George P4 and Lewis P10 in Weather-Affected São Paulo GP
George and Lewis finish in the points in a chaotic rain-soaked race at Interlagos.
2024 São Paulo GP
Results
Race
George Russell
1:21.645 Fastest Lap
69 Laps
4th
Lewis Hamilton
1:22.041 Fastest Lap
69 Laps
10th
Sprint
George Russell
Time: 29:58.520
6th
Lewis Hamilton
Time: 30:15.809
11th
Grand Prix Qualifying
George Russell
1:23.578 Fastest Lap
29 Laps
2nd
Lewis Hamilton
1:31.150 Fastest Lap
11 Laps
16th
Sprint Shootout
George Russell
Time: 1:09.443
6th
Lewis Hamilton
Time: 1:09.941
11th
The start of the race was aborted when Lance Stroll got stuck in the gravel on the parade lap. In an incident-filled Grand Prix, not only was the Safety Car brought out, but the race was also red-flagged mid-race due to an accident involving Franco Colapinto.
George made a strong start and took the lead from Lando Norris, which he held until his first pit stop. The red flag allowed some drivers to change tyres without losing time, which dropped him back to P5. He moved up to fourth by the chequered flag and crossed the line just behind the final podium spot.
Lewis fought his way up from 14th on the grid to finish in the points and secure P10.
After the São Paulo Grand Prix, Formula One will take a three-week break before the final triple-header of the season kicks off at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
George Russell
That was an intense race and there’s lots for us to debrief and learn from. I got a good start and I was surprised at the pace in the opening stint – we didn’t have the right tyre pressures on the set, and we were expecting them to drop off, so that was encouraging. When the VSC came with the heavy rain, I was in favour of staying out as I thought there would be a red flag – it was like driving a point at points, with the aquaplaning on the straights. I pitted and so did Lando, and we ended up P4 and P6 at the finish, while the cars that stayed out finished ahead. But it’s easy to make the call after the race, and we’re in this together, trying to make the best calls with the information we have available. I think we would have taken P4 at the start of the weekend; but of course, after qualifying P2 and running in the lead for the first half of the race, it’s hard not to feel some regret for the opportunity we missed today.
Lewis Hamilton
That was such a tough race for us today – and probably one of the most difficult race weekends of the season, to be honest. The car has been very difficult to drive all weekend, and it didn’t hook up at any point during the race either. But even with the results today, it’s hard to come away upset because the fans here are incredible. It was such an unusual day with the early qualifying session, and they were queuing up from 04:00 this morning – and you just cannot beat that commitment and positivity, no matter what the result on track. It was so emotional to drive Senna’s car in front of them all this morning, and to connect with the five-year-old child inside of me. That was a very special moment for me, and I’m very grateful we could make it happen today in spite of the conditions.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
It has been a tough triple header for the team – and the final day of competition continued in very much the same way. Qualifying and the race itself were bittersweet: Lewis struggled for confidence in the car, and did not progress past Q1 in a session that saw several cars finish out of position; George was able to build greater confidence in the rear end in particular and took a strong P2 on the grid. The aborted start led to some unusual circumstances but when the race proper began, George ran strongly at the head of the field until the VSC came out at the same time as a heavy rain shower. We wanted to use that opportunity to change his worn intermediate tyres and were followed into the pits by Norris from second place – while Verstappen and the Alpine drivers stayed out and took the gamble on a Safety Car or red flag, which subsequently came. When racing resumed, with everybody on new tyres, George was able to get past Leclerc into P4 but then – as we saw up and down the field today – got stuck behind an ultimately slower car and was unable to overtake, without DRS available. It was the same story for Lewis a little further back, who climbed into the points but was unable to pass Lawson despite several close attempts. P4 and P10 feel like a meagre reward after leading the first part of the race, but there’s plenty for us to pick through and learn from across this weekend, and from the last three races. We will be focusing on that work in the coming days, to give ourselves the strongest foundation for the final triple header of the season.
2024 São Paulo GP Result
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 69 | |
2 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 69 | +19.477 |
3 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 69 | +22.532 |
4 | George Russell | Mercedes-AMG | 69 | +23.265 |
5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 69 | +30.177 |
6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 69 | +31.372 |
7 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | 69 | +42.056 |
8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 69 | +44.943 |
9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 69 | +50.452 |
10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG | 69 | +50.753 |
11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 69 | +51.531 |
12 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 69 | +57.085 |
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 69 | +1:03.588 |
14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 69 | +1:18.049 |
15 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 69 | +1:19.649 |
16 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 38 | +31 Laps |
Franco Colapinto | Williams | 30 | DNF | |
Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 30 | DNF | |
Alexander Albon | Williams | 0 | DNS | |
Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 0 | DNS |