While the two world championship leaders played cat and mouse during the entire Brazilian Grand Prix, Sunday, November 14, it was Lewis Hamilton who finally won ahead of Max Verstappen at Interlagos. The Briton took advantage of his DRS (the flap mounted on the rear wing of his single-seater which deploys to gain top speed) to build up the pressure, then overtake the Dutchman with twelve laps to go (59/71 ). The reigning world champion remains second in the drivers’ standings, but narrowed the gap to just fourteen points, three races to go to the end of the season. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) completes the podium.
With eight single-seaters between second-placed Max Verstappen and tenth-placed Lewis Hamilton on the starting grid, the two drivers quickly found themselves neck and neck ahead of the race. The Dutchman got the better of Valtteri Bottas from the start, while the Briton put the cars in front of him one by one. The seven-time world champion then took advantage of the intervention, on several occasions, of the safety car to approach Red Bull and pass Sergio Perez thanks to a stratospheric speed in a straight line, allowed by his DRS.
Unleashed, the Briton then found himself in second position behind the leader of the world championship, Max Verstappen. In the pitstop game, Hamilton tried to overtake his rival, without immediate success, but the strategies chosen allowed him to get closer to the Dutchman. The battle between the two riders peaked on lap 48, when the Silver Arrow came back up to the Red Bull, failing to take first place due to a muscular defense from Verstappen, which caused the Lewis Hamilton off the track.
Not resigned, however, the reigning world champion tried his luck again eleven laps later, successfully this time, and recovered first place before taking off and crossing the finish line as the winner. A great reward for the Briton, resilient in Brazil, when he had been demoted to last place on the sprint qualifying grid and had received a penalty of five places at the start of the Grand Prix for a change of motor.
CLASSIFICATION: BRAZIL
Confirmation of a famous win for @LewisHamilton, after an incredible performance all weekend in Sao Paulo #BrazilGP # F1 pic.twitter.com/fw86fo2wRD
– Formula 1 (@ F1) November 14, 2021
With his victory at Interlagos, the 101st of his career, Lewis Hamilton preserves the suspense at the world championship. He closed the gap with Max Verstappen to just 14 points and gave himself a chance to dream of an eighth world title with three races to go.