As the final race weekend of the season began, Verstappen was 0.341 seconds quicker than Russell, who won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last weekend. In those, Russell was about 0.3secs off Verstappen, with Leclerc’s Ferrari a further 0.5secs adrift. Hamilton said it was “expected” that Red Bull would be quicker than them this weekend, adding: “We didn’t expect this to be our strongest race. One of those mistakes was not to discuss with Verstappen before the race that they wanted him to help Perez, which he says he will do this weekend if the situation arises. The two men insist the situation is behind them and Perez said he regretted some of the things he had said about Verstappen after the race.

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