Hamilton wins from P10, says one of his finest wins

By Malhaar Khaladkar

Lewis Hamilton took an emphatic victory after receiving multiple grid penalties and labeling it as one of his finest drives of his career. With the victory he closed up the championship battle as Max Verstappen finished second on the road and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas completed the podium.

London, 15 November 2021: Lewis Hamilton started the race P10 after finishing P5 for the sprint qualifying- starting last (P20) for the sprint qualifying due to his car failing rear wing technical requirement. Mercedes chose to take a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) for Hamilton, hence, the Briton getting a five place. Teammate Valtteri Bottas started on pole as title rival Max Verstappen started alongside on the front row.

Verstappen returned the favour to Bottas as he stole the lead of the race from Bottas by virtue of a better launch off the grid- Bottas doing the same in sprint qualifying. Behind Perez made it past Bottas into turn 4 making it a Red Bull one-two, the worst possible start for Mercedes. Meanwhile, at the start Lando Norris had a better start than Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz. He tried to sneak past Sainz on the outside but brushed his rear tyres against Sainz’s front giving Norris a puncture and dropping to last place as he nursed his car back to the pits.

By the end of lap 1, Hamilton was already in P6. By lap 4 he was already past Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with only 2s behind teammate Bottas. Bottas dulylet him by on lap 5 to go and attack Perez and Verstappen.Behind, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda made an ambitious lunge on Lance Stroll resulting in the Japanese rookie losing his front wing and the Aston Martin car shedding its aerodynamic bodywork on the track. A safety car was called out to clear out the debris.

Racing resumed on lap 10 with Red Bull still holding one-two and Hamilton fast in pursuit of them. On lap 18 Hamilton got a good run on Perez on the start finish straight as he broke late and overtook the Mexican. But Perez got a better run out of the opening corners and returned the favour on the back straight to Hamilton. A lap later Hamilton went past Perez on the main straight, this time holding position as Verstappen was 3.8s ahead in the lead.

Hamilton pitted first to undercut Verstappen on lap 26 for a set of hard tyres. Verstappen followed suit on the next lap as he emerged only 1.6s ahead of Hamilton this time, the Briton hot on his tail. Behind Perez pitted on lap 28 as he was in a fight with Bottas for P3. Another Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on lap 30 to clear debris left by Stroll’s car. This helped Bottas pit and emerge ahead of Perez in P3.

Verstappen lead by about a second before the Dutchman bit the bullet first this time around to avoid the undercut from Hamilton and pittedat the end of lap 40 for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on lap 41 and Perez on lap 42 for their respective second pitstops. Meanwhile, Hamilton carried on for three more laps than his championship rival, finally pitting at the end of lap 43 for hard tyres and emerging in P2 1.5s behind Verstappen. The undercut was not particularly powerful around the Interlagos track.

Hamilton turned up the pace on lap 48 as he closed in on Verstappen and attempted to get past around the outside of turn 4. Verstappen was not having any of it as he broke late and forced both Hamilton and himself wide and off the track. The incident was reported to stewards as they deemed it not necessary for investigation. Hamilton responded on the radio saying “of course”, unhappy with the steward’s decision.

Hamilton stuck on Verstappen’s tail hovering around under 1s behind.Hamilton trying the same move in turn 4 as Verstappen weaved on track to break the slipstream. This time Hamilton bided his time not lunging on the outside, instead waiting for the next lap. Once again the Briton getting a much better exit than the Dutchman out of the opening set of corners as they raced down towards turn 4. This time Hamilton made the move stick, completing it even before they reached turn 4 as the crowd went euphoric with this move.

The epic comeback was complete as Hamilton overcame not one but two grid penalties to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with Red Bull having no answer to his and Mercedes’ pace. For Verstappen it was damage limitation as his championship lead was reduced to 14 points. Bottas completed the podium which helped Mercedes pull 11 points clear of Red Bull in the constructor’s championship with Perez finishing in P4, albeit taking the fastest lap on the last lap and with that an extra championship point.

In the midfield Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz finished in P5 and P6 respectively, increasing their lead over McLaren in the constructor’s championship to 31.5 points as Norris was the sole McLaren that got points in P10. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in P7, ahead of Alpine’s duo of Esteban Ocon in P8 and Fernando Alonso in P9. Alpine and AlphaTauri tied on points in the constructor’s championship with this result.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel just missed out on points by 1.2s as he finished in P11 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo, the Finn winning his 2007 championship at the same track. Williams’ George Russell finished in P13 and teammate Nicholas Latifi finished in P16. Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P14 with his Alfa Romeo seat for next year still uncertain while AlphaTauri rookie Tsunoda finished in P15. Haas’ Nikita Mazepin outraced teammate Mick Schumacher as they finished P17 and P18 respectively. Stroll had to retire due to extensive damage to his car after contact with Tsunoda while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo retired due to a power unit issue, a worrying sign for Mercedes.

Mercedes had the outright pace on this track over Red Bull, especially mega straight-line speed compared to the Austrian team, enabling Hamilton to do an impressive comeback. Mercedes dominated qualifying while they had the faster race car as well, as evident by Hamilton getting past Verstappen and finishing 10.4s ahead in the lead. Red Bull could not match Mercedes’ pace especially on the straights and hence, were vulnerable to their chief rivals. It remains to be seen if Mercedes will hold this advantage going into the last three races of the season or will Red Bull be faster as they have been for more than two-thirds of the season.

Ferrari cemented their position in P3 in the constructor’s championship as they had a faster car than AlphaTauri and McLaren, especially in race pace, helped in part by their new hybrid system introduced a few races ago. AlphaTauri showed best in midfield qualifying pace again in the hands of Gasly, but lost out in the sprint race to the Ferrari cars. Gasly still managed to outrace the McLaren and more importantly the Alpine cars with whom they are tied in the constructor’s championship. McLaren had another disaster race as they lost yet more ground to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ricciardo retired due to reliability problems and Norris suffered puncture on lap 1. They may have had the pace to challenge the squad from Maranello but these problems meant they have only scored two points in the last two races.

Alpine had a positive weekend as both cars finished in the points and they are still locked in for a fight in the constructor’s championship with AlphaTauri. Aston Martin had race pace similar to Alpine but with the midfield being tight and being difficult to overtake they finished just outside the points. Alfa Romeo too had decent race pace as Raikkonen after starting from the pitlane managed to finish P12, gaining eight positions in the process.

Williams had another scoreless weekend but achieved their best result of P13 with Russell in the last four races. An encouraging result going into the last three races of the season as they still head Alfa Romeo in the constructor’s championship. Haas’ Mazepin outraced teammate Schumacher for the first time in a long while. Both drivers had positive feedback of the car on this track, a rarity for Haas in such a difficult season for the American team.

Saturday Sprint Qualifying results were:

Note – Hamilton penalised 5 grid places for use of additional power unit element. Raikkonen required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.