F1: Verstappen holds off Norris to win Sao Paulo Sprint Race

Max Verstappen beat polesitter Lando Norris at the start in Turn 1 and then controlled the lead from the front to win the Sao Paulo GP Sprint Race

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Once in the lead, Verstappen first kept George Russell out of DRS range and then after Norris repassed Russell for 2nd, he kept Norris just outside of DRS range while nursing his soft Pirelli tires to the end of 24 laps.

Then with 8 laps to go, his soft Pirelli’s properly bedded in, Verstappen began to inch away from Norris, 1/10th of a second here, another 2/10ths there, the master schooling the student.

On a gloriously sunny day at Interlagos before a big crowd, Verstappen had inched his lead out to 4.3 seconds at the flag.

It was Verstappen’s 4th Sprint Race win of the year out of 6 total Sprint Races. He adds another 8 points to his massive total.

“It was important to get ahead at the start,” said Verstappen.

“Then it was all about management, 24 laps on one tire set is very long. We managed the race quite well out there today.

“Last year was very difficult for us around here, today was much better. I think we learned a lot and hopefully we can do something similar tomorrow.”

“I don’t know, I have to review it as my initial start was good – the second phase of the launch… things to improve for tomorrow,” said a defeated Norris.

“Caught sleeping a little bit with George [Russell] on Lap 1 but the pace was strong after, I just didn’t have enough to go after Max [Verstappen]. I’m not concerned, if anything encouraged with how good our pace is today.”

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez brought the 2nd Red Bull Honda home in 3rd, gapping the Mercedes duo of George Russell in 4th and Lewis Hamilton in 5th.

“Not an easy one, I had a terrible start, lost a place to George [Russell] and another place to Lewis [Hamilton],” said Perez. “Then I was fighting, I had to use a lot my tires and I paid the price at the end. Without the start we could have been a lot further up.”

But with three laps to go Charles Leclerc passed Hamilton for 5th and Yuki Tsunoda was all over the back of the Mercedes.

With two laps to go the AlphaTauri made the pass on Hamilton, who was struggling with rear tire grip, giving Tsunoda 6th place and relegating Hamilton to 7th.

No pit stops, no crashes – in the Sprint – but plenty of tire degradation. Cause for thought for everyone going into tomorrow, with a two-stop race expected.

Verstappen starts on pole for that one, and given what he’s just done from P2 on the grid, he will be heavy favorite for his second Brazil victory.

2023 Sao Paulo GP Sprint Race Results