British Formula One driver George Russell finished fourth in São Paulo, where he'd previously claimed his maiden Formula One victory.

A positive start

George and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team began the weekend by getting reacquainted with the recently resurfaced track of Autódromo José Carlos Pace. This was especially important with only one practice session to get up to speed.

After gathering information on the Medium tyre for most of the session, George switched to Softs for his final stint. Starting the weekend strong, George concluded FP1 in P2.

WATCH: 2024 SÃO PAULO FP1 HIGHLIGHTS

Top ten in Sprint Qualifying

George was out early in SQ1 to get a time on the board. With three minutes to go, he came back out to start another lap and safely got through to SQ2 in P10.

In SQ2, George set a time of 1:09.683, putting him eighth and through to the final segment of Sprint Qualifying.

George chose to wait until there were just over two minutes remaining before returning to the track for his sole lap of SQ3. Improving on his SQ2 lap, George qualified sixth with a time of 1:09.443.

WATCH: 2024 SÃO PAULO SPRINT QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

A consistent Sprint

Starting from P6, George opted to use Medium tyres for the duration of the Sprint. He led a consistent race and finished in sixth, scoring three points.

WATCH: 2024 SÃO PAULO SPRINT HIGHLIGHTS

Front row in Sunday morning Qualifying

Due to unsafe weather conditions caused by thunderstorms and subsequent standing water on the track, Qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning at 07:30 local time, the earliest Qualifying in Formula One’s history.

The session was damp with more rain expected. As a result, George was straight out in Q1 to get a time set as soon as possible.

Following a few yellow flags, a red flag put a pause to running. In P18, George was in a vulnerable position, but once the session resumed, he was able to set a time of 1:29.121 and safely get through to Q2 in P3.

In Q2, there was another red flag. Once the flag cleared, George was back out with under six minutes remaining in the segment.

Right at the end of the session, another red flag came out and put an end to Q2. George was P8 and therefore through to Q3.

A fourth red flag interrupted running in Q3. At this point, George was P5.

When the session got back underway, over six minutes remained. However, a fifth red flag with under four minutes remaining on the clock resulted in another pause.

While most drivers opted to get straight onto the track following the green flag, George waited in the garage to try to keep as much heat in his tyres as possible. With under two minutes left, he headed onto the track with just one chance to set a lap time.

On his final lap of Qualifying, George secured P2, resulting in a front-row start.

WATCH: 2024 SÃO PAULO QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

George finishes fourth in rain-affected race

On the Intermediate tyre, George took the lead of the race at the start.

Though Lando Norris, who was behind him, had DRS during the opening stint, George was able to hold him off and maintain P1.

On Lap 28, a Virtual Safety Car period began. The team chose to pit George at the end of the lap for a new set of Intermediates. He rejoined the track in P4.

Heavier rain began to come down resulting in tricky track conditions.

On Lap 30, Norris overtook, taking George into P5. Later in the lap, a Safety Car period began. A few laps later, the race was red flagged.

George restarted from P5.

On Lap 34, Norris went wide, providing George the perfect opportunity to overtake and claim P4.

Another Safety Car came out a few laps later. Restarting on Lap 43, Charles Leclerc passed George, but it wasn’t long before George reclaimed the position.

In the closing stages of the race, George was closing in on Pierre Gasly and eyeing the podium positions.

Ultimately, George finished the São Paulo Grand Prix in P4, claiming 12 points to take him up to sixth in the Driver Standings.

The 2024 F1 season will resume on 21-23 November for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 SÃO PAULO GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team driver:

That was an intense race and there’s lots for us to debrief and learn from. I got a good start and I was surprised at the pace in the opening stint – we didn’t have the right tyre pressures on the set, and we were expecting them to drop off, so that was encouraging.

When the VSC came with the heavy rain, I was in favour of staying out as I thought there would be a red flag – it was like driving a point at points, with the aquaplaning on the straights. I pitted and so did Lando, and we ended up P4 and P6 at the finish, while the cars that stayed out finished ahead. But it’s easy to make the call after the race, and we’re in this together, trying to make the best calls with the information we have available.

I think we would have taken P4 at the start of the weekend; but of course, after qualifying P2 and running in the lead for the first half of the race, it’s hard not to feel some regret for the opportunity we missed today.

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