November’s second weekend gave racing fans the São Paulo Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit — a rollercoaster weekend for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One racing team and Lewis Hamilton. São Paulo was an important race for the Mercedes F1 racing team. Their rivals, Red Bull Racing, are close behind Mercedes in the Formula One World Championship, which sees teams compete simultaneously for the World Constructors’ Championship and the World Drivers’ Championship, given respectively to the best car constructors and best driver of each season. Red Bull’s top driver, Max Verstappen, is in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship. Hamilton is racing to secure his eighth and record-breaking world championship.
Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, set the fastest lap in Friday morning’s practice session and qualified on pole, putting him in first place for the F1 Sprint on Saturday. Minutes later the stewards, the officials in charge of upholding the rules, ruled that Hamilton would have to take a starting five grid penalty, meaning a start in a lower position, for using a new internal combustion engine for his car.
Saturday, Nov. 13, held the F1 Sprint event — a fast-paced event that has the drivers race 100 km around the race track for extra points in the championships and determines the starting lineup on race day. Hamilton was disqualified from his qualifying time due to the adjustable DRS portion of the car’s rear wing, a flap that helps the car pick up speed to be able to pass other drivers, failing an inspection, which moved Hamilton to the last place starting position for the F1 Sprint. Despite this, Hamilton drove beautifully in the F1 Sprint, making up 15 of his lost positions to start in fifth place (P5) before the grid penalty dropped him to P10.
The weekend started out cloudy, but on Sunday the temperature rose to a sunny 27 degrees — a perfect day for racing. The drivers do their formation lap and line up on the starting grid; engines are revving, warming up the air, running on the same high octane fuel as their drivers, and Hamilton starting in P10. The starting lights shine brightly. The roaring crowd, drowned out by the engines. The starting countdown begins.
“Lights out and away we go!” yells David ‘Crofy’ Croft; the cars leap forward. And this humble F1 enthusiast witnesses one of the most spectacular drives on a Sunday he has ever seen.
Hamilton charged up the track on the first lap, passing slower drivers and making up four positions by Lap two. On Lap four, Hamilton cut between the two Ferraris to slide into fourth. On Lap 18, Hamilton, now P3, made two brilliant moves through the Senna “S” of Interlagos into P2.
The next 53 laps were like watching a battle of a war, with the commentators, David “Crofty” Croft and Martin Brundle, speculating as to what the best tactics for the drivers were and which would make their pit stop first. Verstappen pitted earlier on Lap 41; Hamilton took his pit stop on Lap 44, hoping the fresher set of tires would be beneficial in the final pushes of the race.
A terrible accident was avoided on Lap 48. Verstappen, about to be overtaken by Hamilton, closed the outside door with a dangerous block that drove both racers off the track in Turn four. The stewards, after much chagrin from the Mercedes Team, chose not to penalize Verstappen after the dangerous manoeuvre. Hamilton pushed Verstappen to his limits during the following 10 laps. The cars were speeding over 250 kilometres an hour on the short straights. At the start of Lap 59, Hamilton moved to overtake Verstappen with DRS as they headed into Turn one, but couldn’t quite get out in front through the Senna S for Turns two and three, bearing down the straight into Turn four.
“Is it third time lucky?” shouted Crofty as the pair came roaring up to Turn four. The rear flap of Hamilton’s rear wing opened; DRS was engaged. “It is third time lucky for Lewis Hamilton!” Crofty shouted, and the crowd at Interlagos roared, waving Brazilian flags.
Hamilton would maintain his lead for the last 12 laps of the São Paulo Grand Prix. He shows how thrilling this motorsport continues to be since the first F1 race in 1950. The podium finishes for the São Paulo Grand Prix are: Hamilton first, Verstappen second, and Bottas third, maintaining Mercedes’ lead in the 2021 Constructors’ Cup over Red Bull.
It’s the thrills on and off the track that make this sport so amazing. You have to take any advantage given to you; every point and inch matters. Hamilton’s performance in Brazil shows you how and why he is a seven-time world champion, and why you can’t ever give up in the world of sports. Anything can change; every chance given can lead to glory and the laurels, and you just can’t ever truly know the outcome until that checkered flag is waved.
Image: Formula 1/ Instagram @Lewis Hamilton
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
