In Pictures: São Paulo 2021
Just as has happened in Mexico, the Grand Prix was promoted by the state of São Paulo hence the change in name from Brazilian GP to São Paulo Grand Prix. Although it will continue to be The Brazilian Grand Prix for the rest of the World.
In Mexico it was Verstappen’s show, this time around it was a superb Lewis Hamilton who overcome a disqualification in qualifying and a 5-place grid penalty for an engine change in the race to win in Brazil. Utter dominance from the Englishman!
Brazil was the third and last of the odd Sprint Qualifying weekends for 2021 and as happened in Mexico, this was supposed to be a track favoring Red Bull, but on the first practice it was Lewis Hamilton who set the fastest time. He had a 5-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Grand Prix for changing the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) for the fifth time this season.
Come Qualifying, it was utter dominance from Mercedes, with Hamilton getting ahead for the Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday afternoon. Verstappen was second.
But then, after qualifying, the W12 No. 44 failed to pass a DRS maximum aperture (85mm) test and was referred to the stewards. Then, adding to the drama, a fan video showed Verstappen ‘fiddling’ with his RB16B’s rear wing and then Hamilton’s W12 rear wing. He (Verstappen) was summoned by the stewards and the waiting started.
And wait we all did. The stewards (Tim Mayer, Matteo Perini, Vitantonio Liuzzi, and Roberto ‘Pupo’ Moreno) decided not to take any decision until Saturday morning.
The waiting continued on Saturday morning. FP2 started and the stewards said that no answer was to be given during the practice. A surprising Fernando Alonso placed his Alpine A521 at the top of the charts, his first in a very, very long time.
Then the FIA decisions came out: First was Verstappen’s, with a €50,000 fine for Breach of Article 2.5.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code… “The driver touched and examined the rear wing of car 33 and car 44 in Parc Fermé.”
A few minutes after that Hamilton was found guilty and was disqualified from Qualifying, sending him to the back of the grid for the Sprint race.
The Sprint race saw the then Pole-sitter Verstappen being overtaken at the start by Bottas who went on to win Pole for the Grand Prix with Verstappen finishing second. But the show was a really fast Lewis Hamilton, passing 15, yes fifteen cars to finish fifth. He was to start Sunday’s race 10th after his pending engine penalty. So, the final order was Bottas on Pole, followed by Verstappen, and a surprising Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari in third.
Then Sunday came, and the Grand Prix started with a determined Verstappen taking the lead on turn 2, and then Bottas runs wide and that lets Perez through. Behind them, Hamilton was overtaking left and right and by lap 3, he was fifth! Next lap he overtook Leclerc’s Ferrari and Bottas, slowing his W12, let him go through to take third.
The Safety Car came out to clear debris from a clash between Tsunoda and Stroll, deleting the almost five-second lead Verstappen had created. The race resumed on lap 10, with Verstappen leading from Perez and Hamilton.
Two laps later a VSC (Virtual Safety Car) was activated to clear debris from a coming together between Schumacher and Raikkonen. It ended two laps later and Verstappen’s lead had come down to less than 1.5 seconds.
On lap 18, Hamilton tried and actually overtook Perez for the second place, but a feisty Mexican retook the position at turn 4. Next lap Hamilton tried the same move again working perfectly this time around. He was second.
On lap 48, Hamilton tried a move around the outside into Turn 4, and they both run wide and went off the track! Verstappen held the lead!
On lap 59, Hamilton finally passed Verstappen and started pulling away until the end of the race, and with a 10.496-second difference, Hamilton won the São Paulo Grand Prix for Mercedes.
It was Hamilton’s win number 101 in Formula One and a very important one in his quest for an eight Drivers’ title as this was supposed to be Red Bull’s territory.
““I am so, so grateful for the incredible support I’ve had this weekend from the people of Brazil - I’ve not had this kind of support since Silverstone! To hear the crowd throughout the weekend has been really humbling. I’ve just been saying ‘Obrigado Brasil’ all weekend. What a race! The Team here and at the factory did an amazing job, and Valtteri did a great job today to get as many points as possible.
I was pushing as hard as I could from last on grid yesterday, and then with another 5-place penalty today. This was, I think, the hardest weekend I’ve had. But my dad said ‘you reminded me of 2004’ when I was in Formula 3 in Bahrain - I started last and I finished 10th and then I finished 1st so, this one is for my dad.
Coming into this weekend I never, ever thought we’d be able to close the gap like we have today. And then things just kept going against us, but I think it really shows, just never give up. Whatever you’re facing, you’ve just got to keep pushing, keep tumbling away, keep fighting. Never, ever stop fighting. That’s how I’ve approached this weekend. It feels like a first because I don’t feel like I’ve had a win for a long time.””
““I knew today would be difficult, but I did everything I could, we were just lacking a little bit. At least it was a fun race, of course I would have liked to have won but realistically I think this was a good result. Lewis and I were fighting for position on multiple occasions, I think it was hard racing but good racing and that’s how it should be. I was hoping for a little bit more performance, but this result is definitely the maximum we could do. Top speed wise it was tough to defend, you can clearly see when they take a fresh engine that it gives them a bit more power, so hopefully that will die down over the coming races.””
““The start today was quite tricky; it was a disappointing first lap, but I tried my best. After that, the pace was good and from the cockpit, I thought we could have a chance of the one-stop, but we decided to do a two-stop. The team put me in a good place to take advantage of the VSC, and it fell my way for once, so I was happy with that. Overall, I’m glad we could score more points than Red Bull today - it was a positive result. Congratulations to Lewis, he had an amazing drive.””
Sir Lewis Hamilton Gear at the Official F1 Store!
