Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) performed an epic comeback at the 2021 Brazil F1 GP 2021 to take his sixth win of the season and shorten his distance with title rival Max Verstappen (Red Bull) keeping the fight for the crown very much alive. Unable to compete with the mechanical superiority of the Briton’s car, the Neederlander had to settle for second place. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) completed the podium. 

The undisputed winner of the weekend was, of course, Lewis Hamilton despite the fact that he only got five points more than Verstappen. Thanks to the superiority of his W12, the Briton was able to overcome every obstacle. The title war will keep on going! Besides, Mercedes extended its Constructors´ Standings lead from one points to eleven ( 521,5 vs 510,5).

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Max takes the lead at the start before the safety car  

Verstappen and Perez surmounted Bottas for the lead as soon as the traffic lights went off on the 2021 F1 Brazilian GP. Behind them, Sainz watched as Norris tried to perform an impossible pass on him. In the end, both cars touched and, although the Briton took the worst part; the Spaniard fell three positions as a result of the incident. 

Taking advantage of the turmoil, Hamilton was muscling his way up the track. In just six laps, he had climbed from tenth to third, including the one place yielded by his teammate. After six laps the race seemed to stabilize when a crash between Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) triggered a safety car, wiping out Red Bull’s advantage over Mercedes. 

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After the race resumed in the ninth lap; the Dutchman opened a one-second gap with his teammate, and then, a first virtual safety car, caused by the wing of Mick Schumacher’s Haas, brought the tension back to the track. 

The action returned when VSC was finally lifted on lap 14. Max was leading the race while Hamilton was shadowing Perez. Several attempts and four laps later, on the 18th tour, Hamilton finally overtook his Mexican rival. The struggle, however, helped Max escape with 3.6 seconds. 

Hamilton hunts Verstappen down 

From that moment, Hamilton started his pursuit of Verstappen, which commenced at 3.9 seconds apart. After a period where things remained still, the excitement returned when Hamilton made his tire change on lap 27, almost at the same time as Sainz. A lap later and Max went to boxes in order to avoid being undercut by Hamilton, re-joining the track with a 1.4-seconds lead over his English rival. 

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On lap 44th, Hamilton made an unexpected second pit-stop. Despite coming back 1.7 seconds behind Verstappen, he got hot on his heels in three seconds’ time. The Briton smelled the blood but his first blow was harshly repressed by the Dutchman. 

Verstappen, however, succumbed to Hamilton’s second attack and was swallowed up with twelve laps remaining for the checkered flag. With no one to stop him, Hamilton escaped to victory, crossing the finish line 10 seconds ahead of Verstappen, while Bottas grabbed third place. 

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