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A weekend of extraordinary drama ended with Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes winning the Brazilian Grand Prix despite a qualifying disqualification and an additional grid penalty.
Given the points and momentum swing in Hamilton/Mercedes and Max Verstappen/Red Bull’s spectacular 2021 Formula 1 world championship battle, that makes for some pretty obvious entries in the winners and losers columns this week.
But the title rivals are not the only ones with reasons to celebrate or commiserate tonight.
WINNERS
LEWIS HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton’s 101st F1 victory will surely go down as one of his best.
Many people – including Red Bull team boss Christian Horner – were admitting Sunday victory was possible for Hamilton after he’d charged from last to fifth in the sprint race.
But the manner in which Hamilton was able to cut his way through the pack from 10th to third in the first five or so laps was simply superb.
His early move on Sergio Perez allowed him to fight Verstappen as if he’d started one place behind him, not eight.
Hamilton was patient in his pursuit of Verstappen and his cautious approach when Verstappen (intentionally or not) eased him off at the Descida do Lago left-hander meant the title rivals avoided a repeat of their Silverstone and Monza collisions.
A collision that knocked them both out would have only benefitted Verstappen, so Hamilton’s patience paid off handsomely as he overcame Verstappen 11 laps later and raced off into the distance for his third Brazilian GP victory.
But most importantly, it gets Hamilton’s hopes of an eighth world championship firmly back on track, despite what has arguably been Mercedes’ most-trying weekend of the year with the grid penalty and the qualifying disqualification.
The result is a testament to the tenacity of the Mercedes team and the supreme strength Hamilton can consistently find when facing adversity. – Josh Suttill
FERRARI
A relatively low-key 1-2 in the battle of best of the rest behind Mercedes and Red Bull is an ideal result for Ferrari right now, so the team won’t mind in the slightest that its race was pretty uneventful.
Carlos Sainz added some gloss to the weekend with his top-three finish in the sprint race, and he was fortunate not to suffer any serious damage in the Sunday startline clash with Lando Norris, after the Ferrari had made a poor getaway.
A 19-point haul for Ferrari with Norris recovering to pick up just one for McLaren leaves Ferrari 31.5 points ahead in the crucial battle for third in the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari has outscored McLaren in the last four races, and clearly has momentum on its side in that battle. – Glenn Freeman
VALTTERI BOTTAS
Bottas did what Mercedes needed from him this weekend. With Hamilton not a factor at the front in the sprint race, Bottas limited the damage by winning the race and preventing Verstappen from picking up the full three points.
In the main race, Bottas was moved aside early for a charging Hamilton, and then got some good fortune with the timing of a virtual safety car that allowed him to make a pitstop and jump the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
It was lucky, but it got Bottas the result Mercedes wanted: he won the battle of the number twos to help his team outscore Red Bull by 10 points for the weekend. – GF
ALPINE
A double points finish was just what Alpine needed after its run of muted weekends.
Though Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso’s combined points tally today only matched arch-rival AlphaTauri’s haul from its sole scorer Pierre Gasly just ahead of them, at least Alpine didn’t lose any more ground to what is generally a faster rival. They remain tied for fifth with three rounds to go, with Alpine ahead on countback thanks to the madness of Hungary.
The manner of Alpine’s result was also pleasing for it too. The drivers allowed each other past at different stages to try to maximise the team’s possibilities, they made a one-stop strategy work against the grain, and both Alonso and Ocon showed plenty of strong racecraft too. A vintage ‘Team Enstone’ performance in many ways, maximising everything to get the result. – Matt Beer
LOSERS
MAX VERSTAPPEN/RED BULL
Max Verstappen and Red Bull have to appear in the losers column this week given they were defeated by their championship rivals despite the pile of penalties bestowed on Hamilton.
The points loss will be a concern for Red Bull, but it’s how ominous Mercedes’ speed advantage was that will cause the greatest loss of sleep this week.
That said, given how much faster the Mercedes has looked this weekend, Verstappen can take consolation from at least not being beaten to second by Bottas and Red Bull will be pleased it denied Hamilton fastest lap point. They did everything they could against quicker opposition. – MB
ASTON MARTIN
A brilliant first lap from Sebastian Vettel made this look like it might be a great day for Aston Martin as he charged up onto the Ferraris’ tail in sixth.
But Aston Martin didn’t have the pace to sustain that. Despite Vettel’s best efforts, a combination of rivals’ pit timing and other cars simply being faster meant he was down to 11th by the flag.
Team-mate Lance Stroll wasn’t anywhere near contention even before Yuki Tsunoda speared into him and left his car shedding chunks of itself. – MB
McLAREN
Is the battle for third in the constructors’ championship now over?
Ferrari has been consistently faster for a run of races now and pulled 31.5 points clear of McLaren with the Interlagos results.
Lando Norris was perhaps unfortunate to get a puncture from his brush with Sainz. He had also put himself in a vulnerable position and then edged left too soon. Equally, McLaren’s trying to beat a faster rival to an important championship position right now – Norris has to take some chances, and in the sprint they paid off.
Tenth was in the end much better than it looked like Norris’s race would offer when he trailed miles behind the field at the end of lap one. In fact, even getting to the end of lap one was a great effort considering how easy it would have been to cause race-ending damage while limping the three-wheeled car to the pits.
Daniel Ricciardo looked set to pick up a few points before his car lost power and had to retire, which really just compounded McLaren’s misery. – MB
YUKI TSUNODA
Gasly was able to beat the Alpine duo to finish the grand prix in seventh place, but his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda’s miserable Brazilian GP means AlphaTauri lost a prime opportunity to pull clear of Alpine in their fight for fifth place in the constructors’ championship.
AlphaTauri appears to have the quicker car, with only a clever one-stop strategy allowing the Alpine duo to get anywhere near beating Gasly.
But Tsunoda wasn’t able to capitalise on it after he dropped three places from 12th to 15th in the sprint race and then collided with Stroll in the grand prix with a rather over-optimistic lunge at Turn 1.
The contact damaged Tsunoda’s front wing and led to the Japanese driver receiving a 10-second time penalty that he served before finishing down in 15th place.
With just three races to go and uncertainty over whether its recent pace advantage will translate into the two new upcoming tracks, AlphaTauri desperately needs both drivers firing on all cylinders if it is to overhaul Alpine. – JS
