Brazil GP: Verstappen snatches sprint victory after opening move into turn one

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his fourth sprint race win of the season, at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as the Dutchman snatched away the race lead from McLaren’s Lando Norris at the first corner.

How the race unfolded…

After the events of qualifying for the sprint race, it meant Norris lined up in pole position alongside the triple world champion who started second. The McLaren had the difficult job of maintaining the lead with his natural position on the outside of the track while Verstappen had the advantageous inside starting position.

When the lights went out, it was an even start for the front two drivers. However, the move for the lead was light work for Verstappen. The #1 Red Bull hugged the inside line at the braking zone and controlled the opening corners, into the senna esses, and snatched the race lead away from the McLaren driver.

From there, Verstappen was never truly under threat again for the race lead as he cruised to another race win.

However, eyes were soon on the cars behind the ever-dominant world champion. At the end of the first lap, Norris fell to third after the Mercedes’ of George Russell pulled off an ambitious move, successfully, down into turn 12.

Four laps later, the track positions for Russell and Norris switched places once more. Russell found himself out of DRS range of Verstappen, on lap five, and this allowed Norris to make his move for his lost place down into turn one.

Heading into the event, Perez faced a titanic battle with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for second in the championship as only 20 points separated the two drivers.

However, in the sprint, the Mexican driver was able to bolster his position as he completed a move on Russell, into turn one, on lap 10 for third place while Hamilton sat down in fifth. This was later improved as Hamilton slipped down the order after Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda demoted the Mercedes #44 car to seventh.

While the top three remained the same until the chequered flag; Verstappen, Norris and Perez, the battle raged on for the point-scoring positions which remained. In the end, Russell held on to fourth place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fifth.

Tsunoda, Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the final point-scoring positions in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

That’s all for the article; Brazil GP: Verstappen snatches sprint victory after opening move into turn one!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Brazil GP: Norris pips both Red Bulls to sprint pole as Ocon collides with Alonso
• Scary scenes as grandstand roof rips off after Brazil GP storm
• Russell, Ocon, Gasly handed 2-place grid drop for impeding pit exit
• Brazil GP: Verstappen takes pole as bad weather ends qualifying early
• Verstappen breaks own record with 16th win this season at Mexico GP
• Fight erupts at Mexico Grand Prix amongst fans

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.