Lewis Hamilton with a Brazilian flag and Toto Wolff freaking out. This is how last season's edition of the Brazilian Grand Prix ended. Read a recap of the heavily charged race weekend in Brazil here.
Mercedes finds momentum
With four races to go in the championship, the tension was palpable between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. Everything was being done by both sides to clinch the championship. Mercedes had the best car in the closing stages of the season, but in America and Mexico, Max Verstappen still managed to win and extend his lead over Lewis Hamilton.
In Brazil, the duel between the two reached a boiling point. It started on Friday, because like in 2022, last season's race weekend included a sprint race. So on Friday, qualifying took place. Hamilton would grab a new engine and associated penalty that weekend, but his task became a little more difficult on Friday.
During qualifying, Hamilton set the fastest time, but his car was eventually disqualified. The rear wing would have opened further than allowed with DRS. Verstappen had touched the rear wing in Parc Fermé and he was fined for this. That the wing would have been damaged by Verstappen as Mercedes claimed, the FIA would not go along with that.
For Hamilton, it was fortunate that it was a race weekend with a Sprint. Now he could start his catch-up race on Saturday from 20th place. As a result, he climbed to fifth place. On Sunday, Hamilton got his new Mercedes engine in the back of the car and was able to chase Verstappen from P10.
Hamilton versus Verstappen
Verstappen started the Sprint from P1 but lost that lead to Valtteri Bottas. On Sunday, however, the roles were reversed and Verstappen was able to control the race from the front. However, nothing could withstand the unleashed Hamilton. He lapped the entire field and was soon on Verstappen's tail. However, the latter did everything he could to keep Hamilton behind him. In an attempt to pass the Dutchman, Hamilton even had to swerve as Verstappen himself did not make it through the corner either in his attempt to defend. In the end, Verstappen could do little about Hamilton's pace and had to settle for P2.
The pent-up anger was also evident at Wolff. Who had been uncomfortable all weekend after Friday's disqualification and became visibly furious after Verstappen's defensive manoeuvre. When Hamilton eventually did pass Verstappen, the team boss made it clear by addressing the camera.
Thus, Hamilton won the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix ahead of Verstappen and Bottas. Sergio Perez finished fourth and did another good thing by taking the point for the fastest lap away from Hamilton. Hamilton nevertheless celebrated with a Brazilian flag. He then also got the support of the crowd, where Verstappen was booed.
What is everyone talking about...the season is over. Max won. So clear that F1 is strumming up drama where there is none. Your fooled if you buy into it. The season was over almost halfway through the season but the F1 wants you to forget it. They are losing money right now because once people look at the races coming up and the points standings they are like oh it's already done Max has the most points it's over already. These races don't mean anything. I am a fan I understand this sometimes happens. Red Bull has the best car and Max is their number 1 driver so he wins. Let the hate begin lol.
It shows people's ignorance when they go on about Mercedes cheat when all the top teams are at it. We only get to hear half of what realy goes on so they don't tarnish the sport. Very similar to Fifa in some ways. Money talks. There is only one way to make the sport fair and find out who are the best drivers and that is to give the teams identical engine gearbox wing and floor and just let them tweak the ride hight and front wing and other minor things so they can set the car up for the conditions on the day. I know I'm dreaming but if we could level the field in some similar way what a treat we would get as racing fans. Full blooded wheel to wheel racing where drivers have to use skill and bravery rather than a procession we normally get, its what we all deserve ???♂️
If MV wants that he needs to grow up and be more gracious all round
Merc fans still can't look past of 2021... here is a refresher, the championship got tied because the FIA stewards (not Masi like Sky F1 wants you to blame) didn't set a strong precedence, Hamilton was out of the championship after Silverstone 2021 and Max after Monza 2021, period. Now looking past the obvious Mercedes had everything that year, the faster car, the better engine but they still were afraid that after pitting they wouldn't have enought time to beat Max, if Hamilton pit even after Max, the story will be the superior Mercedes beating Max not the other way around.
I copied this from a text I wrote on a previous article on this topic, but it fits better here: Lewis is extremely adept at communicating with all fans. We always see him greeting and praising them, in Brazil it is enough to wrap yourself in their flag and say that Senna is your role model and you are the hero of the nation there. It's all a promotion that Lewis and Mercedes have worked very carefully and built up over the years, yesterday I saw a photo montage post showing Lewis standing on the podium with Senna in his arms. It's all manipulation of the masses, and at least Lewis's fans expected to have at least something to look forward to in this sad year for them, and it's unlikely that the next one will be better, and that's why you shouldn't be so angry with them. Let them be happy, even if Max shuts them all down on Sunday. My prediction is that Verstappen's name will be written in golden letters in Brazil in the future.
I hope it rains on Sunday and Max wins it by finishing atleast a minute ahead of everyone else. That will be some statement.
Yes the golden letters of , second is the first looser.
One of the many great performances Mercedes and Lewis have demonstrated over the years!!!
I watched that race again today and man, that Mercedes was fast!
Yeah like the Red Bull today. Last year the were all bikkering about how Mercedes has such str8 line speed that they must be cheating, now its red bull its all fine. I remember checo on the radio asking what is Mercedes doing on the straights
You are not allowed to turn the engines up in F1, besides Bottas came 3rd.
That's because Engine development doesn't come under the cost cap. That will change from 2026.
And somehow stayed within the cap to the dismay of the other teams.
Spicy formula is only used on factory team's engines. Customer's don't have access to them, which is why it's going to be extremely difficult for customer teams to win the championships from now on. Engineers can circumvent those rules easily and FIA don't even notice unless it is pointed out by rival teams.
Any engine mode available to Mercedes also had to be available to their customer teams by rules. We didn't see any of the customer teams "turn up their engines" and gain a big advantage. Taking a new PU only gained the customer teams a small advantage. That Mercedes made a big speed gain in the last 4 races in 2021, with no logical explanation.
What?♂️. Teams can choose any engine mode they want. Be it a party or any other mode. It just has to remain constant throughout the weekend. i.e. quali and race. It's basically a limit on Max power not on minimum power and hence teams can turn down their engines in the races if they want to, to save some mileage. Merc might have played around tolerances of all the engine parts last year. Basic engineering rule - 1. Tighter the tolerances - Higher the performance at the cost of lifespan. 2. Wider the tolerances- Higher the lifespan at the cost of performance. Plus they had that illegal rear wing, trick suspension and illegal trick of cooling the intake air in the plenum as well. No wonder they have fallen behind Ferrari and Honda this year.
well, they were cheating. why did they get a penalty for the rear wing then??
0.2mm yet redbull were able to change their rear wings between qualifying and the race 8 times in 21 due to reliability???? Wise up.... The fIA bias is profound
Oh yeah when it’s RB it’s all fine. No one was saying for months how RB has an illegal floor especially after Russell’s ‘there’s NO DOUBT RB and Ferrari misused the loophole in the rules’ After that statement all MB fans, rational as they are, were disagreeing with Russell and were saying they shouldn’t jump on that and how RB probably didn’t do that. We all saw it ? ? ?
"Zvezdan Jasovic +620008-11-2022 23:44 No one was saying for months how RB has an illegal floor especially after Russell’s ‘there’s NO DOUBT RB and Ferrari misused the loophole in the rules'" Please enlighten me how one can 'misuse a loophole'.
Mercedes was a real rocket ship compared to Red-Bull 2day...Red- Bull had to fight with the FERRARI cars..
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