© Getty ImagesMax Extends Championship Lead In São Paulo SprintBulls finish P2 and P4 in the final Sprint of the season in Brazil.
MaxVerstappenwillstarttomorrow’sSãoPauloGrandPrixfromthefrontrowofthegridaftertheSprintatInterlagoswaswonbyMercedes’ValtteriBottas.SergioPérezwillstartfourthafterbeingedgedoutofthetopthreebyFerrari’sCarlosSainzandMax’sMercedestitlerivalLewisHamiltonwillstartfromP10afterclimbingfromlastonthegridtofifthinthe24-lapSprint.
Max Starts Front Row On Sunday© Getty Images
Overnight in Brazil, Hamilton was found to have breached rules regarding the size of the DRS aperture on his rear wing and was sent to the back of the grid for the Sprint. Max, meanwhile, was handed a fine for testing the wing discrepancy after qualifying by touching the rear wing on Hamilton’s car in Parc Fermé after qualifying, also a breach of regulations.
With Max starting from P1 and Hamilton in P20 an intriguing race was set-up but at the start, Max, on medium tyres, was passed by front-row starter Bottas who got away well and found more grip on his soft tyres. The championship leader was then passed by Ferrari’s hard-charging Carlos Sainz, also on soft tyres, in turn four and had to fight his way back, with Checo now in P4.
Hamilton meanwhile was powering through the field and by lap six was up to P3. Max then made his move on Sainz on the run to turn four and he began to close in on Bottas. The Finn had good straight-line speed, however, and managed the small gap well to hold onto first place until the flag.
Behind the top two Checo spent all race embroiled in a furious fight with Sainz for third place, but the Spaniard was able to hold on to his soft tyres to keep the Red Bull driver at bay and the Mexican had to settle for a start at the rear of row two.
Hamilton continued to scythe his way through the slower cars in the midfield and after putting in a good move on McLaren’s Lando Norris late in the race he took the flag in P5, which after he takes his grid penalty for using a new ICE will see the Mercedes driver start tomorrow’s grand prix from 10th on the grid.
São Paulo Prix 2021: Sprint
All Action Down To Turn One© Getty Images
Out For Sprint Quali On Mediums© Getty Images
Keeping The Pace At Interlagos© Getty Images
Max Takes P2 In Sprint Quali© Getty Images
Checo On Mediums For Sprint Quali© Getty Images
Go The Attack In Sprint Quali© Getty Images
The Bulls On Charge In Sprint Quali© Getty Images
Max With Special Brazil Helmet Design© Getty Images
At the end of the day I always try to do the best I can and it was good to score a few points today
“We started on the harder compound and as soon as I saw Valtteri was on the softs I knew it would be quite tricky to keep position, especially in these colder track temperatures. After the first lap we had good pace but it’s hard to overtake here and the tyres overheat a lot so there’s not much you can do so I ended up sitting behind.
At the end of the day I always try to do the best I can and it was good to score a few points today. Tomorrow is the important day and it will be different when we have more options with pit strategies. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, it’s going to be quite a bit warmer so hopefully that will be better for us but it’s difficult to say at the moment.”
Checo Finishes P4 In Sprint At Interlagos© Getty Images
“It was difficult to get past Carlos Sainz today, I thought I was going to get him quite easily, but I couldn’t get the exit right in the final corner and that effected my ability to pass him. We were expecting to hold them back at the start but that wasn’t the case in the end. The main issue I was having today was that Sainz was always getting a good exit out of the final corner while my tyres were overheating.
The straight-line speed of the Ferrari was quite strong too. Tomorrow is the race that matters, there is still a lot to play for and we can take more risks than today. I could have made up that position today but it would have involved taking too many risks, more than I would like. I would like to move forwards in the race tomorrow, we will be pushing from the start and try to make the progress we want.
It’s important to have a good starting position tomorrow and then work from there, I hope I can get through the Ferrari quickly and have good pace from lap one. We will learn from what we have done today and be stronger tomorrow.”
Christian In Discussions With Team© Getty Images
We need to have both cars up there challenging for points
“We got two points today and they will be vital in the championship battle, so that’s a positive. Mercedes’ speed today is no great surprise, it has been coming for a few races now. In Turkey it started to appear and in Mexico their straight-line speed was about 14km quicker than us at the end of the straight. We saw it again yesterday, and in a straight-line nobody can live with them. But tomorrow is a different race.
It looks like track conditions will be hotter and strategy will be key, we need to get a good start into turn one. We were on the medium tyres today and so we still have the softs to come, and as always in Brazil, anything can happen come race day. We’ve got to get our heads down and concentrate on what we do. We need to have both cars up there challenging for points. We are on the front row with Max and Checo is right behind him, so we are going to go for it and see what we can come away with.”
SãoPauloGrandPrixSprintTop10
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Max Verstappen | Carlos Sainz | Sergio Pérez | Lewis Hamilton | Lando Norris | Charles Leclerc | Pierre Gasly | Esteban Ocon | Sebastian Vettel |
| Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Ferrari | Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | McLaren | Ferrari | AlphaTauri | Alpine | Aston Martin |
