Brazilian Grand Prix – Race: George Russell imperial

For the first time this season, the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton secured the front row. It’s the first time since the beginning of the season that the seven-time world champion started from the front row. The two Silver Arrows were followed on the grid by the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez. The only driver from the Top 6 starting with medium tires was Charles Leclerc. The rest had decided to start their first stint on soft tires.

The departure

First off, George Russell didn’t get caught off guard by the sudden lights out and managed to stay in the lead of the race coming out of Senna’s S. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, didn’t have a great start and lost his 5th position to Lando Norris. The British driver took full advantage of the soft tires to overtake the Monegasque.

First accident

The race was stopped on the first lap due to a safety car. This was caused by an incident between Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen. It was at the 9th turn that the Australian attempted a daring overtaking maneuver on the Haas. The McLaren clipped the rear of the Danish driver’s car, sending it into a spin. Magnussen’s drifting car ultimately took the former Red Bull driver down with it. Both drivers were forced to retire.

A turbulent revival/restart

The restart of this Grand Prix was full of action. The first incident involved the two main rivals of the 2021 season, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Taking advantage of a blocked Lewis Hamilton by his teammate in front of him, the Dutchman tried to go around the Mercedes bearing the number 44 on the outside of the first corner. Hamilton left very little space for his opponent, resulting in a collision between him and the Dutchman. In addition to receiving damage to his front wing, the reigning world champion was deemed at fault for this collision and was penalized with a 5-second penalty. A penalty that did not seem to demoralize Verstappen, who continued to overtake to climb up the field.

The other collision in this race occurred at Turn 8 between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. The British McLaren driver attempted to dive inside the Monégasque driver, but this maneuver resulted in an unfortunate crash that sent the Ferrari into the barriers. Despite this relatively impressive impact, Leclerc managed to continue the race. Lando Norris, like Max Verstappen, received a 5-second penalty for understeering into his competitor’s car.

Bad luck also struck Carlos Sainz’s car. While the Spaniard was comfortably sitting in 3rd position, the former McLaren driver was called into the pits to have a foreign object removed that had become lodged in his left rear brake.

With Sergio Perez and George Russell’s pit stops between the 24th and 26th lap of the race, it allowed Lewis Hamilton to temporarily lead the way in this Brazilian Grand Prix. Making a pit stop on the 30th lap of the race, the Mercedes driver returned to the track in fourth position, just 6 seconds behind Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

Hunting Sergio Perez for about ten laps, gaining solid tenths of a second per lap, the Mexican’s lead over the Briton was melting like snow under the sun. It was on the 45th lap of the race that the seven-time world champion dived inside the Red Bull to take that second position. A maneuver that sparked excitement and joy among Brazilian fans.

Sergio Perez’s undercut attempt on the 48th lap of the race was directly countered by the successive pit stops of the Mercedes. The new order was now as follows: George Russell, Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton.

The second safety car

On the 53rd lap of the race, the virtual safety car was deployed following Lando Norris’ retirement. Carlos Sainz took the opportunity to pit and get rid of his old medium tires. This left the two silver arrows in the lead. The marshals were having a lot of difficulties moving Norris’ McLaren, so the safety car was finally called onto the circuit.

George Russell was managing this second race restart brilliantly. The young British driver had managed to keep his garage neighbor behind him. He was even able to create a small gap between him and Lewis Hamilton. On the 64th lap, there was a 1.4-second gap between the two Mercedes.

Never bothered by Lewis Hamilton, George Russell finally triumphed brilliantly on the Interlagos circuit. This is Russell’s 8th podium in his career, but above all, it’s his first victory in Formula 1. The Briton is followed on the podium by Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.

Great performance by Fernando Alonso in Brazil. Starting from 17th position, the two-time world champion made several overtakes to climb up to 5th place. One of his notable overtakes was his maneuver on Sergio Perez’s Red Bull on the 67th lap of the race.