Russell wins first F1 Brazilian GP in 2022

George Russell of Mercedes-Benz AMG took his first win in the 2022 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo. [2nd place went to Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and 3rd to Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.

Russell, who drove brilliantly in Saturday's sprint race qualifying, started the race from pole position and took the lead with Hamilton after Sainz, who finished second in the sprint race, received a five-place grid demotion penalty for switching to a new power unit. 3rd and 4th followed by Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in third. [McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo ran into the back of Haas' Kevin Magnussen and was doing well until the safety car was brought in. The race resumed on lap 7, with Russell in the lead and Verstappen in third trying to overtake Hamilton and move up to second; the two touched and Hamilton was pushed off the track, requiring Verstappen to pit and change his front wing. Verstappen was then given a five-second penalty by the stewards.

After dropping to 17th, Verstappen began to make up positions, but by this point Hamilton was in second place behind Russell. With Verstappen in 12th, Hamilton made his first pit stop and moved up to third behind Perez in second and Russell in the lead. Perez tried hard to hold off Hamilton, but eventually lost position on lap 44 when his tires became old.

Perez eventually stopped to change to medium tires, but his luck ran out on lap 52 when McLaren's Lando Norris stopped on the track with a power loss, bringing in the virtual safety car. The actual safety car was brought in on lap 55 after trouble forced Norris off the track.

On lap 58, lapped cars were allowed to overtake the safety car and the race resumed on lap 60. After the restart, Perez on medium tires lost positions to Alpine's Fernando Alonso, Sainz, and fellow Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, dropping the Red Bull driver to sixth place.

Meanwhile, Verstappen, in seventh place, was given a team order to pass Perez. However, the team order included the condition that if Verstappen failed to improve his position, he would have to give the position back to Perez.

The team then asked Verstappen to return the sixth position to Perez, but he refused. Verstappen, already the 2022 champion, eventually finished sixth, while Perez was seventh.

The team heads to Abu Dhabi this weekend for the final race of the 2022 season. In the drivers' championship, Verstappen has 429 points ahead of Leclerc and Perez with 290. However, Leclerc is currently in second place due to his more victories this season. In the constructors' championship, Red Bull has 719 points to Ferrari's 524 and Mercedes' 505.

Full results for the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix are as follows:

1) George Russell (Mercedes-Benz AMG) 2) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Benz AMG) +1.529 seconds 3) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +4.051s 4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +8.441s 5) Fernando Alonso (Alpine) +9.561s 6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) +10.056s 7) Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) +14.080s 8) Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +18.690s 9) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) +22.552s 10) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +23.552s 11) Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) +26.183s 12) Guan Yu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) +29.325 seconds 13) Mick Schumacher, Haas, +29.899 seconds 14) Pierre Gasly, Alfa Tauri +31.867s 15) Alex Albon, Williams +36. 016 sec. 16) Nicolas Latifi, Williams +37.038 seconds 17) Hiroki Kakuda, Alfa Tauri - +1 lap NC) Lando Norris, McLaren - DNF NC) Kevin Magnussen, Haas - DNF NC) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren - DNF