After starting from P2 Verstappen got the holeshot up the hill into turn 1 during the Sao Paulo Sprint to take the lead from Lando Norris off of the starting line. Verstappen wouldn’t look back and would continue to extend his lead for all 24 laps of the Sprint race. Norris fell behind early in the race to Sergio Perez but was able to retake second place shortly after. Norris and Verstappen pulled away from the rest of the pack but the battle for third behind saw a few position changes in the early stages of the race.
The majority of the teams chose to run the 24 lap stent on soft tires. Soft tires appeared to be the correct choice especially in the fight for third between Sergio Perez, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Sergio Perez finished the race in P3 ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and seventh. The finish improve his lead for second place in the championship to 24 points. Perez has his work cut out for him in tomorrow’s race. Starting from P9 he will have to create some magic to outscore Hamilton. We anticipate he will opt for a long stent on a set of hard tires to start the race to see if he can make up time in the pit window.
Yuki Tsunoda Scores First Sprint Points for Alpha Tauri
Yuiki Tsunoda finished the sprint in P6 scoring points in a Sprint race. Tsunoda got a late draft on Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the race. With the help of DRS Tusnoda was able to make the pass and finish ahead of Hamilton. The finish was the first point scoring finish for Alpha Tauri in a sprint race. Both Tsunoda and Ricciardo finished in the top 10 but points are only awarded for the top 8 in the sprint race. The finish bumped Alpha Tauri up in the constructors standing ahead of Alpha Romeo as they look to challenge Williams for P6.
Full Sprint Race Results are Below
| Position | Driver | Car / Engine | Laps | Gap | Points |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 24 | – | 8 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren/Mercedes | 24 | -4.287 | 7 |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 24 | -13.617 | 6 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 24 | -25.879 | 5 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24 | -28.560 | 4 |
| 6 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT | 24 | -29.210 | 3 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 24 | -34.726 | 2 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 24 | -35.106 | 1 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT | 24 | -35.303 | |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren/Mercedes | 24 | -38.219 | |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 24 | -39.061 | |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 24 | -39.478 | |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine/Renault | 24 | -40.621 | |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine/Renault | 24 | -42.848 | |
| 15 | Alexander Albon | Williams/Mercedes | 24 | -43.394 | |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 24 | -56.507 | |
| 17 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 24 | -58.723 | |
| 18 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas/Ferrari | 24 | -1’00.330 | |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 24 | -1’00.749 | |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams/Mercedes | 24 | -1’00.945 | |
Sao Paulo Grand Prix action kicks off at 12:00pm ET.