From last to first: Hamilton won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after qualifying results were canceled

Qualification

The Brazilian Grand Prix this season not only changed its signboard and was named in honor of Sao Paulo, but also completely changed its format.

For the third time this season, the Formula 1 pilots had to measure their strength in qualification, determine the starting positions in the sprint, and then, based on the results of this race of 24 laps, play for places in the peloton for the main event of the weekend.

Lewis Hamilton arrived in Brazil with a new engine and an automatic five-spot penalty before the race, so the new schedule was just right for him.

With him, he could impose on Max Verstappen the fight for the championship, since bonus points for prize-winners are played in the sprint.

In theory, the Mercedes driver could have cut the gap with a competitor from Red Bull to 16 points even before Sunday, which would have given him a completely different attitude.

"Interlagos" can hardly be called Hamilton's favorite track - he won "only" two times on it. But from the first laps of Friday practice, he began to show his willingness to conquer the legendary circuit. The British driver showed the best time and won more than a third of a second from Verstappen, which is extremely difficult to achieve on the short lap of Interlagos. Behind the leader of the championship were his teammate Sergio Perez and another Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, and the other riders did not enter into their dispute.

In qualifying, Hamilton continued to build up his lead over Verstappen.

In the first session, he won 0.6 seconds against the Dutchman, who was bypassed by four more athletes.

After the break, Hamilton was annulled the best lap for his wrong passage, but on the second attempt he again confidently bypassed the championship leader.

Finally, in the final dispute, the Briton won four tenths against his main competitor and got the opportunity to start first in the sprint.

Catch up on all the highlights from qualifying in Brazil 🍿 # BrazilGP 🇧🇷 # F1

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 12, 2021

Sprint

But before the sprint race, Mercedes received some startling news. Inspection of the Hamilton car revealed that the car did not comply with the technical regulations - the distance between the flaps of the rear wing during the DRS mode exceeded the permissible 85 mm. The stewards took this violation as seriously as possible and completely canceled the pilot's qualification results. On Saturday, he had to start from the last place and try to break forward in just half an hour allotted for the sprint.

The first row went to Verstappen and Bottas, who chose different types of tires for this race. The Finnish driver's strategy turned out to be the best - he immediately outstripped the championship leader, who was soon passed by Carlos Sainz from Ferrari. The Dutchman won back four laps later, but it was no longer possible to catch up with Bottas. The hope was that the softer tires of the Mercedes driver would not last until the finish line, but it did not materialize. As a result, it was the Finn who became the owner of pole position, allowing Verstappen to take only two, not three extra points. The third place was kept by Sainz, who did not give Perez an opportunity to attack.

Hamilton, as expected, became the main troublemaker.

On almost every lap, he overtook one or another pilot.

By the middle of the race, he broke into tenth place, but it became more difficult to attack opponents further.

As a result, he finished fifth, and should have started the race in tenth - he still had a penalty for replacing the power plant.

Check out highlights from a scorching 24 laps in Interlagos!

🔥 # BrazilGP 🇧🇷 # F1Sprint

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 13, 2021

Race

On Sunday, Bottas needed to hold back Verstappen and Perez as long as possible in order to give Hamilton any chance to fight them in the future.

But the Finn gave up almost at the very beginning of the race.

One by one, the Red Bull drivers passed it, and he dropped to third place.

Hamilton, meanwhile, broke through from tenth position to sixth, and after a couple of laps he became the fourth.

In addition to him, Nikita Mazepin also had a successful start - at some point the Haas pilot even rode 14th, although he started the race from the tail of the peloton.

LAP 1/71

Puncture for Lando Norris

Max Verstappen takes P1

Lewis Hamilton up to P6 from P10 # BrazilGP 🇧🇷 # F1pic.twitter.com / OaiMtWOXuP

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 14, 2021

When Hamilton approached Bottas, he skipped ahead of his partner.

It was only 4.7 seconds between him and Verstappen when the safety car appeared on the track.

Due to a broken nose cone at AlphaTauri's Yuuki Tsunoda, everyone had to slow down to clear debris from the track.

When the race continued, the first three were close to each other, so the fight for victory was still ahead.

Perez restrained Hamilton for some time, which allowed Verstappen to get away from both of them for a second and a half, but even relative to the Dutchman, the Mercedes pilot was driving slightly faster.

At the end of half an hour of the race, Hamilton began to attack Perez and on the second attempt won second place for himself.

While there was a showdown between them, Verstappen increased the gap to four seconds and had to guard him for most of the distance.

LAP 18/71

After briefly swapping positions, Lewis Hamilton passes Sergio Perez to take P2 - and makes it stick

He's now off in pursuit of title rival Max Verstappen

We told you this might be pretty good, didn't we?

😉 # BrazilGP 🇧🇷 # F1pic.twitter.com / cN6xGKjh7Y

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 14, 2021

Hamilton tried to close the gap at the expense of an earlier pit stop, and he succeeded - after changing tires, the two pilots were separated by 1.6 seconds.

The Briton on fresh tires began to update the best laps in the race and catch up with the opponent.

Verstappen decided to rectify the situation with another run into the pits, to which Hamilton had to answer.

The Dutchman got a break for a short time, but his car still went slower.

The two pilots finally clashed at the start of the second hour of the race.

In the fourth turn, Hamilton tried to attack, but Verstappen pushed him off the track and pulled himself over to the sidelines.

Both pilots remained in their positions and continued the race.

The judges did not investigate this incident, considering it one of the episodes of the struggle.

LAP 48/71

; kljhfdjksahfljkahdfaljkdsfhlajksdhf # BrazilGP 🇧🇷 # F1pic.twitter.com / JEidAt74Xq

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 14, 2021

With 14 laps to go, Hamilton got his way without any sanctions.

Before the same turn, he passed Verstappen.

The Dutchman tried to restrain him, dodging in a straight line, but received a warning that this should not be done.

However, by that time he already had no one to restrain - the Mercedes pilot quickly secured a three-second backlog and rushed to the finish line in first place.

As a result, Hamilton was the first among the Formula 1 drivers to go to the second hundred victories - he now has 101 won races.

He narrowed the overall gap to Verstappen to 14 points three stages before the end of the season.

The Briton could have won a little more, but at the last moment, Perez changed the tires and took a point for the best lap, as Bottas had done a week earlier.

The Mexican finished fourth after the Finnish pilot.

Mazepin, thanks to two retirements and a duel won against Mick Schumacher, took 17th place.