George Russell swept the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, taking the sprint race on Saturday before leading a Mercedes 1-2 in the main event to earn his first career Formula 1 victory and Mercedes’ first win of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished third in the sprint race before claiming his third straight runner-up finish in the grand prix.
George Russell: “What an amazing feeling. A huge thank you to the whole team for making this possible. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, this season, this race. I felt in control, Lewis was super-fast and then when I saw the safety car, I thought this is going to be a difficult end. He put me under so much pressure. But I’m so happy to come away with the victory. On the in-lap, all of these memories came flooding back, starting off with my Mum and Dad in go Karting, going through and all the support I’ve had from the rest of my family, my girlfriend, my trainer, my manager. The likes of Gwen, who first gave me the opportunity to get on the programme with Mercedes, and James Vowles and Toto. I can’t thank everyone enough.”
21st time's the charm for @MercedesAMGF1 💪#BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/9ct5Q25axd
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 13, 2022
Lewis Hamilton: “I have to say huge congratulations to George, what an amazing drive he did today, he did an amazing job yesterday in the Sprint so he truly deserves it. To my Team, I’m so proud of everyone back at the factory and here. This is an incredible result – we’ve worked so hard through this year to get a 1-2, and to get a win. This is hugely, hugely deserved for everybody, so a big thank you to you all!”
The Silver Arrows are BACK, baby! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/4lbTEe3IGB
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 13, 2022
Andrew Shovlin: “One nice thing about having a year without wins is you remind yourself just how special they are and just how good they feel. What a result; huge congratulations to George who drove a perfect race – he looked so comfortable at the front and this will no doubt be first of many. Also a fantastic recovery for Lewis, we thought he’d have been out of the picture after the collision with Max but he put in a brilliant drive to get back to P2. The team back in Brackley and Brixworth have done an amazing job to make this possible, we had no idea we’d be able to achieve this given where we were at the start of the year but today, we’re glad it’s just a long season as we’d not have wanted to miss this result. The engineers and drivers clearly did a good job getting the car in the right place with just a single session on Friday, we were using the tyres well and great to see that the pace was strong. We’re looking forward to the last round in Abu Dhabi; it’s been a tough season for the entire team, but it’s given us even more motivation for 2023 to make sure we can hit the ground running.”