The second leg of this final triple-header caused teams some freight(mare) as their equipment was left stranded in Mexico, which caused some real logistical headaches as the paddock scrambled into the early hours of Friday to get their cars ready for the weekend. Despite these hurdles, we were treated to another gripping clash between the two titans of the pinnacle of motorsport.
It is undeniable that this championship fight is exactly the kind of stuff we’ve been hoping and wishing for in recent years, and Brazil was another golden race in the extraordinary season that’s 2021. Red Bull have been quite dominant since the Summer break, but at Interlagos, Lewis Hamilton reminded us for once and for all that he’s the GOAT, driving what must have been one of his most impressive weekends in order to try and close the gap to Verstappen in the Championship.
Here are the top of the class contenders and struggle bus riders from the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix:
Top of the class:
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 1st (DSQ) | Sprint Qualifying: 5th (demoted to 10th due to engine penalty) | Race: 1st
As hinted at in the introduction, Lewis truly was legendary this weekend. The British driver went into Brazil knowing he’d have to take a grid penalty of five places, so he had to qualify strongly to minimize damage. That he did, because whilst Red Bull, and Max in particular, looked quite strong in the previous qualifying sessions – Lewis got Pole by quite a large margin of nearly half a second.
He later found himself disqualified from that pole position because of a DRS infringement, with the slot opening 0.2 mm too much in the end. This meant that he was relegated to the back of the pack for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying. He charged through the pack all the way up to fifth, all this in just 24 laps.
As he still had to take five places for a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), he ended up tenth on the starting grid for the actual race. Once again, the W12 cut like a knife through butter, reaching third in the first five laps, after which team orders for Bottas and an early move on Pérez allowed him to fight Verstappen.
Hamilton was patient in his pursuit of the Dutchman, patience which was much-needed as Max wasn’t keen to let him by. Verstappen defended heavily at Descida do Lago, causing both of them to go wide. Hamilton’s patience paid off 11 laps later, which earned him his third Brazilian victory. As he reached the top step from tenth, he managed the biggest comeback drive the venue has ever seen. Nobody had previously won at Interlagos from lower than eighth.
His win leaves him just 14 points adrift of Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, getting his hopes of earning himself an eight championship back on track despite what has been one of Mercedes’ most-trying weekends of the year.
Whils donning a tribute helmet to São Paulo hero, Ayrton Senna, this was arguably one of Lewis’ best performances of his career, even despite the pace advantage. Perhaps he’s just that good, or perhaps the inspiration behind his helmet design gave him just that little extra.
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 6th | Sprint Qualifying: 7th | Race: 5th
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 5th | Sprint Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 6th
Ferrari are on a roll, earning themselves 18 points for the third time in succession as both Scuderia drivers finished as the best of the rest. It might have been a low-key battle, not heavily televised apart from Sainz’ slow start and an incident with Norris into turn 1, but that doesn’t take away that it was yet another good haul of points, one which puts them 31.5 points clear of McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.
Carlos certainly managed to shine up Ferrari’s weekend by finishing top-three in the Sprint, whilst in the race he managed to extend the longest active points streak to 12 races. He wasn’t entirely chuffed with his result, however, as without the slow getaway he felt he could have finished higher.
Charles was rather pleased with his results on Sunday. He thought his Saturday to be disappointing, losing a spot to finish seventh as the medium tyres turned out to be the suboptimal choice for Saturday, so he was quite pleased to elbow his way back to fifth in the race, putting in his tenth top-five finish to his name.
Alpine
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 9th | Sprint Qualifying: 12th | Race: 9th
Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 10th | Sprint Qualifying: 9th | Race: 8th
Recent weekends weren’t anything to write home about, so they must be exceptionally pleased with the double points finish they managed to pocket this week, especially as they made a one-stop strategy work.
Sure, Esteban and Fernando’s combined points only tally to match Pierre Gasly – the sole scorer of main competitor AlphaTauri, but they didn’t lose more ground to what is now generally considered a faster rival as the teams remain tied for fifth.
Another positive takeaway is the teamwork both drivers displayed, allowing each other past at different stages, maximizing possibilities for good results. Let’s hope they can keep the momentum going into the remaining races of the season.
Honourable mention:
Our honourable mention of the day goes to Pierre Gasly. Whilst teammate Yuki Tsunoda was having a miserable weekend, Gasly managed to keep spirits up by earning himself yet another top-6 result in regular Qualifying and a P7 finish in the race. AlphaTauri have looked quick for much of this season which has allowed the Frenchman to shine, despite the lack of attention this has received.
The Faenza-squad are locked in a tight battle with Alpine, a squad rumoured to be looking to lure Pierre in the future, but he’ll need Tsunoda to find some form in the final three rounds to secure the squad’s best ever finish in the Constructors’.
