Lewis Hamilton came all the way back from P10 to win the Brazilian GP in a race only he could’ve pulled off.
F1’s return to Brazil was as frenetic as the circumstances leading to it. The start of the race saw cars going all over the place with Max Verstappen climbing to first place as Valteri Bottas had no business fighting the Dutchman. Lewis Hamilton started P10 and it only took him 3 laps to get up to P6.
McLaren, was sent to the back of the pack early on as Lando Norris suffered a puncture on the start after making contact with Carlos Sainz.
Lap 7 saw Hamilton take P3 from teammate Bottas. A simple “Thank you Vallteri” was enough before stumbling into a golden opportunity in the form of a safety car. The red Mercedes was brought out to the track thanks to Yuki Tsunoda shattering his front wing.
Checo held the seven-time champion for a couple of laps. One of them with a Virtual Safety Car due Mick Schumacher’s debris. Perez didn’t make things easy for number 44 though, they went back and forth in the main straight, eventually, Hamilton got in front and sat P2.
The Wat at Pitlane
Cars started rolling down the pitlane on lap 27 with Hamilton trying to undercut Verstappen with a 2.4 seconds stop. Verstappen did the same a lap later, stopping for fresh tires in 2.6 seconds. Perez followed that up next time around.
Yuki Tsunoda found himself in the middle of not one, but two world champions on lap 39. He was overtaken by Sebastian Vettel before losing a spot to Fernando Alonso as well. The Asturias driver got into the top 10 with the move.
Max surrendered the lead on lap 39, undercutting Hamilton with a 2.7 stop. His championship rival stop two laps later and teammate Bottas was not happy about it “We’ve just thrown an easy one-two” said the former Williams man. Nonetheless, the fan favorite at Interlagos had a trick up his sleeve.
It took him four laps to catch up but he was all over Red Bull’s rear wing on lap 47. Verstappen’s defense tactic was pretty simple: Push him off the track. To both drivers credit, they kept things clean over at the paint despite a wobbly Mercedes on track reentry. The race was on.
“And This is How you Win it”
Despite being sent to the back of the grid for the sprint race and starting at the midfield, Lewis Hamilton was leading the Brazilian Grand Prix and his lead over Verstappen only seemed to get bigger and bigger as the final ten laps of the race ticked down.
As Hamilton cemented his win with a dominating performance, Pierre Gasly passed his countryman Esteban Ocon and got back at Fernando Alonso to secure P7.
Lewis Hamilton is you winner at Brazil.
Full Race Results:
- Hamilton
- Verstappen +10.496
- Bottas +13.576
- Perez + 39.94
- Leclerc +49.517
- Saiz +59.82
- Gasly + 1 Lap
- Ocon + 1 Lap
- Alonso + 1 Lap
- Norris + 1 Lap
- Vettel + 1 Lap
- Raikkonen + 1 Lap
- Russell +1 Lap
- Giovinazzi +1 Lap
- Tsunoda + 1 Lap
- Latifi +1 Lap
- Mazerpin +2 Laps
- Schumacher +2 Laps
- Ricciardo DNF
- Stroll DNF
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