Valtteri Bottas will lead the way at lights out for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace after the final Sprint of the season this evening.
Max Verstappen – who started in P1 – was overtaken by the Finn into Turn One this evening, and was held off for the entirety of the 24 Laps. He will take off from second tomorrow evening.
In third will be the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, followed by Sergio Perez in fourth.
Highlights
At lights out, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took the lead from Max Verstappen at Turn One, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in second after the Dutch Red Bull driver went wide, and was in third by the end of Lap 1.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton – who started from the back of the grid this evening – had already made his way up to P14 by Lap 2, with Yuki Tsunoda in his sights.
Bottas’ lead was extended to 2s by Lap 4 as the Finnish driver secured an early fastest lap as well, meanwhile, Verstappen made his way back into second after sailing around the Ferrari in the hands of Sainz.
On Lap Five, Hamilton overtook Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and was in 12th with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso up ahead.
Verstappen, meanwhile, had sliced Bottas’ lead to under two seconds as Lap 6 commenced while his teammate Perez was still tucked in behind Sainz.
Heading into Lap Eight, the Mercedes of Hamilton and the Alpine of Alonso both had DRS on the main straight. The speed of the W12 was no match for the A521 and so Hamilton swept past his ex team-mate into Turn One.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was also performing impeccably during the Sprint and was in 5th at the halfway mark after chasing the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc into Turn three before making the overtake – Sergio Perez was next in his view.
Max Verstappen was now 1.2 seconds behind leader Valtteri Bottas as Hamilton sped past the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo on the main straight to lift his Mercedes into the points.
With seven laps left in the final Sprint of the season, the British world champion had moved up two more places after successfully overtaking the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly – he was now in P7.
After stalking the leading Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen failed to make the vital overtake and crossed the line in second behind the Finnish driver.
Carlos Sainz was in third after a great drive for the prancing horses and was just ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez in fourth.
This evening marked an incredible outing for Lewis Hamilton who managed to plough his way fifteen places up the grid from last place – however, he will take a five-place grid penalty for his new engine and will start tenth on the grid at Interlagos.