The struggle bus:
The Stewards
I admit, they had a lot on their plate this weekend, but the decision making has generally been pretty poor this time around. Firstly was Lewis’ car failing the DRS test, the decision took far longer than expected for what appears to be a simple pass or fail issue, with the decision only coming around an hour before Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying session.
Then comes Max’s fine for interfering with Lewis’ car in parc fermé. I’m glad the Stewards are finally making a precedent, but a €50,000 fine seems excessive (even if it is only pocket money for Max). To put that into perspective, that is ten times more than teams get for unsafe releases in the pitlane, which is far more dangerous than touching another car.
Then the final contentious issue was Max’s defence from Lewis at Descida do Lago on lap 47. Deeming the incident not even worth of an investigation was a bit of a surprise considering Lando Norris and Sergio Pérez received penalties in Austria for forcing cars off the track when they actually stayed in the white lines, whilst Max and Lewis were racing back into Mexico with how wide they went.
It’s not the penalties which are the problem (when considering Norris and Pérez) or the lack thereof (when considering Verstappen) but what is bothersome is the sheer inconsistency. Hard racing can be fair, but only if everyone is allowed to do so, which clearly isn’t the case, as Fernando Alonso is so keen to highlight.
Confessing that they didn’t have access to Verstappen’s rear facing camera doesn’t help their case either because of how much evidence they requested for the Hamilton DRS issue. Nonetheless, we want fair racing which this incident seemingly broke, one saving grace is that it didn’t alter the race result as Lewis was able to get by later in the race.
Whatever side of the debate you sit on, we’re just begging for some consistency which seems really hard to find in Stewards’ decisions at the moment.
Yuki Tsunoda – Qualifying: 12th | Sprint Qualifying: 15th | Race: 15th
Yuki’s first trip to Brazil was one to forget for the AlphaTauri driver, this despite a decent qualifying session on Friday. Tsunoda lost three places in the Sprint session on Saturday and his Sunday soon unravelled after a botched move on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
The rookie dived down to inside of Stroll at the Senna S on lap 7, scraping the side of Stroll and damaging his front wing, which brought out an early Safety Car. From there it was long trundle to the pits and Tsunoda was later given a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision. Lance later retired due to the extensive damaged caused to the left side of his car.
This is another example of the random judging of the stewards, as in similar incidents in previous outings the driver on the outside was deemed at fault. Once again, it’s not the penalty I take issue with, but the sheer inconsistency of it all.
The incident with Stroll was perhaps a desperate move after a tactical gamble to be the only driver to start on the softs, but the collision and being over half a second off teammate Gasly in Qualifying is simply not helping his team’s fight for P5 against Alpine. Thankfully Pierre has bloomed in the role of team leader and mentor, allowing Yuki the space to find his feet once more.
Aston Martin
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 11th | Sprint Qualifying: 10th (started 9th due to penalties) | Race: 11th
Lance Stroll – Qualifying: 15th | Sprint Qualifying: 15th | Race: DNF
Another disappointing weekend for Aston Martin as they lost further ground to the midfield pack. Sebastian Vettel made a promising start and was running as high as 7th during the early stages of the race, but the lack of race pace was costly as the German fell out of the points to take the chequered flag in P11.
For Lance it was another anonymous weekend for the Canadian, a third consecutive Q1-exit followed by a Sprint Race run where he didn’t gain (or lose) any places and Sunday’s race being ruined by Tsunoda. By this stage I imagine he is just counting down to the end of the season because 2021 has been quite a disappointment for Stroll.
Not only that, but Aston’s 2021 has been very weak compared to 2020. Granted the minor aerodynamic changes did hurt them after following Mercedes’ high rake concept, but the Silverstone squad are just in a mediocre 7th and not threatening to battle the likes of Alpine and AlphaTauri. This despite the best efforts of Seb.
The team needs to turn a corner in 2022 to make the investment worth it.
Dishonourable mention:
Making this list is Kimi Räikkönen, despite a strong race recovery to finish 12th, the Finn tangled with teammate Antonio Giovinazzi at the Senna S in Sprint Qualifying, which dropped Kimi down to 18th. He would start the race from the pits as Alfa Romeo elected to fit a new rear wing.
Kimi would then clash with Haas’ Mick Schumacher at the same corner during Sunday’s race, ripping off Schumacher’s front wing. Whilst the Stewards deemed no investigation was necessary, the collision was clumsy and definitely not what you’d expect for someone of Kimi’s experience. It was also quite ironic since the pair raised the fact that they hadn’t had the chance to battle on track in Thursday’s Press Conference.
After an exhilarating race in São Paulo, the paddock heads to Qatar for the Gulf state’s debut in F1. The GP at the Losail International Circuit will be making a cameo in 2021 before the country has a 10-year contract from 2023.
Here’s hoping that the teams don’t experience similar freight issues, as there is a lot more distance to travel on this last leg of the triple header. Both qualifying and the race will take place under the lights and will start at 2pm in the UK, so make sure to tune in for chapter 20 of this thrilling season.
