George Russell
For the first time since the 1950s, the anthem ‘God Save the King’ will be played in F1, and for the first time ever for George Russell. The 24-year-old Briton, whom Mercedes consider the “most complete driver” of the new generation, has also clinched a full triumph in his 81st Grand Prix after half winning Saturday’s sprint. In addition, the honor point for the fastest lap and the honor of the first Mercedes success this year. “This is just the beginning,” Russell hopes. Courageous and controlled, he also keeps his mentor Lewis Hamilton behind him, perhaps the sporting heir to the throne has initiated a trend reversal in internal relations.
Unlike elsewhere in F1, the Silver Arrow faction is in harmony. The radio message before the restart of the race after a safety car phase twelve laps before the end shows how confident Russell, who initially doesn’t produce any real sentences and only tears of joy, is already in his first year with the record team: “Let’s secure our positions or we are we free in what we do?” Team response: “Ride against each other, but stay respectful.” Which both could easily stick to, because Hamilton didn’t really get close. On Twitter, they already call Russell “King George” – and the record world champion praises his colleague: “That’s really big!”
Lewis Hamilton
But to finish second after a messed up season, the chance is now there for Mercedes. 19 points behind Ferrari before the last race at the weekend in Abu Dhabi, that can be caught – buoyed by the technical update and the upward trend in the past three World Championship rounds. The 37-year-old himself will still find it difficult to secure a win this season, as he has done every year of his F1 career. But in the mentality he developed as a real team captain during the technical crisis, that may not be so important anymore.
Hamilton, who is facing an early contract extension, definitely wants second place in the constructors’ championship, the defiance prize. Not for yourself, but for everyone. Because if they came second, all employees in central England would receive a significantly higher bonus. This is something new: racing as an act of charity instead of just for the ego. In any case, it’s about more, as Russell and Hamilton agree: “We have to get back on the right track where Mercedes belongs.”
Max Verstappen
The cooling vest that the world champion was wearing before the start of the penultimate race in Interlagos must have done a good job, so cold as the Dutchman refuses to help his team-mate Sergio Pérez. If Verstappen had let the Mexican pass, he would not be level with Charles Leclerc in the fight for second place, but two points ahead. The racing team asked Verstappen to do so over the radio after he was unable to get to Fernando Alonso in sixth place. But the chilled champion refused the order: “I told you last time not to ask me that again, okay? Is that clear? I have my reasons and I stand by them.”
After the pre-exercised selfishness towards his most important helper at last year’s final, there was a crisis meeting in the Red Bull Pavilion, but even the otherwise so forthcoming managers Christian Horner and Helmut Marko hid behind a vow of silence, as if it were about the budget cap breach would go. Afterwards, Verstappen, who had just ended a boycott against Sky, said that everything was settled: “I have my reasons.” But he won’t talk about them. If Pérez needs help in Abu Dhabi, he will provide it. That didn’t sound convincing. Rather frosty. Team Verstappen likes to play for itself. Lewis Hamilton, boxed off the track by the Dutchman early in the race, just shrugs his shoulders: “You know how it is with Max.”
Sergio Perez
Pérez’s loyal assistant has no idea what is said to have happened before Verstappen refused to obey orders: “I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Pérez only knows that his maneuver in the scandalous final last year secured his colleague the controversial title win, and that his overtaking maneuver recently in Suzuka also made it possible to defend the title early. After seventh place, the extremely disappointed Pérez cursed into his helmet microphone: “Damn! Thanks for nothing.” Team boss Christian Horner then intervened in the radio traffic to de-escalate and said “Sorry”. Whereupon Pérez only replied: “It shows who he really is.”
From the crisis meeting that was called immediately, Horner only reports that both drivers shook hands. Even during the dominant period at the beginning of the last decade, when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber also acted against orders, Red Bull have never managed to finish first and second in the drivers’ final tally. Now the chance would be there and the swap would not have been as risky as the one Ferrari Charles Leclerc had denied. The racing world therefore continues to wonder, like Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: “Max, what happened there?”
Sebastian Vettel
Oh, if only everything went as well as the sale of his protest T-shirts, which Sebastian Vettel advertises online as part of his farewell tour. The youngest shirt is a work of art created by the great illustrator Christoph Niemann. At the finale in Abu Dhabi, when Vettel’s 14 years at the Grand Prix come to an end, photos of his biggest fans who were able to bid for them will be stuck to his helmet.
So the digital Seb works, it was a bit more tedious in analogue in Interlagos. Only in the sprint was he rudely pushed out by teammate Lance Stroll, then in the race he only finished an ungrateful eleventh – the first pit stop was not well timed, and the safety car didn’t help him either. The Hessian doesn’t like to complain, he’s almost made it: “That’s racing sometimes.” The highlight was probably the solo trip to Chile before the race or the lap of honor on Sunday when Mick Schumacher chauffeured him around the Autodromo. There should be a big farewell break in the Arabian desert next weekend, which Sky hopefully announces as “Forever Seb”.
Mick Schumacher
Colleague Kevin Magnussen first after qualifying in the rain, himself last. In the sprint, the Dane lost seven places, Schumacher gained eight, more than anyone else. But will that change anything at all? Gene Haas, the California mechanical engineer, made the decision just before his 70th birthday and it is expected to be announced by mid-week. There are some indications that Nico Hulkenberg will take the place in Schumacher’s cockpit in the future.
Maybe because they expect Emmericher, who has never been on the podium in 181 F1 races, to make a comeback as good as Magnussen did at the beginning of the season in the smallest team, or because nobody in the Ferrari franchise is willing to train a driver. At the age of 23, Schumacher junior could threaten the fate of the now 35-year-old Hülkenberg, who has only been a substitute driver since 2019. The reservist roles at Mercedes and Renault would be free, maybe even Williams’ pupil Logan Sargeant doesn’t get enough points for the super license. Then Mick would be back in. As always, Schumacher seems loyal and cheerful after his 13th place in Brazil: “My race was like the whole year – a lot of things didn’t quite fit.”
Fernando Alonso
And a small protocol of the radio messages and the internal team rivalries in this penultimate race, which was also highly entertaining due to the dissonances. During Saturday’s sprint, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso drove into each other’s Alpine race cars, which spelled the end of the tender friendship between the talent and the veteran. But that doesn’t matter, the Spaniard is moving on to Aston Martin because he wants more money and more respect. The French were once again the losers of their own game in Brazil, and that’s why team boss Otmar Szafnauer’s statement was categorical when the two were eighth and ninth in a row: “Esteban, I don’t want you to attack Fernando.”
After all, it’s about fourth place and the corresponding prize money in the Constructors’ Championship. Alonso solved the problem in his own way, with fresh tires he raced up to fifth place, not bad from 15th on the grid. And the PR strategists made it a “brilliant team effort”. One can well imagine the grin of the industry senior from Oviedo. This does not affect Boss Szafnauer: “If you play together as a team, everyone wins.” See Mercedes.
