F1 Grand Prix sprint results: Bottas wins for Brazilian GP pole
Valtteri Bottas won the Formula 1 sprint event to take pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix for Mercedes, the 19th race of the 2021 F1 World Championship season.
Bottas grabbed the lead away from the startline and was helped further as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – who started on pole – was pushed back to third by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. The Dutchman recovered and quickly repassed Sainz to chase down Bottas.
But Verstappen couldn’t beat the Finn, and the win officially gives Bottas the Brazilian GP pole position accolade. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton drove from last to fifth in the 24-lap race.
2021 Brazilian Grand Prix sprint results
| Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Valtteri Bottas |  | 24 | 29'09.559 | |
| 2 |  Max Verstappen |  | 24 | 29'10.729 | 1.170 |
| 3 |  Carlos Sainz Jr |  | 24 | 29'28.282 | 17.553 |
| 4 |  Sergio Perez |  | 24 | 29'29.346 | 1.064 |
| 5 |  Lewis Hamilton |  | 24 | 29'30.431 | 1.085 |
| 6 | Lando Norris |  | 24 | 29'32.117 | 1.686 |
| 7 |  Charles Leclerc |  | 24 | 29'34.615 | 2.498 |
| 8 |  Pierre Gasly |  | 24 | 29'43.717 | 9.102 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon |  | 24 | 29'44.191 | 0.474 |
| 10 |  Sebastian Vettel |  | 24 | 29'44.426 | 0.235 |
| 11 |  Daniel Ricciardo |  | 24 | 29'45.428 | 1.002 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | | 24 | 29'46.137 | 0.709 |
| 13 |  Antonio Giovinazzi |  | 24 | 29'51.439 | 5.302 |
| 14 |  Lance Stroll |  | 24 | 29'53.596 | 2.157 |
| 15 |  Yuki Tsunoda | | 24 | 29'55.709 | 2.113 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi |  | 24 | 29'56.319 | 0.610 |
| 17 | George Russell |  | 24 | 29'57.298 | 0.979 |
| 18 | Kimi Raikkonen |  | 24 | 29'59.573 | 2.275 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher |  | 24 | 30'11.239 | 11.666 |
| 20 |  Nikita Mazepin |  | 24 | 30'17.033 | 5.794 |
| View full results | |||||
How the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint unfolded
With Hamilton banished to the back of the grid after his Mercedes breached the DRS rules in qualifying, new polesitter Verstappen led the pack off the startline. But he was beaten into Turn 1 by Bottas, who chose the soft tyre and launched ahead of him on the short run to the first corner.
Bottas led Verstappen, who was on medium tyres, the fast-starting Sainz, Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc. Soft-shod Sainz passed Verstappen at Turn 4, the Red Bull driver running very wide and touching the grass as he rejoined.
Verstappen used DRS to repass Sainz for second into Turn 1 at the start of lap four and set off after leader Bottas. Verstappen got into Bottas’s DRS range with 10 laps to go but was unable to really get on terms and Bottas won by 1.1s.
As the Ferraris began to struggle with graining on the soft tyres, McLaren’s Lando Norris passed Leclerc for fifth on lap nine at Turn 4. Perez repeatedly attacked Sainz for third but couldn’t find a way past.
Hamilton was the star of the race and, on the medium tyres, rose to 15th on the opening lap after a strong start, and was helped when Kimi Raikkonen spun ahead of him after Kimi clipped his Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi. By one-third distance, Hamilton passed Fernando Alonso’s Alpine for 11th.
Hamilton entered the top 10 by overtaking the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo on lap 13 and then passed Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin on lap 15 and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine a lap later.
He then moved past Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri with ease for seventh and passed Leclerc at Turn 4 with four laps to go. He caught Norris on the final tour, lunging ahead at Turn 1 to grab fifth place.
But Hamilton will start 10th on Sunday, due to an engine change grid penalty.
2021 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix sprint fastest laps
| Cla | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | km/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 9 | 1'12.114 | 215.109 | ||
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | 8 | 1'12.300 | 0.186 | 0.186 | 214.556 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 5 | 1'12.357 | 0.243 | 0.057 | 214.386 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | 8 | 1'12.994 | 0.880 | 0.637 | 212.516 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | 13 | 1'13.110 | 0.996 | 0.116 | 212.178 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | 4 | 1'13.140 | 1.026 | 0.030 | 212.091 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jr | 13 | 1'13.167 | 1.053 | 0.027 | 212.013 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | 4 | 1'13.342 | 1.228 | 0.175 | 211.507 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 4 | 1'13.397 | 1.283 | 0.055 | 211.349 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | 9 | 1'13.463 | 1.349 | 0.066 | 211.159 |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | 5 | 1'13.558 | 1.444 | 0.095 | 210.886 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | 11 | 1'13.615 | 1.501 | 0.057 | 210.723 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 11 | 1'13.627 | 1.513 | 0.012 | 210.689 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | 9 | 1'13.666 | 1.552 | 0.039 | 210.577 |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | 11 | 1'13.747 | 1.633 | 0.081 | 210.346 |
| 16 | Kimi Raikkonen | 9 | 1'13.900 | 1.786 | 0.153 | 209.910 |
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | 7 | 1'13.934 | 1.820 | 0.034 | 209.814 |
| 18 | George Russell | 14 | 1'14.056 | 1.942 | 0.122 | 209.468 |
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | 9 | 1'14.387 | 2.273 | 0.331 | 208.536 |
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | 6 | 1'14.583 | 2.469 | 0.196 | 207.988 |
| View full results | ||||||
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