.
He then was allowed to close right up to Checo as the race was briefly neutralised. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda collided with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Japanese driver lost his front wing. With the debris at the side of the track the safety car was deployed and the field bunched.
When racing resumed at the start of lap 10, Max and Checo held off a challenge from Hamilton and retained the top two positions ahead of the Mercedes with the two Ferraris in fifth and sixth.
The Bulls Leading The Pack At Interlagos© Getty Images
Soon after the Virtual Safety Car appeared when Mick Schumacher’s Haas shed its front wing and more debris was scattered across the track. When the caution ended the Bulls once again held their positions, though this time Checo was feeling the pressure from Hamilton.
And at the end of lap 17 he could resist no more. Hamilton closed through the final corner and under DRS passed the Mexican around the outside to take P2. But, in doing so, the Briton went slightly wide and got a poor exit, Checo closed in on the long run to turn four and retook the position with a clinical passing move.
But the cat and mouse game wasn’t over and Hamilton once again closed in and this time perfected the move into turn one to pass the Red Bull and take second place.
Mercedes then pulled the trigger on the undercut at the end of lap 26. Hamilton arrowed into the pit lane and took on hard tyres in a 2.4s stop. The Team responded by bringing Max in at the end of the next lap. He was stationary for an identical amount of time to Hamilton, but the Briton had put in a good out lap and when Max headed onto the snaking pit lane exit road, Hamilton was rounding turn one.
However, the Mercedes driver was lodged behind Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and that allowed Max to re-join in first place, albeit just 1.7s ahead of his title rival.
Checo pitted soon after for hard tyres but just after his stop the VSC was deployed again when elements from the rear of Stroll’s car broke off. That allowed Mercedes to pit Bottas and with the caution forcing Checo to run slowly, Bottas was able to steal third place.
Max soon radioed through to ask the team to avoid an undercut in the next stop and just 14 laps after his first stop the Dutchman headed to the pit for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on the next tour, followed by Checo and then, at the end of lap 43 Hamilton made his final stop, taking on hard tyres. As he left his pit box Max powered past down the pit straight and when Hamilton emerged Max the order was maintained with the Red Bull ahead of the Mercedes.
Hamilton began to close in, however, and on lap 48 having got a good exit out of the final corner and drawn close into turn one, the Mercedes driver attacked into the turn. He drew alongside Max but the Dutchman braked later and just held on. Both cars went off into the run off area but resumed safely. The stewards noted the incident but quickly ruled that no investigation was necessary.
Hard And Fair Racing At Interlagos© Getty Images
Hamilton attacked again on lap 58. This time Max was forced to defend more robustly and though he held the lead he was later given a black and white flag for weaving.
Next time round, though, there was no way to hold off the challenge and with another good exit out of the Senna S, Hamilton used DRS to power past the Dutch driver as they approached Descido do Lago.
And there the battle was decided. Armed with greater straight line speed Hamilton quickly built a lead as Max backed off in the final laps, settling for second place and damage limitation.
However, with Hamilton holding the fastest lap, the Team used Checo’s 30 second advantage to fifth-placed Leclerc to pit the Mexican and go for the fastest lap. And Checo obliged in fine style, stealing back the precious point with a lap of 1:11.010.
Behind Leclerc, sixth place at the flag went to Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly seventh. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth respectively and the final point on offer went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
In the battles for the titles, Max now leaves Brazil with his lead in the Drivers’ cut to 14 points, while in the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes now lead by 11 points.
Max Finishes P2 At Interlagos© Getty Images
Max On Podium With P2 At Interlagos© Getty Images
I was hoping for a little bit more performance but this result is definitely the maximum we could do
“I knew today would be difficult, but I did everything I could, we were just lacking a little bit. At least it was a fun race, of course I would have liked to have won but realistically I think this was a good result. Lewis and I were fighting for position on multiple occasions, I think it was hard racing but good racing and that’s how it should be.
I was hoping for a little bit more performance but this result is definitely the maximum we could do. Top speed wise it was tough to defend, you can clearly see when they take a fresh engine that it gives them a bit more power, so hopefully that will die down over the coming races. There are three races coming up that will be completely different again, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Checo Ready For Race At Interlagos© Getty Images
It was close today and it was fun, but I am not here to have fun, I am here to deliver.
“It was close today and it was fun, but I am not here to have fun, I am here to deliver. I had a great start but then it was very difficult to hold Lewis back, I tried my best to hold onto him but I couldn’t, he was flying! Then we were ahead of Bottas by two seconds, we had the position and we had the podium but two laps later the virtual safety car came in.
That timing was extremely unlucky for us and it worked perfectly for him, he managed to do the undercut and then pull five seconds away from us. It is a bit of a shame we lost the podium but I was able to build a big enough gap to the Ferrari in fifth to pit and go for fastest lap, which is an important point for the team. That straight-line speed of the Mercedes is just unbelievable, we were not able to match them and today they were on another planet.
Ultimately it is a good result for us today, I don’t believe there is much we could have done differently, it’s just a shame because we should have finished ahead of Bottas had it not been for the VSC. Today the luck wasn’t with us but there are still three races to go and everything to play for so we will keep pushing. Now we look forward to Qatar and hopefully there we can be competitive.”
Christian On Track Grid At Interlagos© Getty Images
To come away with second and fourth today, plus the fastest lap was damage limitation this weekend
“To come away with second and fourth today, plus the fastest lap was damage limitation this weekend. We scored 20 points for Max this weekend versus their 25 for Lewis in the Drivers’ Championship, so we’ll take that. We put up as good a defence as we could, Max did his best and raced hard, and Checo made Lewis have two goes to get past, and he came back with a great move to reclaim the place after Lewis’ first effort.
But we saw Mercedes pace from Friday and then again yesterday, so today wasn’t too much of a surprise. They did a good job and Lewis drove a great race today, so well done to them. We’ve got some catching up to do this week. There’s a lot of racing still to go, so we’ll brush ourselves down and come back fighting in Doha.”
SãoPauloGrandPrixRaceTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Max Verstappen | Valtteri Bottas | Sergio Pérez | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz | Pierre Gasly | Fernando Alonso | Esteban Ocon | Lando Norris |
| Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Ferrari | Ferrari | AlphaTauri | Alpine | Alpine | McLaren |
