Friday...
Q1:
The big news heading into qualifying was that Mercedes had chosen to place a new ICE in Hamilton’s car, resulting in a five place grid penalty which would come into effect for the race on Sunday. This gave the immediate advantage of the weekend to Verstappen, who came to Brazil with a 19 point lead. But away from the main fight everybody’s eyes are on, McLaren were chasing Ferrari, and Alpine and Alpha Tauri were level in the standings- but with one race win to Esteban Ocon’s name, Alpine took 5th place.
Chance of rain sat at 40% as the session kicked off, and it was possible the teams would send their drivers out early for banker laps- just in case the wet did arrive. The Ferraris and George Russell were the first on track, all on used soft tyres, indicating this may be the case. Haas meanwhile opted for sets of fresh soft tyre, as did Verstappen, and Russell soon came in to boot on the same.
McLaren, particularly Lando Norris, appeared strong as he positioned himself behind Verstappen and ahead of Perez on the timesheets. It wasn’t long however until Hamilton assumed that first position, half a second quicker than Verstappen in clean air. Teammate Bottas had to negotiate traffic (Esteban Ocon) and slotted in to P3.
Mazepin was the first to have a wobble, losing grip on the rears through Turn 12.
Ferrari and Alpha Tauri also showed their hand as Gasly went P4 and Sainz went P2. Leclerc would have been P3, but track limits sent him back down to the bottom of the timesheets.
With four minutes remaining, the track was mostly quiet until the McLarens emerged. However, it was Charles Leclerc that needed a lap otherwise it would be immediately advantage McLaren, and an incredibly safe lap landed him P3.
The timesheets would display a Mercedes 1-2 after a late fast lap from Mercedes.
As usual, Haas were eliminated, along with Russell, Latifi, and Stroll. The story of those five was that Latifi finally beat Russell- his first F1 teammate to do so.
With Vettel only slipping through in P14, the Aston Martin continued to look uncompetitive.
Q2:
Whilst teams may have felt the overhanging thought of rain earlier on, they were more reluctant to venture on to track first in Q2. It was over a minute until Mercedes eventually sent Bottas and Hamilton out, shod with the soft compound tyres. Gasly closely followed, as did the rest of the remaining drivers. Although they were out first, Bottas slowed right down before commencing his opening lap.
On his first fast lap, Hamilton went purple in the first two sectors and managed to sneak a tow from Leclerc along the final straight to set a 1:08.659. However, the time was deleted for a track limit infringement at Turn 4. Verstappen snuck ahead by about a tenth, followed by Gasly, Leclerc and Bottas. On his second run, Hamilton leapfrogged them and assumed P1 once again.
In a largely uneventful session, Ocon, Vettel, Tsunoda, Raikkonen and Giovinazzi missed out on Q3.
Tsunoda was the only slight surprise, with teammate Gasly putting in another one of his strong one lap performances. It was the rookie’s first visit to Sao Paulo, though.
Q3:
There was an even longer wait for track action in Q3: two and a half minutes.
Ferrari were the first to blink- Leclerc, Sainz and Alonso filtered out onto the track, and then Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren. Track position was far from ideal for Leclerc, who on his first flying lap caught up to the traffic towards the end, resulting in a disappointing final sector. Sainz went quicker by roughly half a second, demonstrating what cleaner air can do.
In the Hamilton / Verstappen battle, advantage swayed in the Brit’s direction by 0.25 seconds, with the Dutchman stuck in a Mercedes sandwich, Perez 4th. Gasly simply put in another brilliant performance in P5.
The next round of laps then came, and Ferrari were at the front again. With Leclerc at the back of the top ten, he wouldn’t want to catch traffic again- fortunately the other drivers were moving a bit more quickly on this occasion.
Red Bull had track position ahead of Mercedes, so if Red Bull improved their times, Lewis Hamilton would know what he had to beat. Hamilton would be the only one to improve, and he would secure pole position by four large tenths for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Or would he?
Saturday...
Sprint Qualifying:
Under the hot Brazilian sun, there was a 0% chance of rain for the sprint race. Though controversial and many undecided on the format, the sprint weekend has certainly produced interesting results, setting up exciting grids for Sunday. A certain stand-out would be Daniel Ricciardo in Italy, and McLaren’s 1-2. Would Brazil round off the sprint season with a bang? It certainly would.
Verstappen and Bottas would make up the front row on the grid, starting on different tyres. Both Red Bulls lined up with the medium tyre, whilst Bottas started on the softs- so Verstappen would need a strong start. Meanwhile, at the back of the grid, Lewis Hamilton was the final driver to take his grid slot at the end of the formation lap on the medium tyre. For the best shot of closing the gap to Max Verstappen in the championship, Hamilton’s fight would start on Saturday. He would have 24 laps and 30 minutes of racing to make progress through the field.
