Hamilton overcomes penalties, wins São Paulo GP and stops at Verstappen

In a weekend of overcoming difficulties in Brazil, the British driver Lewis Hamilton, from Mercedes, won the São Paulo GP, this Sunday (14), and kept open the dispute for the F1 world title.

Championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull was second but saw his lead in the standings dwindle — the Dutchman has 332.5 points to Hamilton’s 318.5.

The race design began to take shape within the first 15 laps. While the Dutchman took the first position from Bottas, Hamilton climbed the grid and, after leaving in tenth, quickly climbed to second position, with Bottas in third and Pérez in fourth.

Throughout most of the stage, the first two placed were separated by just one second on average. On lap 48, the Englishman overtook his rival, but the Dutchman threw the car over his opponent, the two left the track, and the leader of the World Cup regained the first position.

The maneuver was analyzed by the commissioners, who ruled out a punishment for Verstappen. On lap 59 (out of 71), Hamilton finally took the lead.

The Brazilian stage ended with the banner of Rebeca Andrade. The gymnast, the first Brazilian to win two medals in the same Olympic edition (won gold and silver in Tokyo), was the one who started the GP. “I’m more nervous about flying the flag than I was to compete in the Olympics. I even trained at home,” he said before the event.​

Since Friday (12) Hamilton already knew that it would be a weekend of overcoming difficulties. As the team needed to change the combustion engine of his car, he would lose five positions on the starting grid of the race.

Therefore, it was essential to make a good classification of the sprint race, on Saturday (12), a new format that defines the starting order of the complete race, held for the first time in Brazil. And the Englishman got the best time. But another obstacle came. The FIA ​​(International Automobile Federation) found an irregularity in the rear wing of Mercedes and, punished, the seven-time champion started last in the fast race.

In just 24 laps, Hamilton raised the crowd at Interlagos, earning 15 overtakings. Thus, he finished the sprint in fifth. This Sunday, due to the penalty for changing the engine, he had to leave in tenth place.

Verstappen was also punished in Brazil. But he mocked the fine he received from the FIA ​​for having touched Hamilton’s car after training on Friday — the value was 50,000 euros (R$312,000). The Dutchman told the stewards to have a “nice dinner with expensive wine” and added: “You can invite me to dinner too. I’ll pay for it.”

After the emotions in Interlagos, the next F1 stage will be the Qatar GP, on November 21st. Next, the category will have a race in Saudi Arabia, on December 5th. And the last stage will be on December 12th, in Abu Dhabi.