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Driver Debrief by Aramco: Sao Paulo GP

Lance gained five places to take a point for the team in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while Sebastian was unlucky with the timing of a late Safety Car limiting his result.

Sao Paulo GP

Sebastian and Lance had differing strategies for the race and were both able to make some progress up the order in the early part of the race.

However, the timing of a Safety Car late on converged their races and eventually Lance was the one to come through and take away a point as the pair worked together to maximise the team's result.

Sebastian, having allowed Lance through to make use of his fresher tyres as the pair chased down Bottas, finished just outside of the top 10 on an unlucky day for him due to how the Safety Car shaped the end of the race.

Lance

After finishing the Sprint on the road in 17th, Lance gained a place through a penalty for Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda starting from the pitlane.

Staring on the Medium tyre, he had a battle with Alonso on the opening lap before gaining two positions due to a collision in front which brought out a Safety Car.

On the restart, Lance was in a battle with Valtteri Bottas, and eventually worked his way past the Alfa Romeo driver and gained a further position when Max Verstappen had an incident.

However, Lance's pace in the opening stint started to drop off and he found himself behind Bottas and then Esteban Ocon.

Lance then gained a few positions as other cars in front pitted for another set of Medium tyres at the end of lap 29.

Race report by Aramco

A hard-fought point in Sao Paulo

Lance was able to come through the order in the closing stages to take home a point in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Sebastian's strong afternoon was undone by a late Safety Car in another race of damage limitation for the team.

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Sao Paulo GP

He returned to the track in 15th, and then closed and passed Tsunoda.

After that, Lance's position continued to swing in among those making pitstops and those coming back through the order after them.

He made his second stop at the end of lap 48, this time for Soft tyres. He then passed Pierre Gasly and then gained another place when Lando Norris stopped, bringing out another Safety Car.

Lance restarted in 13th, and immediately displaced Mick Schumacher on the restart and then made quick work of Zhou Guanyu.

On better tyres, he then swapped places with Sebastian to have a go at Bottas, with Lance crossing the line just a second shy of the Alfa Romeo.

With such a close battle to the line, and the gap to Gasly behind Sebastian too tight, it simply was not safe enough to swap the cars back around.

Regardless, Lance came home to bring a hard-earned point in the race.

Lance Stroll
It is a nice feeling to score a point after a challenging weekend but it is a shame that Alfa Romeo pulled a little bit further away from us today.
Lance Stroll

"There was a lot going on in the race, but we were able to take some chances towards the end.

"We did not have much pace with the Medium tyre earlier on in the race but the balance on the Soft was much better.

"It is a nice feeling to score a point after a challenging weekend as a whole but it is a shame that Alfa Romeo pulled a little bit further away from us in the Constructors' Championship today.

"It will be tough, but we will try and overhaul them in Abu Dhabi next weekend."

Sebastian

Sebastian started his race from ninth on Soft tyres, and gained a position on the opening lap when Kevin Magnussen had a collision that brought out a Safety Car.

On the restart, collisions in front elevated Sebastian into fifth position, and then he went long to sit in third for a short while as others made their first stop while also passing Norris.

Sebastian pitted at the end of lap 26 for Medium tyres, but the undercut was powerful and he lost out to Gasly and Bottas.

He was able to pass Gasly and kept within range of Bottas as other cars were able to pit and climb back up the order after their incidents.

Sebastian was on course to finish in the top eight at this point, although the Alpines and Verstappen were closing in quickly.

Both Sebastian and Bottas pitted together at the end of lap 45, with Bottas on Soft tyres and Sebastian on Mediums.

A few laps later, a second Safety Car came out for Norris coming to a stop.

Sebastian Vettel
It feels like we should have scored more points today, but I do not think we could have done much more than we did.
Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian had no answer for those on the Soft tyres on the restart, but he was able to hold off Gasly at the end by seven tenths of a second to finish in 11th position.

He played the team game by allowing Lance through to make use of fresher tyres in the hope of gaining ninth place from Bottas.

Ultimately, with such a tight finish, the cars could not be reversed and the team thanked Sebastian for his great teamwork.

"I made a decent start but lost a couple of positions at the first pitstop and that started to reshape my afternoon.

"I had decent pace, but the timing of the second Safety Car did not go in my favour because I was on Mediums while a lot of cars around me were on Softs for the restart.

"It feels like we should have scored more points today – but, given how things played out, I do not think we could have done much more than we did.

"That is racing sometimes. We will go again in Abu Dhabi next week."

Sprint report by Aramco

Sebastian starts ninth in Sao Paulo after charging Sprint

Qualifying report by Aramco

Fired up for Sprint in Sao Paulo