2021 São Paulo Grand Prix

2021 São Paulo Grand Prix
Previous←	2021 Mexico City Grand Prix
Round	19 of 2021
Next→	2021 Qatar Grand Prix
Interlagos layout for the 2021 season
Race Details
Date	November 14, 2021
Race Number	1054
Official Name	Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2021
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.309 km (2.677 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (190.102 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Time	Grid positions decided by results of sprint qualifying
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:11.010 on lap 71
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Max Verstappen
Third	Valtteri Bottas
Lap Leaders

The 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2021) was the 19^th race of the 2021 Formula One Season, held between November 12 and November 14 2021 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil.

Background

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

The full practice results for the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.990	19	1:13.448	12
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.610	15	1:13.581	13
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:10.413	12	1:13.747	17
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.902	17	1:14.025	18
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:10.443	13	1:13.355	10
9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:11.342	20	1:14.909	20
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:09.880	5	1:13.608	14
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:09.492	3	1:12.903	6
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:10.201	9	1:11.238	1
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:10.142	7	1:13.099	9
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:10.352	10	1:13.426	11
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:10.374	11	1:13.726	16
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:10.145	8	1:12.407	4
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:09.417	2	1:12.102	2
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.050	1	1:12.741	5
47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:10.885	16	1:14.066	19
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1:10.124	6	1:13.078	8
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.938	18	1:13.615	15
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:09.567	4	1:12.355	3
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:10.587	14	1:12.997	7
Source:

Qualifying

Q1

Hamilton topped Q1 with the fastest lap around the Interlagos track, which had some track limit and DRS detection zone changes for this season. Russell was outqualified by his teammate Latifi for this first time this season. Stroll missed out on advancing to Q2 by just 65 ms.

Q2

Ocon, Vettel, Tsunoda, and both drivers from Alfa Romeo-Ferrari were knocked out in Q2.

Q3

All four leading teams in the Contructors' Championship made it into Q3. Hamilton was the fastest in Q3, followed by Verstappen, Bottas and Pérez. This line-up will make for an exciting Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday, which will settle the final grid for Sunday's Grand Prix.

Post-qualifying, Hamilton was excluded from the qualifying results due to an infringement with the DRS, while Verstappen was fined €50,000 for a parc ferme infringement.

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		SQ Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		6	1:09.329		3	1:08:499		2	1:08.372	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		2	1:09.040		2	1:08.426		3	1:08.469	2
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda		5	1:09.172		6	1:08.973		4	1:08.483	3
4	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		8	1:09.347		5	1:08.903		5	1:08.777	4
5	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari		3	1:09.046		8	1:09.031		6	1:08.826	5
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		4	1:09.155		4	1:08:859		7	1:08.960	6
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		10	1:09.365		7	1:09.030		8	1:08.980	7
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes		11	1:09.374		9	1:09.093		9	1:09.039	8
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault		12	1:09.391		10	1:09.137		10	1:09.113	9
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault		13	1:09.430		11	1:09.189				10
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		14	1:09.451		12	1:09.399				11
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda		9	1:09.350		13	1:09.483				12
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		15	1:09.598		14	1:09.503				13
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		7	1:09.342		15	1:10.227				14
15	16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes		16	1:09.663							15
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		17	1:09.897							16
17	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		18	1:09.953							17
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		19	1:10.329							18
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari		20	1:10.589							19
107% Time: 1:13.544
EXC*	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1	1:08.733		1	1:08:068		1	1:07:934	20
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Hamilton was excluded from qualifying results after a DRS infringement.

Race Grid

The starting grid of the feature race of the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix is outined below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Bottas
	Verstappen	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Sainz
	Pérez	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Norris
	Leclerc	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Gasly
	Ocon	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Vettel
	Hamilton	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Ricciardo
	Alonso	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Giovinazzi
	Stroll	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Tsunoda
	Latifi	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Russell
	Schumacher	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Mazepin
	Räikkönen	______________

Source:

Sprint Qualifying

Report

Bottas got a better start than Verstappen, with the Dutchman running wide off Turn 4 and ceding the position to Sainz. Verstappen then took back the position from Sainz and charged back to Bottas, but the Finn managed to hold him off and win the sprint, thereby setting pole position for the race, with Verstappen in second and Sainz third. After being excluded from qualifying, Hamilton recovered from the back to finish in 5^th, but would be starting the race in 10^th due to engine penalties. Raikkonen dropped down to 18^th ahead of the Haas drivers after being tagged into a spin by his team-mate Giovinazzi.

Results

The full results for the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	SQ Grid	Points	GP Grid
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	24	29:09.559	2	3	1
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	24	+1.170s	1	2	2
3	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	24	+18.723s	5	1	3
4	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	24	+19.787s	3		4
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24	+20.872s	20		10*
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	24	+22.558s	7		5
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24	+25.056s	6		6
8	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	24	+34.158s	4		7
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	24	+24.632s	10		8
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	24	+24.867s	11		9
11	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	24	+35.869s	8		11
12	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	24	+36.578s	9		12
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	24	+41.880s	14		13
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	24	+44.037s	15		14
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	24	+46.150s	12		15
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	24	+46.760s	16		16
17	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	24	+47.739s	17		17
18	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	24	+50.014s	13		PL†
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	24	+61.680s	18		18
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	24	+67.474s	19		19
Source:

• * Hamilton was given a 5-place grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine (ICE).
• ^† Raikkonen was required to start from the pit lane after being fitted with a new front wing specification.

