Red Bull driver Max Verstappen celebrates his victory at Interlagos (Marcelo Chello/AP)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen celebrates his victory at Interlagos (Marcelo Chello/AP)
Lando Norris finished second for McLaren, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso edged Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by just 0. 053 seconds to finish third.
But it was a terrible afternoon for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton eighth and George Russell forced to retire with an engine failure with 12 laps remaining. Hamilton crossed the finish line 63 seconds behind.
The race in Sao Paulo was suspended after a chaotic start in which a loose tyre hit Ricciardo’s rear wing following a collision between Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg.
– Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 5, 2023
Albon, 13th on the grid, caught Hulkenberg before the first corner, but the two machines made contact, sending the London-born driver into Hulkenberg’s Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen and then into the barrier.
The force of the impact tore the left rear of Albon’s Williams, and the bouncing tire, which weighs 13kg, flew just above Ricciardo’s head before crashing into the rear of his AlphaTauri.
Images from Ricciardo’s cockpit show him turning sharply to the left towards the flying rubber.
“I tried to dodge it, but the tyre was in the air and it cut my rear wing,” he said.
The 34-year-old Australian driver was able to limp back to the pits for maintenance after his lucky breakaway, while Albon and Magnussen emerged unscathed.
Hülkenberg was able to continue before the race was red-flagged for 25 minutes, as the tyre barrier on the way to the first corner was repaired following Albon’s crash.
Norris stayed in second position for the restart after an excellent breakaway from the British driver from sixth. Hamilton moved up two places from fifth to take third on the grid for the second start.
Verstappen dominated the breakaway to keep his Red Bull ahead of Norris before Alonso made soft paintings on Hamilton to appreciate the British driver at the Curva do Lago.
On lap eight, Norris found himself behind Verstappen and for a handful of corners looked like he could do the unthinkable and take the lead.
– Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 5, 2023
Norris closed in on Verstappen on the outside of turn four to give the Dutchman a rare scare. But at the start of the lap, Verstappen had established a lead of more than a second, and for Norris, Verstappen lost control. of DRS.
Behind, things were starting to fall apart for Mercedes. Performances over the past two rounds had given Hamilton and the one-time grid winner hope of reaching the top. But here they were faced with a desperate reality.
On laps 14 and 18, Perez was ahead of Russell and Hamilton, respectively, before Russell lamented holding back through his teammate.
“Do we paint together or just do our own shopping?” Russell asked.
Hamilton stopped to put rubber on and Russell followed his teammate on the next lap. Perez arrived 3 laps later than Hamilton and had to overtake the seven-time world champion again, which he did with ease on lap 23. Then, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll made his way past the long-suffering Mercedes pairing.
Russell, now seventh, was frustrated that Hamilton was struggling to find the rhythm. Russell sought out Mercedes to order Hamilton out of his way.
“Do you want to nominate me or give me up positions?” Asked.
Later, he added, “I didn’t go on the radio because I had the idea of rhythm pretty obvious. “
Mercedes remained unmoved as Russell tried and failed to overtake Hamilton.
The hole between Alonso and Perez ? #F1 #BrasilGP pic. twitter. com/ikoNoQTxLH
– Formula 1 (@F1) November 5, 2023
Carlos Sainz soon got behind the hotly contested Mercedes men, overtaking Russell on lap 35 and then Hamilton two laps later.
The Silver Arrows returned to the field, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly overtaking Russell in eighth on lap 43.
Russell pitted for a second time on lap forty-five with Hamilton a lap later, only for Gasly to take the position ahead of Hamilton and leave the seven-time world champion eighth, that’s where he would finish.
Hamilton is now 32 points behind Perez in the race for second position after the Mexican failed to climb to the bottom of the podium.
Perez overtook Alonso on the penultimate lap, but the Spaniard regained the lead on the final lap. The two drivers then battled to the finish line, with Alonso narrowly holding the lead.
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