Race Review: São Paulo GP (Brazil)

What a weekend… Brazil was always going to be an exciting few days with a sprint qualifying, but when you throw in a disqualification, a €50,000 fine for touching another car, a super comeback and many trips to the stewards, it’s safe to say this weekend was a rollercoaster.

It all kicked off with free practice, where it was announced 3 laps in that Hamilton would be taking a 5 place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine (ICE). After a fairly uneventful, but important session before qualifying later that day, Hamilton went fastest followed by Verstappen and Bottas.

We then headed into qualifying for the sprint qualifying the following day, which finished:

P1 Hamilton, P2 Verstappen, P3 Bottas, P4 Perez, P5 Gasly, P6 Sainz, P7 Leclerc, P8 Norris, P9 Ricciardo, P10 Alonso, P11 Ocon, P12 Vettel, P13 Tsunoda, P14 Räikkönen, P15 Giovinazzi, P16 Stroll, P17 Latifi, P18 Russell, P19 Schumacher and P20 Mazepin.

And this is where the drama started. Hamilton’s rear wing failed the scrutineering checks when force was applied to the DRS flap. He was summoned to the stewards but footage then emerged of Verstappen touching the rear wing post-qualifying. Whilst the two events were unrelated, he was also called to the stewards. It was then determined that no decision would be made until the following day.

FP3 kicked off on Saturday morning with questions from the night before left unanswered. The session finished with Alonso on top, followed by Verstappen and Bottas.

With the deadline of lights out at the sprint looming, the stewards announced a €50,000 fine for Verstappen as he broke the parc fermé regulations by touching another competitor's car. Hamilton was hit with a disqualification from qualifying, meaning he would start the sprint race from the back of the grid.

Before the sprint qualifying started, Alfa Romeo announced they changed the rear wing assembly on Räikkönen’s car, so he would start from the pit lane. With all disqualifications and penalties applied, the starting grid was:

P1 Verstappen, P2 Bottas, P3 Perez, P4 Gasly, P5 Sainz, P6 Leclerc, P7 Norris, P8 Ricciardo, P9 Alonso, P10 Ocon, P11 Vettel, P12 Tsunoda, P13 Giovinazzi, P14 Stroll, P15 Latifi, P16 Russell, P17 Schumacher, P18 Mazepin, P19 Hamilton and PIT Räikkönen.

Lights went out on the sprint and it was just a masterclass from Hamilton, making his way up to P5 from the back involving some brilliant overtaking moves including on the last few laps where he made a huge lunge on Norris. His teammate Bottas had also taken the lead from Verstappen at the first corner, after a great getaway. The sprint finished:

P1 Bottas, P2 Verstappen, P3 Sainz, P4 Perez, P5 Hamilton, P6 Norris, P7 Leclerc, P8 Gasly, P9 Ocon, P10 Vettel, P11 Ricciardo, P12 Alonso, P13 Giovinazzi, P14 Stroll, P15 Tsunoda, P16 Latifi, P17 Russell,. P18 Räikkönen, P19 Schumacher and P20 Mazepin.

The Race

The Sunday of the Sao Paulo GP came around Hamilton rocketed forward 3 places to P7 at the start after his 5 place grid penalty. Norris went for the round the outside move on Sainz and got ahead however they clipped each other, leaving the McLaren with a puncture and dropped to the back of the grid.

On Lap 4, Tsunoda lunged down the inside of Lance Stroll but collided, causing carbon fibre to spray everywhere, resulting in a safety car on Lap 6. He later got a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision with the Canadian. A few laps after the restart the virtual safety car came out as Schumacher lost the majority of his front wing after a minor collision with Räikkönen on Lap 10. This ended on Lap 15 which was shortly followed by a great battle between Perez and Hamilton.

The Brit darted down the inside of Perez and had the position through Turn 2 however Perez pulled the position back at Turn 4. A lap later, Hamilton gained and retained the position at Turn 1 after a full straight of DRS.

Out of the top 4, Hamilton pitted first on Lap 27, however, Verstappen followed him in a lap later and dropped back out in front but with only a 1.6s gap between them. Perez then pitted a few laps later leaving Bottas in P1 and coming out in P5.

More debris then came off Stroll’s car, which was significantly damaged after the Tsunoda incident earlier in the race, causing another Virtual Safety Car. Bottas capitalised on this and went into the pits and came out ahead of Perez in P3.

After Mercedes asked Hamilton what tyres he would like, Verstappen came into pit again on Lap 41. Bottas then followed a lap later, with Hamilton swapping for new tyres on Lap 44. An intense battle between Hamilton and Verstappen followed as the Brit closed down the drivers' championship leader.

