‘Amazing’ – Lewis Hamilton proud of resurgent Mercedes after George Russell victory in Sao Paulo Sprint

Lewis Hamilton was thrilled with his team’s win at the Sprint race in Sao Paulo on Saturday.

Team-mate George Russell was an impressive victor in Brazil after taking the lead from champion Max Verstappen with under 10 laps remaining.

The young Briton had several attempts at attacking the Dutchman rebuffed until he teamed his DRS boost with one from a slipstream and went into a lead he would not surrender.

It was the first win in a Formula 1 race of any kind for Russell, and came after both Mercedes drivers had started to make positive sounds about their chances for next season after struggling for pace for much of the 2022 season.

Russell’s win means he will start Sunday’s full race on pole, and while Carlos Sainz finished second for Ferrari, his new internal combustion engine means he drops down five places. That means Hamilton starts alongside his team-mate, though he faces an investigation for a potential fault at the start.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Hamilton was delighted with the result.

He said: “I’m so, so happy to be here. It’s been an incredible week, a difficult day yesterday but what a crowd we’ve had today, starting from eighth, making my way through slowly. Congrats to George, this just goes to everyone back to the factory, everyone here working on the ground working so hard this year.

“This is an amazing result, for us to be on the front row tomorrow is incredible so from there we should be able to work as a team and hold off the guys behind.”

After succeeding in the shorter race, Hamilton was aiming for outright success on Sunday in the longer version at Interlagos.

“We are going to try as hard as we can. If we can have some good degradation tomorrow, hopefully some good weather we can have a good fight on our hands. A win here for Brazil would be incredible.”