Tyres played a crucial part in the launch off the line- Verstappen had a quicker initial reaction time, but on those medium tyres he failed to get traction whilst Bottas on the softs sailed by, and the Finn took the lead on the inside of the first corner. Max didn’t only lose one place, as Sainz also on the stronger grip soft tyre went past the championship leader, who took a trip off the track. Behind, the order settled into Perez, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Ocon, Vettel and Ricciardo, and in two laps Lewis Hamilton had claimed back six places. Further back, not all of the initial action was clean- Kimi Raikkonen spun after contact with his teammate Giovinazzi.
Max Verstappen would regain his lost place to Sainz on Lap 4, as the Spaniard reported he was already struggling with his soft tyres. The Dutchman would have some time to make up to Bottas, who was somewhat comfortably in the lead. At Lap 8, the gap between the Mercedes and the Red Bull was roughly 1.9 seconds. Behind those two, Sainz was falling into the clutches of Perez, who was fully prepared and armed to overtake the slower car on his medium tyres, as Sainz’ softs dropped off. Norris was also battling Leclerc, and after trying to make a move into Turn 1, the job was done into Turn 4. Red Bull and Mercedes are not the only ones battling for prize money- Ferrari and McLaren are looking to better the other.
At the halfway point, Hamilton had managed to recover places to P11, and on Lap 13 overtook Ricciardo for P10. He still had a way to go to try and chase down his title rival, who was beginning to close down on Bottas. With points on offer for the top three finishers in the sprint race, the finishing order was not only crucial for Sunday, but the team standings too. Max moved into DRS range on Lap 14, and as the laps went by the gap began to close, but Bottas was able to recover on the long start-finish straight to neutralise Red Bull’s gains in the corners. However on Lap 16, Verstappen was instructed to bide his time, and dropped back so that on Lap 19 he was going in and out of DRS range. Teammate Perez was also in DRS range of Sainz, but despite his healthier medium tyres he still couldn’t get past the soft shod Ferrari driver. Time was beginning to run out for both Red Bull drivers, and on Lap 22 Verstappen dropped out of DRS range.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was continuing to storm through the field and make all his critical moves, Turn 1 a particular favourite after the Mercedes engine and DRS allowed him to help power down the start-finish straight. A favourite with the fans watching was his overtake on Norris on the final lap, a late pass which would aid the Mercedes man just a little bit more on Sunday.
The sprint concluded with Bottas gaining three points for Mercedes, Verstappen collecting two to extend his championship lead, and Sainz brilliantly holding off Sergio Perez for a single point. The top three drivers also received laurels for their efforts, presented my home hero Felipe Massa.
The star performer of the event though, was most certainly Lewis Hamilton, whose P5 finish would give him a P10 start on Sunday after his penalty was applied. In his own words, the championship battle “was not over yet”.
Mercedes were definitely the stars on the radio too, with Toto showing his competitive spirit with some choice words and Bono reminding his driver “Lewis just make sure you don't touch any other cars or check them out in any way.”
Sunday…
The Race:
It was another sprint weekend for us fans, and whether anyone likes the format or not, this weekend proved once again why this type of system is needed. Bottas took pole, flanked by Verstappen, and Sainz, hungry to copy his result from Brazil back in 2019.
With his closest title rival down in P10 after an amazing fight through the field during the sprint, Max would be looking to capitalize on yet another penalty for the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri now mathematically out of championship contention. Speaking of Max, he'd also be looking to actually finish this race in one piece, having never completed a full sprint weekend.
In the 4th to last race of his F1 career, Kimi Raikkonen was relegated to a pitlane start after changing parts on his car in Parc Ferme conditions.
And it was GO...GO…GO! It was green lights at the front of the pack. Verstappen and Bottas launched with fairly equal starts, Lando was squeezed by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, giving him a left rear puncture and leaving him tumbling down the order. The two Ferraris fighting for position both went wide, Bottas as well, making it a Red Bull 1-2 starting the second lap. Hamilton had a dream start, up to 6th after just 1 lap. Lando managed to limp back to the pits and produced a 6 second stop after his contact, back into the race with the hard tyres strapped on and coming up the rear in 20th position.
Lewis was now up to 5th ahead of Carlos who had dropped back from his grid slot. By Lap 5, he was also up past Charles and his teammate, Valtteri playing the team game to let him through. Max led by 1.5 seconds over his teammate, Lewis just 5 seconds behind in 3rd.
