Bottas takes the lead at the start and wins the Sprint for the São Paulo F1 GP

Valtteri Bottas showed a great performance in the Sprint for the São Paulo F1 GP. Late on Saturday afternoon (13), the Finn jumped to pole position and is still at the start and no longer in danger of winning the qualifying test.

With Lewis Hamilton, who played in the past punished, the Mercedes rival started second at Interlagos. Once the lights went out, he jumped to the ledge without even noticing Max Verstappen and shot at first position, without threatening even the checkered flag. However, it starts from pole position on Sunday.

The Dutch Red Bull approached Bottas, but could not overtake and took second place, closing the first row. Carlos Sainz also got off to a great start, but finished third, sharing the second row with Sergio Perez.

Hamilton had to run to recover after being disqualified. But the Englishman secured positions and crossed the finish line in fifth, but started 10th in the Grand Prix due to a penalty for replacing the combustion engine.

Check out Sprint for the F1 São Paulo GP:

Before the start of the qualifying race at Interlagos, an important change occurred on the grid. Due to an irregularity in the rear wing, Lewis Hamilton lost first place and was disqualified, relegating to last place.

However, Max Verstappen jumped to pole position, with Valtteri Bottas, Serio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completing the first three rows of the 24 laps defining Sunday’s Grand Prix race.

In terms of tire selection, Verstappen, Pérez, Leclerc, Norris, Ricciardo, Alonso, Vettel, Stroll, Latifi, Russell and Hamilton chose the medium compound. The rest chose to use the softest rubber in the range available.

Licensed start Valtteri started very well, swooping over to Max and taking first place. Who also had a good start was Sainz, who completed his step on the Dutchman and finished second.

Of the entire peloton, Hamilton made the best start, taking four places and jumping to 16th. Meanwhile, Kimi Räikkönen ended up running Senna’s S after his split from Antonio Giovinazzi, and eventually fell.

On lap three, Verstappen complained to Red Bull about a problem with his gearbox. The competitor stated that it was having difficulty syncing the component, but the engineer confirmed that it would solve it.

With the tire warming up and the ability to open the moving wing, Verstappen found no resistance to complete the overtaking on top of Spain’s Ferrari. The classification leader took advantage of the void to get closer.

In the back of the platoon, the seven-time champion Mercedes climbed the platoon with ease. With six innings completed, he was twelfth with the fastest lap, having clocked 1 minute 12 seconds 357 minutes.

The standings on the track were Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Ocon, Vettel and Ricciardo, completing the top ten in the Sprint.

The good fight that started blazing in the race was valid for fifth place. Christmas boy Norris put him side by side with Leclerc, but was unable to get past the first attack. However, he tried again and managed to beat Monaco.

After many attempts, Hamilton managed to pass Ricciardo with an open wing at the entrance to S do Senna. With that, he finished 10th and started the chase over Vettel – it’s worth remembering that Lewis still has to pay a five-place fine on Sunday.

With less than ten laps left, Verstappen threateningly came close to Bottas, less than 1 second behind the Finn and already able to use the moving wing. Valtteri had a soft tyre, while Max wore a medium tyre.

While Hamilton was already seventh, just over 1 second behind Leclerc, sixth, the Dutchman of Red Bull Racing kept the lead of the Finnish team from Mercedes. The Austrian team asked the driver to wait for the opponent to wear more tyres.

Checkered Flag and Bottas won, securing the top spot on Sunday. Verstappen started in second place, with Sainz, Pérez and Norris completing the top five. Even though Lewis is fifth, he has to pay a fine.