Brilliant Hamilton's victory charge keeps title hopes alive: 2021 Brazilian GP report

Stop with the predictions. Stop with the script writing. You just can’t tell where this Formula 1 season is going to take us next.

On Thursday, the consensus among many observers was that Max Verstappen was closing in on the title, heading to a track expected to still favour Red Bull – although not as much as Mexico City – with a 19-point advantage. After Lewis Hamilton took a new power unit component and associated five-place grid penalty on Friday, that feeling only grew.

By Friday afternoon, it felt like game on as Hamilton’s immense pace with his new engine gave him first place on the grid for the Sprint. Suddenly, he was going to walk to victory this weekend.

Then there was rear wing gate that led to Hamilton’s disqualification and a P20 grid slot on Saturday. We’re back to “all over” in the title race.

But then Hamilton’s sensational recovery to fifth place suggested he most certainly had the pace to fight for victory on Sunday. Coupled with Valtteri Bottas beating Verstappen to secure pole, we were returning to the defending champion being heavy favourite, even though he started tenth on the grid due to that engine penalty.

After all the whiplash, what would help Hamilton’s cause would be Bottas retaining the lead at Turn 1, but a poor getaway meant he failed to do so as Verstappen got ahead, and then a wide moment at Turn 4 allowed Sergio Perez into second place.

“Max made a great start but mine was also pretty average,” Bottas said. “I was hoping that would be enough to maintain the lead, but he was ahead of me going into Turn 1. My issue was there was too much clutch slip, so I lost a bit of grip and didn’t drive off as good as it should. Then in Turn 1 I tried to brake as late as I could but Max fought hard and I was off track at some point. But, like I said, he was already ahead so there wasn’t much to do…

“Then, getting out of shape in Turn 3 cost me on the run down to Turn 4, ran a bit wide there, defending, so, for me, lap one was a bit of nightmare because this morning one person after another kept telling me what to do in the first lap and how important it was for me to stay ahead…”

The Red Bull pair tried to get away, but behind them Hamilton was coming, and quickly. His start was aggressive and beautifully judged, getting into eighth place down the inside at Turn 1 and then pulling a brave move around the outside of Pierre Gasly at Turn 6 to gain another spot.

Sebastian Vettel was dispatched into Turn 1, and then he started lap three clearing Carlos Sainz – who had been involved in light contact that gave Lando Norris a puncture at the start – before ending it cruising past Charles Leclerc for fourth place.

Not that the inspired Hamilton needed any help, but Yuki Tsunoda unwittingly provided some at the start of the fourth lap when a late lunge on Lance Stroll into Turn 1 caused contact, breaking off his front wing and leaving debris all over the track. The safety car was deployed just after Bottas had let Hamilton through at the same corner a lap later, bunching the field up.

On the restart, the Red Bull pair held on, while contact between Mick Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen led to another broken front wing and more debris to clear – this time with a virtual safety car.

Perez kept Hamilton at bay for more than ten laps, and when the defending champion did find a way past into Turn 1, Perez simply used DRS to retake the position before Turn 4. A lap later, Hamilton prevented a repeat by closing the door earlier after completing the move at the first corner, forcing Perez to lose a bit of ground through the Senna S.

“I mean, the straight-line speed was from another planet,” Perez said. “I looked at my mirror at the exit, and I felt very safe. But then I look back into it again and he’s right next to me. It was really impressive.”

Verstappen had a lead of over three seconds that he was holding, but in hotter conditions than the rest of the weekend, lap times were dropping off for all. So when Pierre Gasly made a first planned pit stop from P7 on lap 25, other frontrunners reacted and gave up on a one-stop attempt.

Hamilton was next in a lap later for hard tyres, with Sainz also coming in for mediums at Ferrari. That one lap allowed the Mercedes to halve the deficit to Verstappen when Red Bull responded immediately, the championship leader emerging a little over a second ahead and under a bit of pressure.

Perez was next in but Bottas stayed out, and the Finn – who had defended well on the safety car restart having been understandably unable to attack Hamilton – got lucky as Stroll lost more bodywork after his earlier collision with Tsunoda and the VSC was once again deployed to clear debris. That allowed Bottas a pit stop that cost him 11 seconds rather than 22 under green flag conditions, leapfrogging Perez to third.

By now, Verstappen had already warned Red Bull about the undercut, and despite the top four all running hard tyres, it was only a 13-lap stint before the leader came in again to retain track position. Bottas, Perez and Hamilton all followed in the subsequent laps, giving the latter a three-lap advantage but needing to pass his rival on track.