Brazil 2021 gave us grid place penalties, a disqualification, and 24 overtakes. This was all from one driver! It was an unforgettable drive from Lewis Hamilton.
Earlier this year, Lewis Hamilton called his Brazil 2021 victory “the most special race of my career.”
F1 headed to Brazil for round 19 of 22, the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. It was a sprint weekend – Brazil’s first.
Coming into the weekend, the title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton was brewing still. At that point, Verstappen had a somewhat healthy 19-point lead in the championship. It was a sprint weekend, which meant there were 29 points up for grabs. It was a weekend where Max could either inch ever so close to the title or experience a complete turnaround.
F1 hadn’t been in Brazil since 2019, and in 2019, Red Bull looked strong, with Verstappen picking up a win. He looked strong too in 2018. So coming into 2021, there would be no overlooking the Dutchman.
As for Lewis, before 2021, this track had never been one of his best. At the time, he had only two wins and three poles in Brazil, numbers not as illustrious as his records at other circuits.
Practice 1
With the first on-track action underway, it was announced that Hamilton had been fitted with a new ICE (Internal Combustion Engine). This meant an inevitable five-place grid drop for Sunday’s race – the Sprint unaffected. As it stood, Red Bull had the upper hand.
The W12 was a difficult car to set up, so struggles for Hamilton at the start of practice were of no surprise. His rival Max Verstappen though was charting the time sheets comfortably.
Lewis however finally managed to get a good lap in to take P1 before the chequered flag. Verstappen ran considerably less and set his fastest lap considerably earlier in the session. It was P2 for Max, with Perez P3 and Bottas P4.
Despite Lewis’ P1, a Red Bull front-row lockout was looking more likely.
Qualifying
Sprint weekends were introduced to F1 in 2021, therefore, the weekend formats were different to what they are now.
Qualifying in 2021 decided the grid for the Sprint rather than the Grand Prix. Pole, on the other hand, was decided by the winner of the Sprint.
In Q1, Hamilton was quick, his new ICE seemingly paying dividends.
With the track getting faster, so do lap times. With 10 minutes of Q2 remaining, Lewis had two purple sectors and picked up a tow from Leclerc across the line. He set a time of 1m 08.659 but the glory was shortlived. The Brit had his lap time deleted for track limit infringements at Turn 4. Verstappen then went faster than Hamilton’s deleted lap with a 1m 08.567s to take the top spot.
On his second run though, the 7-time champion made a statement with a lap that was two-tenths up on Verstappen’s. In his final Q3 run, it was yet another statement from the Mercedes driver as he set a lap four-tenths clear of Verstappen.
Going into Q3, there was the question of whether Red Bull was just sandbagging. Christian Horner also commented on Hamilton’s lap times, mentioning the massive advantage of the tow he received.
On his first run, the Brit went two and a half tenths quicker than Verstappen who was complaining about overheating tyres.
On the grid’s second runs of the session, Verstappen stayed second. For Hamilton, however, P1 was his to take.
Practice 2
Different to this season as well, is there was a second practice session on Sprint weekends. The second practice session was held on Saturdays, shortly before the Sprint.
Following Friday’s qualifying, Mercedes were summoned to the stewards to explain a technical infringement involving Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing assembly.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull were then later summoned to answer for an alleged breach of the sporting code in Parc Ferme. There was the assumption that this was because Verstappen approached Hamilton’s car and allegedly touched the rear wing.
Because of the investigation, Hamilton ran a different rear wing than the one he used in qualifying the previous day. The one he used in qualifying was still in the hands of the FIA who were yet to reveal their decision.
As for on-track action, Verstappen remained on top throughout the first half of the session, while both Mercedes drivers didn’t spend too much time on the track.
The stewards’ verdict
The news from the Stewards’ room was that Max Verstappen had been fined and that Lewis Hamilton had been disqualified from qualifying.
