F1 – Brazilian Grand Prix race LIVE: CHAOS at Interlagos as Charles Leclerc crashes on formation lap before red flag… with Max Verstappen leading, Lando Norris second and Fernando Alonso third

Lap 36/71: Oh George Russell will not be happy. Sainz has overtaken him and put himself between the two Mercedes. He’ll catch Hamilton soon.

Perez is about to go within a second of Alonso.

Lap 34/71: Russell is enjoying a moan todday.

‘I haven’t been on the radio becuase I thought it was quite obvious,’ he says, referencing how much he’s catching Hamilton.

The gap rises above a second but comes back down quickly. Worth noting that Hamilton is close to Stroll in front and Sainz is close to Russell.

Lap 33/71: The Mercedes are in a battle now with Russell chasing Hamilton.

5.3s is the gap from Verstappen to Norris at the front.

I mentioned Perez earlier and he’s having a stormer. Chasing Alonso well for third.

He’s going to catch him in a couple of laps.

Lap 28/71: Stroll has just breezed past George Russell. Struggled for Mercedes.

The front runners are starting to pit now. Alonso first and he comes out in sixth.

The call is that the medium tyres aren’t performing well so they’re trying to stay on the hards as long as possible.

Verstappen and Norris both come in. Norris is 0.4s longer.

Lap 24/71: Good battle between Hamilton and Perez. The Mexican goes round the outside of turn one but Hamilton holds it off. But the second try is easy, with Perez doing him on the straight.

Lap 22/71: Hamilton comes out in 11th, a good bit of space.

Russell is in now too. Mercedes are the first of the bigger teams to blink.

Hamilton says he has a problem with his left front and that it’s starting to steer right.

Sainz is targeting Stroll for fifth. Red Bull are going to pit Perez, who comes out in 10th in between the Mercedes. Undercut successfulish.

Lap 19/71: Slip stream, DRS, light work. Perez into fouth.

Hamilton tried to back round Ferradura but the move is done.

Hamilton pits in response. Solid enough.

Lap 17/71: We’ve got a pitstop or two now, with Ocon included in the first bunch.

‘If you want more management, I will go backwards,’ Russell says on his radio.

Mercedes want to make sure their tyres can see out the stint. Not sure how long that it, but I’d imagine now too much longer.

Perez is appraoching Hamilton now for fourth and I image it won’t be long until that one is done.

Lap 15//71: Now Perez has the overtake. I don’t think Russell will be best pleased because he was asking to pass Hamilton a few moments ago.

He’ll be chasing Hamilton now.

‘Are we working together here or doing our own race?’ Russell asks on the radio.

Lap 13/71: Alonso is catching Norris and I’m wondering if the Brit is having a bit of an issue. Meh, the gap is back up. Not sure.

Perez is eyeing up Russell, who is so close to Hamilton. He’s not had DRS for some reason despite being within his team-mate. Though apparently it’s fine.

The gap from Verstappen to Norris is 2.2s. A further 2s back to Alonso, then 4.1s back to Hamilton.

Lap 10/71: And just like that, Verstappen has cleared DRS range. It was fun while it lasted.

It’s all or nothing when trying an overtake like that. Battery and tyre standards will be down now.

The gap is alredy two seconds. Russell is asking on the radio to overtake Hamilton.

Lap 8/71: I think we may have our winner. But you never know.

Norris has kept within a second of Verstappen and DRS is active. Could be interesting.

The Brit has a brief look around the outside. And again! But Verstappen holds.

Lap 5/71: Here we go then! We might run it close in terms of geting the laps in, but equally could also be fine.

Verstappen gets away well again, Hamilton has a go at Norris but locks up and his fellow Brit holdshis place.

Alonso now challenging Hamilton, and he passes him! Can he go back at him, not this time!

Stroll is down too, passed by Perez. Russell fifth, Perez sixth is what we have right now.

At least we’re through clean.

Oscar Piastri did his rear wing and suspension. Looks like the McLaren mechanics have fixed his car!

RIcciardo and Hulkenberg are fine too.

Any cars worked on in the garage mjust start from the pit lane. Anyone worked on in the pit lane can start from the grid.

