The 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix (previously known as the Brazilian Grand Prix) has certainly been producing some firsts, starting with Kevin Magnussen giving the Haas F1 team its long awaited po9le position for the Sprint Qualifying Race. And then Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell getting his first ever pole position in the race, along with his team also getting its first pole position of the season.
The Sprint Qualifying race, introduced last year at Silverstone, is a 100-km F1 race which offers additional excitement for spectators and also a different challenge for the teams. Drivers will be flat out from start to finish, with no pit stops needed. The best effort will be necessary as the finishing order will determine the starting positions for the main F1 race, so there is a chance to improve on the position gained in Qualifying. There are also points for the top three finishers of the race.
The starting grid for the Sprint Qualifying Race at Interlagos was determined by the usual qualifying session in which Magnussen took pole position for the first time for himself as well as his team. Although the Danish driver held the lead in the first 2 laps, Max Verstappen got past him by the third lap pursued by Russell who had started in P3.
The Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull racing drivers duelled for the next 12 laps and on lap 15, he stayed in Verstappen’s slipstream all the way along the back straight to sweep past just before reaching Turn 4. It was reminiscent of the move made by his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, at the same track last year.
Once Russell got past, he held on to the lead to the finish line. Verstappen, however, came under attack by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. With the chance to get onto the front row instead of starting the main race far back due to a 5-place grid penalty for taking a new engine, Sainz charged forward and as contact occurred between the two cars in Turn 1, the front wing of the Red Bull car was damaged as it hit the rear tyre of the Ferrari.
The incident gave Hamilton the chance to slip past Verstappen but Sainz was able to stay ahead to end the race in second. However, with the grid penalty, the Ferrari driver is demoted and Hamilton moves up to second which has the Mercedes-AMG team on the front row.
However, when the race ended, the Stewards requested to meet 6 drivers due to incidents that occurred in the race. The drivers were Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Zhou GuanYu. Gasly was alleged to have driven too slowly during his reconnaissance laps but got off with a warning while Alonso was penalized for colliding with his team mate. Hamilton was fortunate to be cleared of an issue on the starting grid while both Zhou and Ricciardo were also let off for the same issues of positioning in their starting boxes. The Stewards noted that the boxes at the Interlagos circuit were slightly smaller and may have been more difficult for the drivers to position their F1 cars precisely.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was given 3 penalty points for driving in a dangerous manner which caused his team mate, Sebastian Vettel, off the track. The Canadian F1 driver had already picked up a 10-second penalty during the race.
