War between Red Bull and Mercedes: Here's how things stand after Brazil

A new engine for Hamilton

Just before the first free practice in Brazil, it was revealed that Hamilton and Mercedes opted for a new engine. It had been rumoured for some time that Hamilton would get a new engine but reliability problems were always mentioned. This could be explained with the problems that were common to the customer teams of Mercedes.

Bottas has been used as a guinea pig in recent races and with good reason. The Finn had to test what power the engine could handle without causing problems and for how many races that could be. How fast the engine was, became clear during qualifying at the Interlagos circuit.

With a grid penalty of five places for the new engine (that would count for the race on Sunday), Mercedes wanted to do everything to take pole for the sprint race. This would allow Hamilton to take three points from the front. Hamilton took pole, but was not allowed to start there.

Disqualification and a fine

After qualifying, there were some remarkable scenes that were filmed by a fan. First of all Verstappen looked at the rear wing of Mercedes very closely and touched it with his hand, but also the FIA took a look. The Mercedes car was checked and something appeared to be wrong with the rear wing.

It took almost 24 hours for a decision to be made, but before the sprint race it was announced that Hamilton was disqualified from qualifying. A whole tome emerged as to why and what rule had been broken. When opening the DRS the wing would have been open more than the allowed 85mm on one side and that was costing Mercedes dearly. Mercedes say that it failed the test because the wing picked up damage. Hamilton had to start from the back during the sprint race.

Mercedes was furious and pointed the finger at Verstappen. The Dutchman had touched their rear wing and who could say if this had not damaged the wing. The stewards decided that Verstappen shouldn't have touched the wing and issued a fine of 50,000 euros.

Mercedes goes very fast

But the drama was not over yet. Hamilton did the impossible and drove in the sprint race of 24 laps from the back of the grid to fifth place. A magnificent performance, but his speed on the straight was remarkable. Once again, the Mercedes rear wing was viewed with suspicion: what is going on here?

GPblog has learnt that Red Bull are investigating two matters. First of all, they are looking at Mercedes' rear wing, but they also noticed the steering wheel during the sprint qualifying. Various images revealed that Hamilton's steering wheel was moving forwards and backwards again, as had been the case in the days of the DAS system.

However, this system was banned for the 2021 season. To GPblog Mercedes had the following to say about the images: "It's either an optical illusion or some slack in the steering column - which can happen as they age - and is not a desirable feature. The steering system has been homologated since the start of the season and has therefore been the same all year. Any further interpretation than this are conspiracy theories."

An investigation by Pitwalk however, it emerged that Mercedes may well be playing with hydraulic shock absorbers, which are adjusted using the steering column. This would cause the rear of the car to drop on the straight to reduce drag, and the car to rise again before the corners to generate more downforce.

Verstappen also under the magnifying glass

While Red Bull is investigating the possibly illegal practices of Mercedes, Mercedes is also stepping up the pressure on Red Bull. In the race, Hamilton drove to victory but had to avoid a defensive move by Verstappen on lap 48.

Max vs Lewis

Every angle on their Lap 48 battle #BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/9NLHajCiPv

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 16, 2021

On lap 48 Hamilton went around Verstappen at turn 4, but the Dutchman wouldn't budge. The Red Bull driver braked deep, but maybe too deep. He didn't make the apex and went straight on. Hamilton had to steer clear on the outside and together they were well outside the track limits as a result.

The Dutchman got away with it after pushing Hamilton off the track. The stewards didn't think an investigation was necessary, but it turned out that the onboard footage of Verstappen was not available. Now that those images are available Mercedes wants to investigate and enforce a penalty for Verstappen.

pic.twitter.com/IdArUenBce

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 16, 2021

Despite a victory for Hamilton, Mercedes is worried about this because Valtteri Bottas finished three seconds behind the Dutchman. If Verstappen is given a five-second penalty, he will lose his second place to Bottas and therefore three points in the championship. That would reduce the difference between Hamilton and Verstappen to eleven points in the championship.

War in Formula 1

Red Bull sources told GPblog.com Tuesday that they were surprised that Mercedes went ahead with the protest. Toto Wolff had already warned that the time for diplomacy was over, but Red Bull had not counted on this protest. It is now a matter of waiting for a reaction from the FIA. Will there be an investigation or will this attempt, just like Red Bull's attempt after the British Grand Prix to get Hamilton to accept an even bigger penalty, be pushed aside?

All in all, it is clear that Red Bull and Mercedes are no longer shying away from any means of winning this title. It may go a bit far now and then, but everything is allowed in love and war and war it certainly is now between Mercedes and Red Bull. This is what Formula 1 has been wanting for years.