RECAP: The 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix
By: Anna Cowie
Tags: Hamilton, Verstappen, F1, São Paulo, Brazil

Friday Free Practice

Lewis started the weekend as he meant to go on, topping the timesheets in FP1. He was followed closely by Verstappen and then Perez, with Verstappen actually gaining the fastest time of them all in the middle sector. Bottas ended practice in P4, just over a second behind Hamilton. Gasly, or ‘the Gaz Man’ as Brundle coined this weekend, then rounded out the top 5, further solidifying his impressive and consistent form over the season. Ferrari continued their recent dominance over McLaren, with both drivers gaining better times in practice than their counterparts in papaya. An honorary mention goes to Mick Schumacher who pushed his Haas into P16, ahead of both Williams and Ricciardo. Ultimately, all had to quickly convert their form in practice into being ready for qualifying, that was occurring that very same afternoon.

Friday Qualifying

Perhaps driven, no pun intended, by his looming grid penalty, Hamilton dominated qualifying to secure pole position for the sprint race. He led Q1, with his rival Verstapppen only able to secure P6, 0.6s seconds behind him. Bottas was able to secure P2, only 3 tenths off Hamilton’s time. The rest of positions were left up to grabs, with plenty of pressure to perform. Sainz and both AlphaTauris initially jumped up the table. However, it was only Sainz who kept his high position, gaining P3, with the AlphaTauri’s later dropping to the edges of the top 10. Leclerc was left on the cutting blocks after having exceeded track limits and getting his time deleted. He was able to secure a last minute lap, joining his Ferrari teammate in P4. This left both Red Bulls out of the top 4, with Perez actually beating his teammate to grab P5. Giovinazzi put in a brilliant lap in for P7, and he was joined in Q2 by his teammate Kimi. It was Stroll, Latifi, Russell, Schumacher and Mazepin who were knocked out.

Q2 was a similar story. Despite Hamilton’s initial time being deleted for track limits, he did secure P1 yet again, with a time of 1m08.068s. Verstappen certainly improved, leading the pack earlier on in the session with a time of 1m08.567s. However, Mercedes’ speed seemed at a new level this weekend and Verstappen was unable to place higher then P3 in the end, behind Bottas. Leclerc kept up his form to retain P4, with Gasly in P5 and Perez in P6. The McLaren’s crept back up the table in P7 and P9, sandwiching in Sainz who gained P8. It was Alonso who rounded out the top 10, securing his position by only 0.052s, knocking out his teammate. That meant that it was Ocon, Vettel, Tsunoda, Raikkonen and Giovinazzi who were knocked out.

Hamilton secured pole in Q3, which from his form over the day, was no surprise. His final lap time was 1m07.934s, 0.438s ahead of Verstappen who did gain P2; strong damage limitation from the driver, considering the car seemed to be struggling to keep up. Bottas closed out the top 3, backing up his teammate, followed by Perez in P4. Gasly once again rounded out the top 5, placing ahead of Sainz in P6 and Leclerc in P7. This left Norris and Ricciardo in P8 and P9 respectively, and Alonso in P10. The Sao Paulo GP was set to be a great battle, but not in the way it turned out to be…

Saturday Sprint Race

On Friday night it was announced both Hamilton and Verstappen were being investigated by the stewards. Hamilton for DRS infringements, based on his rear wing opening further than regulations allow. Verstappen for investigating and specifically, touching, Hamilton’s car while it was in Parc Ferme conditions. It was a tense Saturday morning waiting for the outcome, which eventually came in the form of disqualification for Hamilton, meaning he would start the sprint race 20th, and a 50,000 euro fine to Verstappen. The fine seems harsh, although it looks like the FIA wanted to make an example of Verstappen after a few drivers have been on the edge of Parc Ferme conditions over the season. Regardless, he seemed in high spirits about the matter, simply joking in the press conference about buying some less Fifa points in the next few weeks. In many ways Hamilton was lucky Brazil was a sprint weekend, as it gave him a great opportunity to fight back through the field — which he certainly did.