A couple of drivers were clipped by the flying tyre of Kevin Magnussen. Hulkenberg and Ricciardo were the two, think Hulkenberh got a bit more damage too.

It was easy for Norris to overtake Alonso at the start. The Spaniard went right, Norris went down the outside. Hamilton went round the outside of Stroll, who had a bad start.

Still waiitng for an update on a start time but we believe it will be a standing start.

The teams can of course work on the car under a red flag. A few need it – I think Daniel Ricciardo could be out too.

Here’s where we are at…

Lap 2/71: It’s Magnussen and Albon who are out. We’ve already lost three cars.

Albon’s car is a state, blimey. Mangussen lost his tyre.

Oh, Piastri’s rear wing is broken. Nothing his doing, he just got a slap from Magnussen in the mash up. He might be able to fix that, not sure…

Norris – pun not intended – strolled into second.

Lap 1/71: Well, we are starting! Let’s go racing.

Light work for Verstappen who is miles away. A fair few cars are smashed up at the back. I’ll clarify who…

Norris is second. Safety car is out.

How on earth has he managed that?

He will not be starting second. He can start in the pits, his front wing is smashed.

Lost the hydraulics, he said. ‘Why the f*** am I so unlucky?’

He cannot start in the pits. He is out before we start.

71 laps today. Top speed of 210mph.

A short lap, the record just over one minute 10.

The start is short into the first corner, too. All about position.

Verstappen and Leclerc on the front row. Stroll and Alonso behind them.

Everyone is on softs bar Logan Sargeant.

WAIT?! Charles Leclerc has crashed on the out lap?!

They’ve just made an absolute state of the national anthem. Not sure what was happening there.

It was the front right brake for Russell. They put some sensors in.

Anyway, five minutes until we start. It’s almost time for racing.

Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk on Sky and has just had a very interesting chat with Machine Gun Kelly.

There are reportedly issues with George Russell’s car. He’s already taken a two-place penalty for impeding the pit exit.

An egineer says it’s fine. A nose issue was fixed, I believe.

Bernie Ecclestone is up next and he says he’s surprised to be there. Brundle doesn’t shy away from refeencing the trouble he’s been in.

Brazil football legend Marta will be waving the chequered flag today. Something Pele once did too.

Speaking of Brazilians, Felipe Massa has called for Lewis Hamilton to address his 2008 world title win after ‘crashgate’.

Hamilton of course won the title on the last lap of the race, but a deliberate crash earlier on changed things…

Bernie Exxlestone is here today.

It’s his first Formula One appearance since his court case regarding fraud.

There’s very much a varnival atmosphere here at Interlagos. A great show.

There will be a few eyes on Sergio Perez today, with the Red Bull driver being absolutely battered by his world champion team-mate, in all honesty.

There’s been a lot of talk abotu his future. He’s told people to do just that.

Third in the sprint yesterday, needs a good performance today.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was in high spirits last weekend, saying he was keen to win a race again this season and keen to try and chellenge next term.

This week, he’s been a little bit more downbeat. And who can blame him?

He starts fifth today and came seventh in the sprint yesterday, with issues with his car.

He has looked quick in periods but it’s a bit up in the air for Mercedes right now.

Read our bit with Hamilton from Jonathan McEvoy, who is out in Sao Paulo.

The weekend, as it does, started on Friday and with the sprint race being held yesterday we had qualifying after one practice session.

Everything was well until about a minute into Q3, when the rain hit and cost a number of drivers their laps. Max Verstappen was out first and got a decent lap in – that probably would have been beaten had it stayed dry – which was enoiugh to earn pole.

Yesterday we had the sprint, with Lando Norris earning pole. He has looked good all weekend but the rain cost him Friday.

It looked like he could challenge Verstappen in the sprint race but it wasn’t to be, and the Dutchman took the win.

Today he’s on pole and we should expect it to be a formatlity. But you never know, I guess.

Good afternoon one and all and welcome to Mail Sport’s coverage of this evening’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

What a weekend it has been so far. Qualifying was chaotic, and Max Verstappen has so far done what he does best in taking pole on Friday and winning the sprint yesterday,

We’ll see what the race brings!