2021 Formula One Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Formula 1 Grand Prix of Brazil.jpeg

Who will lead the constructor's championship after Brazil?

  • Mercedes

    Votes: 63 33.7%
  • Red Bull

    Votes: 124 66.3%

  • Total voters
    187
  • Poll closed .
F1 takes to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace circuit this weekend in Brazil.

Formula One returns to Brazil this weekend after missing the 2020 race. The event will see the return of the sprint qualifying format.

Driver’s championship leader Max Verstappen holds a 19 point lead over Lewis Hamilton at a track both drivers tend to perform well on. Their respective teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, are separated by just one point with Mercedes’ slight edge.

Just four races remain in the 2021 season, with the field travelling to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to close out the year. While Verstappen’s 19-point advantage seems safe at this point, constructor’s standings are more hotly contested. Mercedes’s one point lead could easily swing to Red Bull’s advantage before the end of the year, and the 13.5-point lead Ferrari now holds over McLaren looks to be a tight battle for the remainder of the season.

Behind the four top teams, Alpine and Alphatauri are locked at 106 points each. Pierre Gasly’s impressive 86 points this season have offset Yuki Tsunoda’s 20 at Alphatauri, with Alpine’s points being more balanced at 60 and 46 for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, respectively.

There remains much to be decided this season in terms of the final driver and constructor rankings. Let us know your thoughts on who might finish ahead of where they are currently ranked, and who will take the win in Sao Paulo this weekend.

Image credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula Team
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

If Bottas decides to work with the team and can keep Max at bay long enough (since both Mercs seem to be strong in Brazil) and Hamilton keeps making those great overtakes, he still has a shot at taking the fight to Verstappen today. Merc's strategy and the drivers' execution tomorrow has to be flawless.

Verstappen will be really hungry and aggressive to get the jump on Bottas on Lap 1, so for God sake I hope this Finn finds his inner sisu and fights Max off until Hamilton can get in the mix. Not like the other top 10 guys are gonna make it easy for HAM, but he drove like a man possessed yesterday, so I hope they'll have the good sense to not prolong a losing battle. Really excited for tomorrow, for whatever it may bring, as Brazil rarely ever disappoints.
 
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Hamilton's rear wing failed the FIA test by 0.2mm, only on the right-hand side - the middle and left side passed the test just fine. That has to feel like a harsh decision from Merc's point of view.
True, but can’t find me in Toto’s very aggressive comment after the sprintrace. It was Merc’s mistake, nobody else.

ps. How is it possible that overspeed between the Mercs and McLaren, same engine, Norris also got a new engine?
It stinks.
 
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Premium
I think Toto's issue was that (according to Merc) the rear wing failed the test due to damage but they were not allowed to fix it (where other teams have been allowed to fix broken parts before the race).

Speed difference could simply be down to drag, surely?
 
What I saw in the sprint is that many drivers didn´t make a fight with hamilton, as there where no point on doing that. Because in first place there where no much points awarded and in a second stance Hamilton would get a 5 grid penalty so in all will in many cases start from the back of many of the drivers he passed as with McLaren.
I guess in race will be a little bit more difficult, as similar to the Perez / Sainz approach on turn 1 and would not be easy for Hamiton to judge the risk as he could be taken out or even had to pit for repairs if there would be contact in those cases.
And many expect Bottas to be hard on Max but forgot that Perez could be as hard with Hamilton.
Lets see how all unravels.
 
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I think Toto's issue was that (according to Merc) the rear wing failed the test due to damage but they were not allowed to fix it (where other teams have been allowed to fix broken parts before the race).

Speed difference could simply be down to drag, surely?
I don't see anything questionable with stewards applying the rules. Hamilton set the fastest qualyfying lap with a damaged (?!) car, that wasn't conforming the rules. According to that argumentation they could start bending the rules and allways call it "damage" afterwards, wich would open a huge loop hole. This case is pretty much black and white with no room for interpretation, same as the disqualification of Vettel in Hungary, when Hamilton earned a second place. Where was Toto at that point? Aston Martin would have been able to get a big enough fuel sample from the car to solve/fix the issue aswell, but there was no way and the DSQ was the result. How are you going to argue in that case? Give Vettel the second place back, devote Hamilton to 3rd and add another two points to his disadvantage to Verstappen?

The case is clear and Mercedes could be lucky that they aren't excluded from the race. It's their fault so Toto should take it like a man and acknowledge the mistake of his team and not push the fault to someone else. I am not sure, if anybody remebers the bardge board affair of 1999 but this case is pretty similar.
 
There is no reason why those drivers would take more chances against Hamilton in the race, when there is so much at stake in the team championship for McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine. Only Vettel has nothing to lose but he has also has the slowest car of the bunch and might even go for a one-stopper to grab points. Only Pérez has both the car and the reason to put up a big fight.
 
There is no reason why those drivers would take more chances against Hamilton in the race, when there is so much at stake in the team championship for McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine. Only Vettel has nothing to lose but he has also has the slowest car of the bunch and might even go for a one-stopper to grab points. Only Pérez has both the car and the reason to put up a big fight.
I think you miss the point. In the sprint race, you have much more to loose in a fight from P4 onwards while you gain basicly nothing. In the race it's different as any lost place will mean a clear points disadvantage.
 
Crashing with Hamilton would get them 0 point. In other words, in a race there is more to gain but also more to lose. But we will see soon how they deal with it.
 
There is no reason why those drivers would take more chances against Hamilton in the race, when there is so much at stake in the team championship for McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine. Only Vettel has nothing to lose but he has also has the slowest car of the bunch and might even go for a one-stopper to grab points. Only Pérez has both the car and the reason to put up a big fight.
I do not agree because the one with most to loose in the race is Hamilton (could loose big deal in championship fight) so Hamilton will be a little bit more precaucious and oponents bit more agressive as there are a lot of points in dispute in the race that in a normal cincunstances Hamilton would never be stay behind and this is a good oportunity to grab more points than normal.
I think they will be a bit more agressive and for sure I hope so, that will make the race much more interesting to see.
 
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Stroll, another driver that cannot drive at this level. How can you just steer into someone like that, like a amateur. OMG
 
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5 places in 2 laps...man is on fire! Now a safety car! We're still in the fight!
 
Premium
If the rocketship not was enough all ready for this weekend they put a afterburner on it.
 
How is that not even a penalty for Verstappen? That was so blatant a force off that I would've contemplated giving him a drive through for it!
 
Mercedes in a sudden tuned the car into a F0.75. Out of the blue. They still investigating the flex rear wing.
 

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