According to the rules, the DRS opening can be no greater than 85mm when the flap is opened. Hamilton’s wing failed the test wing by just 0.2mm! That means he had to start the sprint from dead last, not P1.
For anyone in a title race towards the end of a season, such news could be detrimental to one’s title hopes. The pressure was on for Hamilton to perform.
Sprint
At the front, Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas shared the front row. The Dutchman had a good start, but the Finn was on softs, and ultimately took the lead from Verstappen at the start. Verstappen then ran wide while under pressure from Sainz who had just overtaken his teammate, allowing Sainz to slot into P2.
That is exactly what Verstappen didn’t need. With Hamilton starting from the back, the Red Bull driver needed to maximise ALL points.
It became even more apparent why Max needed all the points he could grab, with the way his title rival started his race.
Before turn 1 of lap 1, Hamilton had already made up four places and was up into P16. By lap 2, the Brit was already up into P14. It was a brilliant start from the Mercedes driver, who was already negating the effects of the disqualification.
Meanwhile, up ahead, the Dutch driver was complaining about gear syncs but was still able to take P2 from Carlos Sainz, taking advantage of a good tow and DRS.
Lap 5 saw Hamilton already in P12, and it didn’t look like he was going to slow down anytime soon. By lap 13, Hamilton saw himself in the top 10. As it stood, things were looking promising for Sunday’s race.
The sprint was a 24-lap shootout, and by lap 17, Hamilton was up to P7. Surely a top 5 finish wasn’t out of the question by that point, was it?
Up ahead, Verstappen had been gaining on the race leader, Bottas, but could make nothing of it as of yet. The Finn, despite struggling with his softs, was holding his own quite well. It was so far turning out to be a good day for the Brackley team.
At the start of the final lap, Verstappen had DRS to chase Bottas, and Hamilton was all over the back of Lando Norris. Once again, Verstappen could make nothing of it. It was Hamilton who was able to make his overtake.
That move on Norris was Hamilton’s best overtake of the Sprint. The best out of FIFTEEN overtakes on a Sprint race!
Title race…on!
Valtteri crossed the line first to take pole for the race, and Hamilton finished the race P5. Mercedes couldn’t have been happier.
However, Hamilton still had a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race. After a mega drive from the Brit though, a podium finish at the race seemed quite likely.
Here is what the fastest man that day had to say;
“It’s not over yet.”
Needless to say, that was the best Sprint of the 2021 season. Expectations were now even higher for the race.
Race day
Bottas was on pole for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Set to start alongside him was Verstappen, as Sainz and Sergio Perez shared the second row. The third row was for Norris and Leclerc to share – a close battle between McLaren and Ferrari for P3 in the constructors’ standings.
As for Hamilton, the grid penalty meant a P10 start. The task at hand was to do his best to keep out of trouble on Lap 1 if he wanted to stay in the title fight. Right ahead of him were Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to overtake as early as possible before inserting himself into the Ferrari – McLaren squabble.
Up front, Bottas’ job was to do everything in his power to keep Verstappen behind. At that point, Mercedes were only two points ahead in the constructors’, so it was not about just helping his teammate.
Both Hamilton and Verstappen had delivered strong performances thus far, so who would come out on top by the time the chequered flag was still anyone’s guess.
It’s lights out and away we go!
The five lights go out and Bottas has the better start. The Finn and the Dutchman are side by side at turn 1, but it’s at turn 2 that the former gets overtaken. As if things couldn’t get worse for him, Bottas runs wide and Perez gets past him as well.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the pack, Hamilton made up two places by the time he got around turn 1. By the time the race got to lap 3, Hamilton was already back up to P5 where he finished the Sprint.
With Hamilton setting faster times, Mercedes made the call to swap their drivers, the Brit up into P3 with Perez in his sights.
There was an early safety car – lap 7 – that helped bring the pack even closer. This meant that Hamilton could see Verstappen, he just had to get past Perez first. Throughout the 2021 season, the Mexican had proven himself hard to overtake, earning himself the nickname “Mexican minister of defence.” It was expected that Perez would give Hamilton a hard time.