Hamilton was slightly ahead going into Turn 4 on a move the outside of Verstappen but the dutchman fought back, pushing them both off the track. The stewards determined that there was no investigation necessary to which Hamilton responded ‘of course, man, of course’ and then the battle continued.

Hamilton managed to make the move stick at Turn 4 of Lap 58, taking the lead of the race from Verstappen, who was then shown black and white flags for weaving on the straights in an attempt to break the tow.

Further down the standings, Norris had made it back up to P10 after his puncture, with both Stroll and Ricciardo retiring - Stroll due to too much damage from the Lap 4 incident and Ricciardo due to a loss of power. The Ferraris were thriving as well in P5 and P6, with Gasly (who had lost a few places at the start) following behind in P7.

Hamilton then sped ahead, eventually finishing the race 10.4 seconds ahead of Verstappen, overcoming a 25 place grid penalty across the weekend. Perez took the fastest lap after pitting the second to last lap for a new set of softs. The race finished:

P1 Hamilton, P2 Verstappen, P3 Bottas, P4 Perez, P5 Leclerc, P6 Sainz, P7 Gasly, P8 Ocon, P9 Alonso, P10 Norris, P11 Vettel, P12 Räikkönen, P13 Russell, P14 Giovinazzi, P15 Tsunoda, P16 Latifi, P17 Mazepin, P18 Schumacher and DNF for Ricciardo and Stroll.

The drama of the weekend did not end there. On the cool-down lap, Hamilton was given a Brazilian flag by one of the marshalls but took his seat belt off when doing so. As the car was on the track and continued on after as part of the racing event, he broke the sporting regulations and was summoned to the stewards. The outcome did not affect the race results as he was given a €5,000 euro fine with €20,000 suspended until 2022.

Driver of the Day:

This has to go to Hamilton. From a disqualification in qualifying to finishing P5 in the sprint qualifying from P20 to taking a 5 place penalty for Sunday’s race and then winning the GP, it was an insane weekend for the British driver. Calling it one of the best weekends of his career, there’s no question in the slightest as to why he is one of the greatest of all time.

Biggest Crash: Tsunoda and Stroll

Tsunoda dived down the inside of Stroll for the overtake but clipped the side of Stroll. Tsunoda lost his front wing and left debris from both his and Stroll’s car on the track. After a full safety car period, Tsunoda was given a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision. You can watch the incident here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPI5KDSCgAE

Overtake Of The Weekend: Hamilton on Norris

There were so many incredible overtakes from Hamilton to choose from this weekend, but one of particular note was his overtake on Norris for P5 during the last few laps of the sprint race. Hamilton lunged past the McLaren into T1, successfully completing the move and securing the place. You can watch all of Hamilton's moves across the weekend here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fILrKSCBovE

Biggest Heartbreak: Ricciardo and Stroll

This is a difficult one as no one had a particularly shocking weekend. Whilst it was pulled on many heartstrings seeing Mazepin tear up in the interview post-qualifying on Friday, Ricciardo was on for a good haul of points. Running as high as P4 at one point in the race due to pit stops, Ricciardo had to retire due to a loss of power and no fault of his own. The same for Stroll - he was making good progress from starting out of place and had to retire due to contact with Tsunoda. Whilst the young Japanese driver did get a 10-second penalty for this, Stroll had to retire as a result of losing even more of his car later in the race and causing a VSC. Not a great day for the Canadian driver.

Best Radio Comment: Vettel

After pulling up and parking behind Hamilton at the end of the sprint race, Vettel hopped onto the team radio to say:

You can listen to the hilarious exchange with his engineer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIW1BfpdTR8

Takeaways

Once again, there is a controversial moment between Hamilton and Verstappen. Despite the stewards saying no investigation necessary, it does leave an interesting precedent about pushing other cars off the track. Footage of Verstappen’s onboard camera was released today which showed the dutchman opening the wheel and seemingly deliberately pushing Hamilton off the track. Mercedes have requested a right to review on the basis of new evidence so stay tuned for the outcome of this.

The battle for P1 continues to be tight in both championships. Only 14 points between Verstappen and Hamilton and Mercedes ahead by 11, it’s still all to play for in the final 3 races of the season. It’s also seeming more and more likely that Ferrari are going to take the coveted P3 in the Constructors Championship this year. With the gap now 31.5 points, it's going to be incredibly difficult for McLaren to close the gap.

What a weekend from Hamilton, this really could come down to the final race in Abu Dhabi… Next up we have Qatar for the final weekend of the triple-header where F1 will be racing at the Losail International Circuit for the first time!