The Finnish driver Valteri Bottas, from Mercedes, won the sprint race of the São Paulo GP this Saturday (13th) and will start in first in the race this Sunday (14), in Interlagos, which starts at 2 pm — Band broadcasts the race.
Lewis Hamilton’s teammate took over from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen early on and kept the lead until the end. The Dutch, leader of the World Cup, will start in second place. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished third.
In 2019, Max Verstappen took pole and won the race in the city of São Paulo — in 2020 Brazil ended up outside the F1 calendar because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was the first year that the Brazilian stage received the new starting grid definition format. The order of the drivers on the track is defined by the finish classification of the sprint race, with 24 laps.
In this race mode, only the top three winners receive points: the first one wins three, the second one gets two and the third one gets one point.
Thus, the championship leader reaches 314.5 points, against 293.5 of Lewis Hamilton, from Mercedes, the second placed in the classification.
In this Saturday’s dispute, the English driver had to start in the last position after being disqualified from training on Friday (12). In just 24 laps, he came out of 20th place and finished the sprint in 5th place. Even so, he will have to serve a new penalty this Sunday for having changed the combustion engine in his car — he will lose five places and start 10th in the GP.
The seven-time champion started in last position due to the punishment imposed by the FIA (International Automobile Federation) after the technical delegate of the entity, Joe Bauer, found an irregularity in the wing of the Mercedes driver’s car.
The F1 regulations stipulate that the gap between the rear wing blades must be, at most, 85 mm. A space larger than this could mean a competitive advantage, which was seen in the vehicle of the British competitor. In the FIA’s understanding, however, the fact did not occur in bad faith, but due to the natural wear and tear of the part. Even so, the regulation provides for punishment.
The delay in releasing the resolution of the case caused anxiety in the paddock. The investigation began on Friday, shortly after qualifying, and only ended after the second free practice, this Saturday, about two hours before the sprint race.
Verstappen was also investigated. In the case of the Dutchman, for having touched the Englishman’s car right after the activity on the track, an action that is prohibited by regulation. For this reason, he was fined 50,000 euros (BRL 312 thousand).
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