Sprint Grid

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Verstappen
	Bottas	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Pérez
	Gasly	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Sainz
	Leclerc	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Norris
	Ricciardo	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Alonso
	Ocon	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Vettel
	Tsunoda	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Räikkönen
	Giovinazzi	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Stroll
	Latifi	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Russell
	Schumacher	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Mazepin
	Hamilton	______________

Race

Report

Verstappen got ahead of Bottas at the start, while Norris went off at Turn 1 after collecting a puncture from contact with Sainz, limping for one lap back to the pits. Bottas and several drivers went off at Turn 4, surrendering second place to Perez. Hamilton meanwhile, managed to gain up to 7^th place at the end of the first lap, passing Vettel for sixth at the start of the next. By the fourth lap, Hamilton was already in fourth behind Bottas, who let his team-mate through at the start of the fifth lap. A while later, the safety car was deployed, due to debris on the first corners as a result from Tsunoda damaging his front wing attempting to overtake Stroll on the inside, the Japanese driver given a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

The race resumed on Lap 10, with both Red Bulls pulling away and Hamilton in pursuit. A VSC was later called after there was debris on the track, this time due to a collision from Schumacher and Raikkonen which resulted a broken front wing for the German. As the VSC ended, Verstappen continued to pull clear, while Hamilton was able to pass Perez on the outside of Turn 1 on Lap 18, but the Mexican retook the position on the back straight with DRS. Hamilton repeated the maneuver on the following lap, and this time made the move stick, but by now was 3.7 seconds behind Verstappen.

Hamilton was the first of the leaders to stop on Lap 26, while Verstappen followed a lap later, but despite Hamilton behind Ricciardo after his stop, he reduced the gap to his rival to 2.6 seconds. A second VSC was called on Lap 30, due to debris shedding from Stroll's car following his incident from Tsunoda. Bottas pitted under VSC conditions, and was able to get ahead of Perez.

With the lead gap fluctuating, Verstappen made his second stop on Lap 40, while Hamilton stopped three laps later, and once again began to close into his rival. On Lap 48, Hamilton had just got ahead of Verstappen at the back straight when Verstappen braked late, sending both drivers into the run-off at Turn 4. Ten laps later, Hamilton was once again on close range behind Verstappen, but could not quite get past as Verstappen weaved on the back straight. Hamilton finally managed to sail into the lead on the following lap, with Verstappen given a black and white flag for the weaving. Stroll was the first retirement of the race, stopping his car in the garage on Lap 48 after it was too damaged to continue. Ricciardo also retired two laps later.

Hamilton would be left untroubled for the remainder of the race, pulling clear of Verstappen and won by 10 seconds, with his team-mate Bottas in third having reduced the gap to Verstappen but ran out of laps to claim second place. Finishing out of the podium but in the points were Perez (who pitted for the fastest lap), Leclerc, Sainz, Gasly, Ocon, Alonso and Norris.

During the in-lap after the race's conclusion, Hamilton removed his seatbelt, which the stewards later gave him a fine of €5,000 for infringing on a technical regulation.

Results

The full results for the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	1:32:22.851	10	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	71	+10.496s	2	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	71	+13.576s	1	15
4	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	71	+39.940s	4	13FL
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	+49.517s	6	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	71	+51.820s	3	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	70	+1 lap	7	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	70	+1 lap	8	4
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	70	+1 lap	12	2
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	5	1
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	9
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	70	+1 lap	20
13	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	17
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	70	+1 lap	13
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	70	+1 lap	15
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	16
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	19
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	69	+2 laps	18
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	49	Chassis	11
Ret	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	47	Collision damage	14
Source:

Milestones

• 350^th entry for Kimi Räikkönen.
• 210^th entry and start for Sergio Pérez, equaling Gerhard Berger's record.
• 207^th entry and start for Daniel Ricciardo, surpassing Nico Rosberg's record for the most consecutive race starts.
• 101^st race win for Lewis Hamilton.
  • Hamilton's win marked only his second time winning from outside 6^th place on the grid. His win at the circuit breaks the previous record held by Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2003 race for winning from the lowest starting position at the circuit.
• 10^th win for a Mercedes-powered car at the circuit.

Standings

Hamilton's victory meant that he narrowed the championship gap to Verstappen to 14 points, and with Bottas' sprint victory combined, Mercedes pulled clear from Red Bull by 10 points in the constructors' standings. Ferrari also pulled clear from McLaren in the battle for third in the constructors' standings, following the latter team's poor performance in the race, whilst AlphaTauri and Alpine are tied in points in the constructors' standings.

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Max Verstappen 332.5 — 2 Lewis Hamilton 318.5 — 3 Valtteri Bottas 203 — 4 Sergio Pérez 178 — 5 Lando Norris 151 — 6 Charles Leclerc 148 — 7 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 139.5 — 8 Daniel Ricciardo 105 — 9 Pierre Gasly 92 — 10 Fernando Alonso 64 — 11 Esteban Ocon 48 — 12 Sebastian Vettel 42 — 13 Lance Stroll 26 — 14 Yuki Tsunoda 20 — 15 George Russell 16 — 16 Kimi Räikkönen 10 — 17 Nicholas Latifi 7 — 18 Antonio Giovinazzi 1 —

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Mercedes 521.5 — 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 510.5 — 3 Ferrari 287.5 — 4 McLaren-Mercedes 256 — 5 Alpine-Renault 112 — 6 AlphaTauri-Honda 112 — 7 Aston Martin-Mercedes 68 — 8 Williams-Mercedes 23 — 9 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 11 —

Only point-scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

Images and Videos:

References: