Five winners and five losers from F1’s Sao Paulo GP

Winners 

Lewis Hamilton 

A truly sensational performance from Lewis Hamilton all weekend long in Brazil, despite having it all to do after being thrown out of qualifying for a technical infringement on his Mercedes car. 

Hamilton remarkably gained 15 places in just 24 laps in the sprint to put himself 10th on the grid (after an engine penalty) for Sunday’s main race. 

The seven-time world champion showed all of his class and ability with a barn-storming drive to the front, passing F1 title rival Max Verstappen on his way to securing a sensational win. 

It was a crucial result for Hamilton, who has kept alive his F1 world championship hopes in the process by reducing Verstappen’s points lead down to 14 with three races to go. 

Victory 101 certainly won’t be forgotten in a hurry. 

Ferrari 

There was no podium challenge from Ferrari after Carlos Sainz mixed it up with Mercedes and Red Bull in the sprint, but the Italian outfit nevertheless enjoyed a strong race in Brazil. 

Sainz survived first-corner contact with former McLaren teammate Lando Norris to finish just a couple of seconds behind stablemate Charles Leclerc in sixth. 

The Ferraris finished behind only the two Mercedes and Red Bull cars in Sao Paulo to extend their advantage over McLaren in the battle of third place in the constructors’ standings to healthy 31.5 points. 

Valtteri Bottas

Yes, Valtteri Bottas may have lost the lead - and with it any hope of victory - after what he described as being a “nightmare” start, but the Finn still turned in a strong weekend to help strengthen Mercedes’ championship position. 

He crucially prevented Verstappen from scoring maximum points on Saturday as Hamilton recovered through the field, and was able to split the Red Bulls to compete the podium in third, finishing just three seconds behind Verstappen in the end. 

Bottas bagged a very useful 18 points over the course of the weekend and importantly for Mercedes’ championship aspirations, he is continuing to perform at a very high level since his Alfa Romeo deal was announced. 

He and Sergio Perez will play a huge role in the final outcome of both world championships.

Pierre Gasly

Another great drive from Pierre Gasly, who continues his fine form to spearhead AlphaTauri’s bid to overhaul Alpine in the constructors’ championship. 

Although Gasly found himself behind the one-stopping Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon after making his second visit to the pits, a superb late charge from the Frenchman saw him battle past the pair of them in the space of two laps.

Gasly boldly dived down the inside of Ocon into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 60 and held off his compatriot on the run to Turn 4, before launching a successful attack on Alonso at Descida do Lago on the next tour. 

Over the course of the next 10 laps, Gasly pulled 10 seconds clear of the Alpines to finish seventh. 

Alpine 

Despite ultimately being beaten on track by its nearest competitor, Alpine came away from Brazil still clinging on to fifth in the constructors’ championship on head-to-head results. 

A two-car score with Ocon heading home Alonso in eighth ensured Alpine matched AlphaTauri’s points haul from the weekend to keep the Anglo-French squad a whisker ahead. 

P8 and P9 was realistically the maximum result Alpine could have hoped to achieve at Interlagos. 

Losers

Max Verstappen and Red Bull

A frustrating weekend in the end for Verstappen and Red Bull, who were unable to repeat their winning performance from two years ago when F1 last visited Brazil. 

Despite inheriting pole for the sprint, Verstappen’s tardy launch cost from capitalising on Hamilton’s back-of-the-grid start. He turned in a gutsy defence against Hamilton on Sunday, but was ultimately powerless to stop his main rival from sailing past and cutting his points lead.

He still has the upper hand in the F1 title race but Verstappen would have surely been hoping for a better outcome when Hamilton was sent to the back of the grid on Saturday.

Red Bull has also fallen 11 points behind Mercedes in the F1 constructors’ championship. 

McLaren 

Two points from two races have left McLaren with it all to do in its fight with Ferrari over P3. 

Momentum remained with Ferrari in Brazil, with the Scuderia able to strengthen its grip on third thanks to another big points haul. 

Norris was unfortunate to pick up a puncture after a tangle with Sainz on the run to Turn 1, but had a safety car and VSC to thank for rescuing his race. The Briton’s recovery from the back to 10th was impressive but gave little for McLaren to smile about. 

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo appeared to be on course for a good result until his race ended prematurely following a concerning engine problem. 

Aston Martin

Sebastian Vettel’s superb opening lap was as good as it got for Aston Martin in Brazil, as he did not have the pace in his car to maintain a place inside the top 10, ultimately slipping to 11th at the end. 

Teammate Lance Stroll was well off Vettel’s pace for much of the weekend. The Canadian’s race which was ruined when he was driven into by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 1. 

Stroll was hampered by damage for the rest of the afternoon before his misery was ended with a late retirement.

Yuki Tsunoda 

Tsunoda has made promising improvements of late but Brazil was not a good weekend for the Japanese rookie.

Losing three positions in the sprint made life even more difficult for Tsunoda, who went on to clumsily hit Stroll’s Aston Martin with an over-ambitious lunge into Turn 1. 

A 10-second time penalty and damage picked up in the clash left Tsunoda trailing home in a lowkey 15th. 

Tsunoda’s inability to join teammate Gasly in the top 10 proved the difference in Alpine preserving its position in the championship for another race. 

F1’s TV direction 

On one of the most thrilling and entertaining weekends of the season, it was galling to see (or not in this case) how much action the live TV feed missed across both the sprint and Sunday’s grand prix. 

Much of Hamilton’s progress on Saturday was only seen on replays while focus was bizarrely primed elsewhere. 

There was little improvement in the grand prix itself, with much of the live action - including a string of important Hamilton overtakes - during a frantic opening few laps missed amid endless replays of the start.

Many of the replays were poorly-timed and could have waited until things had calmed down.