Max Verstappen wins sprint race at the São Paulo F1 GP – 11/04/2023 – Sport

Dutch Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won this Saturday (4) the sprint race of the São Paulo F1 GP, beating the British Landon Norris (McLaren) and the Mexican Sergio Perez (Red Bull).

Verstappen, who on Friday (3) had already been the fastest in official training and will start on Sunday (5) in pole position, overtook Norris, who had started in first position, in the first meters and led the 24 laps of the circuit of Interlagos since the beginning.

“It was very important to get a good start. The start wasn’t very good, but the second part was. I managed to overtake Norris and then it was necessary to save the tires. 24 laps is a lot for the tires”, said Verstappen after winning the sprint.

The Dutchman, who has absolute dominance in F1 this season, was hopeful of “being able to do something similar tomorrow” at the Brazilian GP.

With the victory in the Interlagos sprint, Verstappen extends the record for victories in this type of race since it was established in 2021, with 7 victories.

Norris, who started from first position, admitted that his poor performance at the start hurt him.

“I have to analyze the start, I don’t know what happened. I think I was conservative, I have to improve for tomorrow. I tried to catch Verstappen, but I couldn’t,” he said.

Mexican Serio Pérez, third, scored six valuable points that allow him to distance himself from Britain’s Lewis Hamilton on the final podium of the season. With sprint points, Pérez is second with 246, while Hamilton is third with 222.

“It wasn’t an easy race, I ended up losing positions to Russel and Hamilton. Then I had difficulties, I had to wear out the tires a lot and I paid for it at the end of the race. But the start was bad”, commented the second Red Bull driver.

George Russell, winner of last year’s sprint in Brazil, finished fourth for Mercedes, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fifth and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda sixth, taking their team’s first sprint points.

Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took the final point in the 24-lap, 100km independent race on the Interlagos circuit.

The GP São Paulo will be held this Sunday, starting at 2pm.