George Russell received Saturday’s dash race at the Brazilian Grand Prix to arrange a Mercedes v Red Bull showdown in Sunday’s full distance contest.
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The race will start at 20:00 (SA time).
Driving with confidence, the 24-year-old Briton shrugged off his spin in the rain in Friday’s qualifying session to assault from the start, passing Red Bull’s two-time champion Max Verstappen on lap 15 to seize the lead.
He then took management to return residence 4 seconds away from Carlos Sainz of Ferrari with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton third and Verstappen, the solely driver on medium tyres, fourth and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez fifth.
As Sainz is ready to take a five-place grid penalty for taking a brand new engine, Mercedes will lock out the front row of the grid on Sunday.
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Looking for first win in 2022
It was Mercedes’ first win this 12 months, albeit it in a dash race, and provides them an ideal alternative to say their first Grand Prix victory of the season if they’ll overcome a slight tyres drawback.
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Verstappen and Red Bull will start with two units of soppy tyres out there whereas Mercedes have just one, having taken an additional set for the dash race, and might want to use a set of ‘scrubbed’ softs.
Hamilton was formally granted Brazilian citizenship earlier this week and is searching for a win to protect his report of successful not less than as soon as in each season of his profession.
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Grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix:
1st row
George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)
2nd row
Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull)
Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull)
third row
Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari)
Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes)
4th row
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari)*
Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari)
fifth row
Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes)
Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull)
sixth row
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes)
Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari)
seventh row
Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo)
Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo)
eighth row
Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull)
Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin-Mercedes)
ninth row
Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault)
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault)
tenth row
Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes)
Alexander Albon (THA/Williams-Mercedes)
* Sainz obtained a five-place grid penalty for a change of engine
