George Russell won the Brazilian Grand Prix this evening after a chaotic race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace – marking his maiden win in Formula 1.
There were three retirements before the chequered flag today, including both McLaren men and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas.
Magnussen’s retirement will have come as a major blow to the Danish driver after landing Pole Position for Saturday’s Sprint, preceded by a great performance across the weekend.
The Haas man saw his day come to an abrupt close on the opening lap after being clipped by Ricciardo in the McLaren, sending the Haas spinning off the track and out of the race.
It was a great day for Mercedes on the other hand, with Russell taking the top step of the podium, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton came home in second and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third.
Speaking after the race, a delighted George Russell told Felipe Massa: “What an amazing feeling.
“Just a huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible. It has been an emotional rollercoaster this season. This was a tough race, I felt in control.
“Lewis was super-fast and when I saw the Safety Car, I thought this is going to be a really difficult end, he put me under so much pressure.
“I am speechless. On the in lap, all of these memories start flooding back, starting with my mum and dad at go karting and going through to all of the support I have had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, my manager.
“The list is endless. I can’t thank them all enough, I am super proud.”
Lewis Hamilton then congratulated his teammate on his maiden win, saying: “A huge congratulations to George. What an amazing drive he did today.
“He did an amazing qualifying yesterday, so he truly deserves it. To my team, so proud of everyone back at the factory and here. This is an incredible result.
“We’ve worked so hard through this year to get a 1-2 and to get a win, and so this is hugely deserved by everybody so a huge thank you.
“What can I say, you know how it is with Max. Big thank you to everyone in Brazil. I’ve had one of the best weeks of my life with how everyone’s accepted me here so excited to come back again.”
Carlos Sainz then said: “I think overall it was a good race. We did have some problems there at the start with the brakes on fire.
“It meant we had to commit to a three-stop which maybe wasn’t the fastest given the degradation.
“From there I pushed back out to try and catch Checo. I think we can be happy with that.
“It is a shame that Merc are so quick but congratulations to George.”