Eventually the safety car was out, marshals clearing up debris from earlier contact between Tsunoda and Stroll, and Russell chose to box.
The safety car came in at the end of the lap, Lewis asking his team to relay a message to Valtteri: “Stick behind me and get the Red Bulls out in front”. However Bottas was having issues of his own, coming under pressure from Leclerc behind with Max and Checo out ahead, clear of the other 18 drivers.
It was then that Perez came under pressure from Lewis, now vulnerable to not one, but both Mercedes. Mick Schumacher lost his front wing, the bodywork buried under his car causing a virtual safety car to be deployed. Slightly further down the field, Norris had moved up from last to 15th by Lap 13, after previously being a lap down.
With the VSC ending, Perez just survived Lewis and his pace this time round. Yuki was dealt a 10 second penalty after the earlier collision.
Hamilton attempts an overtake on Checo, gets past, but then Perez gets back past. A brilliant tussle for the 2nd spot on the podium. Lewis back ahead now and charging after Max for 1st. Onto the battle of the wingmen, Bottas vs Perez up next.
Verstappen comfortably ahead, however tyre wear is a big factor round this circuit, the grip starting to fade, Hamilton making his team well aware via team radio, the pit window approaching, eventually deciding to bite first, pitting on Lap 27 for the hard tyres, emerging sixth. Verstappen then responded a lap later, a carbon copy 2.4 second stop, the Dutchman ahead of Hamilton – but only by 1.6 seconds!
On lap 29, Perez was next to pit, coming out P5, leaving Bottas in the lead with Verstappen and Hamilton on the charge with new compounds.
Another VSC on Lap 30 for debris from the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, during which Bottas took the opportunity to stop and emerge well ahead of Perez, in P3. The gap between the leaders hovering around a second and on Lap 40, Mercedes unusually asked Hamilton which tyres he would prefer for a second stop, the answer coming in the form of code, the team unwilling to give any details away. Red Bull then responded, pulling Verstappen in for new hard compounds on Lap 41.
Mercedes following in RedBulls tyre track with Bottas a lap later, despite reservations, that worry quickly fading as he took P4 off Leclerc. Perez makes his second stop on Lap 42.
Car number 44 pitted on Lap 44, running second, 1.5 seconds behind leader Verstappen with a fastest lap coming his way almost immediately.
Metaphorically turning on the afterburners, Lewis sped after and on Verstappen, closing the gap on lap 48 by trying to move around the outside of the Red Bull at Turn 4 – but Verstappen pushed him wide off the track keeping the lead that time round. As the stewards noted the incident, the fight continued. Shortly the decision being that no investigation was necessary. And soon we had the message: no investigation necessary.
Lap 58…..Again, at Turn 4……… Hamilton attempting another move on Verstappen, the Dutchman putting up a second stoic defence. It was lap 59, and you guessed it, another go! Hamiltom taking no chances, making the move stick around the outside on the straight while his rival was given a black-and-white flag for weaving.
Ultimately Lewis went on to win the race, his 101st, by a whopping 10.4 seconds. Bottas being told by Toto Wolff to take P2 off Verstappen, that proving an ambitious message; the Finn finishing third. Perez finished where he started, in P4, also taking the fastest lap at the very last opportunity.
Ferrari yet again managed to capitalize on Mclarens bad luck, scoring a hood haul of points up in fifth and sixth – Leclerc ahead of Sainz.
Pierre Gasly’s two-stop strategy (medium-hard-hard), left him P7 having passed Esteban Ocon then Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, the other Frenchman finishing behind in eighth, Alonso ninth.
Norris ended up scraping the points in 10th, a good drive considering his 1st lap incident and evident lack of pace during the course of the weekend.
Sebastian Vettel lost two places from his P9 start, ending up 11th for Aston Martin, Meanwhile, team mate Stroll retired on Lap 50.
Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen finished 12th – making up eight places after starting from the pit lane – ahead of George Russell, who gained four places to P13 and finished ahead of the other Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi in fourteenth. Rookie Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda ended up in 15th, Latifi finished 16th, nearly 42 seconds ahead of Russian Nikita Mazepin, who went on to finish 17th. Schumacher flanked his teammate down in 18th after his earlier issues. Daniel Ricciardo was the second retierie of the race, his McLaren having engine issues lap 51.
Heading to the final round of the triple header, and third to last race of the 2021 season, Max leads by 14 points, Mercedes 11 points ahead of Red Bull. It's set to be a tense and unforgettable season finale, so make sure ro stick around all the way till the flag in Abu Dhabi. Catch ya next week!
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