The race gets back on lap 10, and the Red Bulls get off quickly, keeping their 1-2 intact. However, lap 12 saw a virtual safety car, which allowed Hamilton to stay close to Perez. Hamilton though was under braking when the VSC ended on lap 14, allowing Perez to get away.
On lap 18, Hamilton made a move on Perez, but with DRS Perez takes P2 back. Hamilton tried again on the next lap, and this time around, he made it stick.
Hamilton was now on the charge for Verstappen who was 3.8s ahead.
With a bit of lapping to do and tyre management, the gap stayed more or less the same for a couple of laps.
Right, or wrong strategy?
On lap 27, Hamilton went in for an early pit stop, putting the pressure on Red Bull. One lap later, Red Bull responded, and Verstappen’s pit stop was as fast as Hamilton’s, 2.4s.
The undercut had worked out well for Mercedes, as it looked at the moment.
A virtual safety car on lap 31 worked out perfectly for Valtteri who got a cheap pitstop, but it hurt Hamilton’s chances.
The VSC was gone for lap 32, and it was Verstappen in P1, with Hamilton behind him. Bottas was close in P3, with Perez far behind in P4.
Hamilton got DRS, but he struggled with dirty air, making it all that harder to follow the Dutchman. By lap 34, the gap up front was still growing, with Hamilton’s hards not coming to life as of yet.
On lap 37, the gap between Max and Lewis maintained at 1.2s. The Brit was behind far enough to avoid the worst of the dirty air, but close enough to stay in undercut range.
On lap 40, Mercedes asked Hamilton what tyres he’d prefer were he to pit. It might have been a dummy radio, to trigger Red Bull into a decision. Whether it was their intention to make Red Bull do so, Red Bull reacted on lap 41 and brought Verstappen in for fresh hard tyres. He came out P4, with his track position not looking ideal.
On lap 42, Mereces pit Bottas who came out P5.
What was Mercedes up to though? Had they missed an opportunity? Or did they have something up their sleeves?
Hamilton was called into the pits on lap 44, and he came out behind Verstappen.
Game on
Or is it? Both Mercedes drivers were unhappy with the team’s decision on pit stops, expressing their emotions on the team radio.
On lap 48, Hamilton was hot on Verstappen’s tail and attempted a move at turn 4. Verstappen defended, with both drivers running wide, so Verstappen kept the lead.
It had appeared that Verstappen pushed Hamilton off the track to keep the lead, and there was the question of whether the stewards would look at it. The stewards noted the incident but decided that there was no investigation necessary.
Mercedes were hoping a time penalty would land on Verstappen’s lap, but now it was down on Hamilton making a move and making it stick.
Lap 54. Hamilton was only 0.6s behind the Dutchman.
Lap 56. Hamilton stays within DRS range but isn’t as close as he was on lap 48 to attempt an overtake.
The gap was down to 0.5s on lap 57.
On lap 59, despite running in dirty air for the most part of the stint, Hamilton’s tyres were in no need of cooling off. In fact, he was alongside on the straight down to Turn 4 and managed to make the move stick on the straight before the corner.
Hamilton was leading the race.
By lap 60, the Mercedes driver cleared off into the distance and led by nearly two seconds.
Perez was brought into the pits on lap 70, an attempt to steal the fastest lap point from Hamilton.
In the final lap, lap 71, Lewis Hamilton had crossed the line to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Perez managed to get the fastest lap so unfortunately for the Brit, it was not maximum points for him on Sunday. But it was a maximum-effort drive from him all weekend long.
The Mercedes man drove a fantastic weekend and had an outstanding comeback. It was a brilliant drive, an unbelievable effort, and just like that, the championship was back alive.
It was TWENTY FOUR overtakes for Lewis Hamilton! A drive from last to first!
In Brazil, in 2021, despite gid-place penalties and a disqualification, Lewis Hamilton did the impossible and won the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
