2023 Sao Paulo GP Sprint Race: Full Report & Highlights

Max Verstappen extended his Sprint dominance in 2023 with a controlled but hard-fought victory at Interlagos, defeating Lando Norris and Sergio Pérez in an action-packed São Paulo Sprint. The Dutchman seized the lead immediately, sweeping past Norris into Turn 1 and never relinquishing control, even as the McLaren driver briefly threatened a late charge in the 24-lap run.

With free tyre choice for the Sprint, the majority of the grid selected soft tyres, leaving only Logan Sargeant and both Haas drivers opting for mediums. Norris made a strong launch from pole, but Verstappen’s reaction and straight-line punch allowed him to dive ahead at Turn 1. Behind them, George Russell moved into third past Pérez, while Lewis Hamilton soon joined the scrap and muscled his way into P4 over the Red Bull.

Norris then lost further ground as Russell forced his way through at Turn 10, dropping the McLaren to P3. The midfield immediately erupted into chaos: AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were swamped by both Ferraris, while Oscar Piastri slid off-track in the opening exchanges. As the dust settled, Pérez regained momentum, passing Hamilton into Turn 1 on Lap 4, with Charles Leclerc looming behind the pair before backing out of an optimistic move.

Mercedes’ troubles mounted soon after as Norris used DRS to re-pass Russell for P2, while further back Fernando Alonso began his climb from P15 after a Sprint Shootout crash with Esteban Ocon. The Aston Martin driver dispatched Kevin Magnussen for P12, with teammate Lance Stroll doing the same to Ocon in P13. By Lap 7, a DRS train had formed midfield, and Pérez set off after Russell again—this time with more success.

On Lap 10, after a brief back-and-forth through Turns 1 and 4, Pérez decisively completed the overtake for third. Elsewhere, Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz clashed over P8, the AlphaTauri staying ahead only until Turn 4, where Sainz reclaimed the spot. At the front, Norris chipped away at Verstappen’s lead, narrowing the gap to just 1.3 seconds by Lap 13 as both pushed to escape from the pack.

Other duels continued to rage: Stroll passed Gasly for P12 as the Alpine drivers struggled, and the Haas pair tumbled backward, dropping to P16 and P17 after starting 11th and 12th. Piastri found himself under increasing pressure from Ricciardo, Alonso, and Stroll, with the fight for the lower points-paying places intensifying into the final phase.

With four laps remaining, Ricciardo launched a move into Turn 1 on Piastri, but the McLaren held firm. Moments later, Leclerc finally cleared Hamilton for P5 despite their straight-line drag race, before Tsunoda tried to follow Leclerc’s example. Hamilton resisted initially, but Tsunoda used DRS on the following lap to seize P6.

Ricciardo eventually got the better of Piastri for P9 on Lap 22. Alonso then pounced on Piastri, only for the McLaren rookie to immediately counterattack and retake the place in a thrilling late exchange. Behind them, a three-way brawl between Nico Hülkenberg, Zhou Guanyu, and Valtteri Bottas kept the battle for P17 unpredictable.

At the front, Verstappen remained untroubled, extending the gap back to Norris and securing his fourth Sprint win of the season. Norris finished second after a composed recovery from his scrappy opening laps, and Pérez delivered a quietly impressive P3. Russell held fourth, while Leclerc’s late move on Hamilton earned him P5. Tsunoda followed in sixth, Hamilton in seventh, and Sainz claimed the final point in P8.

Ricciardo and Piastri locked down P9 and P10, with Alonso and Stroll in 11th and 12th. Gasly and Ocon finished 13th and 14th, followed by Alex Albon in 15th. Magnussen took P16, with Zhou, Hülkenberg, Bottas, and Sargeant rounding out the order from 17th to 20th.

2023 Sao Paulo GP Sprint Race Results

2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Race, 12 November 2022