Hamilton Passes Verstappen To Take Brilliant Brazilian Win
Calum Gill 19:31 14/11/2021
Lewis Hamilton passed his Formula 1 title rival Max Verstappen to emerge victorious in an enthralling Brazilian Grand Prix from 10th on the grid.
After a rapid charge through the field by Hamilton in the early stages of the race, the lead battle quickly became a fight between the two championship protagonists. Throughout the first two stints, Hamilton couldn’t get quite close enough to challenge Verstappen but his second pitstop came three laps after Verstappen’s. Hamilton made the most of this tyre offset to challenge Verstappen on lap 48 of 71, attempting to go around the outside of the Red Bull driver at Turn 4.
But Verstappen failed to make the corner and sent both himself and Hamilton into the run-off area, with Verstappen remaining in front ahead of Hamilton. The stewards noted the incident but decided against investigating it, meaning Hamilton had to try a similar move 11 laps later. This time he was clearly ahead of Verstappen as they reached Turn 4 and there was nothing Verstappen could do.
Hamilton launched his Mercedes from last to fifth in Saturday’s sprint race but had to start the grand prix from 10th after serving a five-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine for the weekend. The seven-time world champion repeated his early lap heroics from the sprint race and was passing Sebastian Vettel for sixth place as early as the run down to Turn 1 on the second lap. He made moves in quick succession on the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and was waved through by his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas for third place soon after.
A safety car to allow the marshals to clear debris for an incident between Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll meant Hamilton was able to close up on the Red Bull 1-2 at the front, led by Verstappen. On lap 18 of 71, Hamilton passed the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez around the outside of Turn 1 for second place but the Mexican repassed him at the Turn 4 left-hander. Hamilton made a similar move on the following lap, but this time Perez was not able to reclaim the position, leaving only Verstappen standing in the way of Hamilton’s third win in Brazil. Hamilton overcoming Verstappen, who received the black and white flag for weaving excessively in defence on the lap before Hamilton made his move, means the gap in the drivers’ championship is now just 14 points.
Bottas claimed third place for Mercedes after he jumped the second Red Bull of Perez by making his first pitstop under the virtual safety car, but he was unable to make a significant impression on Verstappen’s second place. Red Bull pitted Perez with two laps to go to ensure he could take the fastest lap bonus point off Hamilton, which he successfully did on the final lap. Leclerc and Sainz had a reasonably comfortable run to finish in fifth and sixth place respectively, over 25 seconds clear of the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.
The Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso matched Gasly’s points haul by finishing in eighth and ninth, with both drivers making the one stop strategy work. Lando Norris took the final point after he recovered from a first lap puncture that he picked up after contact with his former team-mate Sainz. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel fell just over a second short of a world championship point, compromised in part by a slow first pitstop. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was on for a couple of points before a power loss forced him into retirement, shortly after Stroll was forced to retire his Aston as a result of the earlier contact with Tsunoda.
