F1 Live | First free practice for the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

LIVEBLOG | First free practice for the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix

The Brazilian Grand Prix was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19. After one year of waiting, the race will be held again this weekend in São Paulo. The circuit that will be driven on, Interlagos, has been the permanent circuit on which the Brazilian GP has been held since 1990. The last edition in 2019 was won by Max Verstappen. That was a crazy race where the second place was decided on the finish line. Pierre Gasly just managed to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him. The Briton also received a time penalty for the incident with Alexander Albon, which left him outside the podium.

Chance of rain

After two dry races, it looks like there will be rain this weekend in São Paulo. The rain is predicted to start during the night from Wednesday to Thursday and only stop on Saturday. A wet track during the sprint race is therefore not unthinkable. During the race on Sunday, it will most likely remain dry.

The result of the first free practice can already give an indication of the proportions for the race weekend. All teams will want to make the most of the hour of practice time, as qualifying will follow immediately after this session. You can follow all developments here in the live blog.

Sprint race weekends

This is the third and final sprint race weekend of the 2021 season. They were introduced as a test, and it's worked relatively well. There are mixed reviews, but they will continue in 2021. We expect six sprint race weekends next year, but the circuits are still unknown. Previously, the sprint races were held at Silverstone and Monza. 

Those two events saw title rivals Hamilton and Verstappen crash into each other. At the British Grand Prix, the two drivers touched at high speed and Verstappen ended up going into the barrier. Hamilton went on to win his home event. The Dutchman required a precautionary hospital check-up but left the hospital on the same day. The second crash resulted in both drivers recording a DNF. Verstappen touched the kerb at turn one. His car launched in the air and landed on top of the Mercedes car. 

Overall in 2021, Verstappen has a 19 point lead in the World Championship and is the favourite to extend that gap before the final three races. After Brazil, the Formula 1 circuit will travel to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to finish the season. Despite either being brand new to F1 or containing new alterations, those three circuits are expected to favour the Mercedes car.