São Paulo Grand Prix – An epic battle between Hamilton and Verstappen

Penalized by 5 positions after changing an engine component, Lewis Hamilton started the Brazilian Grand Prix this Sunday in only 2nd position. His championship rival Max Verstappen was positioned on the front row in 2nd place.

The other protagonist of the Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas in pole position then had all the cards in hand to help his teammate in the race for the title.

After the intense comeback during the sprint race on Saturday, Hamilton went from 20th to 5th position – all eyes were on him at the start. The stakes of this Grand Prix are indeed to reduce the gap against Max Verstappen in the championship.

The departure

The good operation is done during the first turn by Verstappen when he manages to take the lead over Bottas. A few turns later, the Finn will even lose a position to Sergio Perez while he was ultimately one of Lewis Hamilton’s hopes to be able to reduce the pace of the Red Bulls in the race.

Lewis Hamilton, for his part, managed to make a very good start and positioned himself in 7th place at the end of the first lap. He even moved up to 5th position by lap 4.

One of the losers of the first round is Lando Norris, who was in 4th place and got blocked by Carlos Sainz, causing a puncture in his rear left tire.

Safety car deployed

In the 4th lap, Tsunoda brakes a bit too hard at the first turn of the circuit and sees the door shut by Lance Stroll, who makes contact between the two cars. The collision scatters debris at the first turn close to the drivers’ trajectory, but no safety car comes out on track despite the immediate risk of puncture.

Meanwhile, Hamilton is gradually moving up to Bottas, who gives up his place to him: He is already in third position and only Sergio Perez, 2 seconds behind, is holding him back from Max Verstappen for the victory.

The safety car is finally deployed after three laps in these conditions. The drivers all pass through the pit lane allowing the marshals to recover the debris.

After four laps behind the safety car, the safety car lights go out and the drivers are released back onto the track. Strategically, the two Red Bulls are then ahead of the two Mercedes, and Verstappen waits until the last moment to accelerate just on the straight line of the circuit. The two Red Bulls manage to keep their positions.

On this rolling start, Mick Schumacher makes contact with Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo and loses his front wing – once again scattering debris on the track and triggering a virtual safety car this time.

The exchange with Perez

On the 18th lap, Lewis Hamilton manages to slipstream Sergio Perez and overtakes the Mexican at the first corner, who miraculously manages to regain the lead over Lewis Hamilton in the following straight line.

The Mercedes driver tries his luck again the next lap and this time manages to hold onto his position after overtaking Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.

After 19 laps, Max Verstappen is in first place, 3 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who started from 10th position.

Sergio Perez is 3rd in front of Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and finally Esteban Ocon on the Alpine who is 10th – the last in the points.

The first tire changes

Pierre Gasly is the first to pit to put on hard tires on the 26th lap. Lewis Hamilton follows him the next lap as his tires were starting to degrade: The Englishman tries the undercut with a very good pit stop executed in 2.4 seconds.

Lewis Hamilton leaves the pits in 6th position while Red Bull also calls Max Verstappen to the box to cover Hamilton’s stop.

The Red Bull driver comes out of the pit lane with a 1.7-second lead over Hamilton’s Mercedes. The latter was hindered in the first turn by Daniel Ricciardo as he tried to overtake him. He finally gains the position over the latter on the second straight line of the circuit thanks to the DRS and resumes his climb towards Verstappen.

New virtual safety car

Lance Stroll, who had had a clash with Yuki Tsunoda a few laps earlier, loses debris from his floor in the middle of the straight. A new virtual safety car is deployed. This is the ideal moment for Valtteri Bottas, who is currently leading, to pit, taking advantage of the slowed pace of the other drivers who have already changed tires. This allows him to come out in 3rd position and regain a position on Perez. The virtual safety car only lasted a few turns.

Gap stabilized during the 2nd relay.

The two leading drivers maintain a gap of around 1.3 seconds for about ten laps. Hamilton then saves his battery to try to get closer to the Red Bull again a few laps later as they approach lapped cars.

Plot twist on lap 41 when Verstappen decides to pit. Lewis Hamilton decides to stay out on track and it’s Valtteri Bottas who pits.

“I think we just threw an easy double away in the trash,” comments Bottas on the radio.

Mercedes eventually calls Lewis Hamilton to the pit two laps later. He comes out several seconds behind Verstappen.

First battle between the two giants

On lap 48, Hamilton manages to get close enough to Verstappen to be in the DRS zone and attempt an overtaking maneuver – not on the first straight line – but on the second one. Max Verstappen brakes very late and pushes Lewis Hamilton wide. Both drivers are forced to cut through the runoff area and the grass and although the incident is noted by the stewards, no investigation is opened.

Le freinage tardif de Verstappen lors de la première tentative de dépassement d’Hamilton #BrazilianGP #F1 #MV33 #LH44.

La twittosphère en pense quoi ? 😛 pic.twitter.com/xHi3iVfRd6

— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) November 14, 2021

Second attempt by Hamilton

On the 59th lap, Lewis Hamilton manages to get very close to Max Verstappen again. In the first straight. To protect his position, Verstappen cuts the trajectory and exits the corner less well, putting himself in a bad position in the second straight. It is the key moment that will allow Hamilton to take the lead, thanks notably to the DRS. This time, the Red Bull driver cannot brake late and Lewis Hamilton maintains his first position!

The last 10 laps

As there are 10 laps to go, it is Pierre Gasly who livens up the Grand Prix by taking the lead over the Alpine cars. The championship duel for the 5th place in the constructors’ championship between Alpine and AlphaTauri is also very lively.

Max Verstappen, on the other hand, sees Bottas climbing up, but the Finn will not manage to get close enough to the Dutchman. Finally, Lewis Hamilton wins a Grand Prix where he not only animated all the qualifying sessions, sprint race, and main race, but also reduced the gap on the Red Bull driver in the championship.

Sergio Pérez in his last lap manages to set the fastest time and therefore snatch a point from Hamilton.

The classification at the finish of the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix