Red Bull’s Verstappen passed the Mercedes of polesitter Valtteri Bottas at the first corner to lead, as Hamilton rose through the field from 10^th on the grid.

After two attempts to pass Verstappen at Turn 4, including one time when Verstappen braked so late that he ran both cars off the track, Hamilton made the move stick at his third attempt to score a famous victory for Mercedes on a troubled weekend when he was disqualified after qualifying.

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2021 Brazilian Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Interval	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	71	-		25
2	Max Verstappen	71	10.496	10.496	18
3	71	13.576	3.080	15
4	Sergio Perez	71	39.940	26.364	13
5	Charles Leclerc	71	49.517	9.577	10
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	71	51.820	2.303	8
7	Pierre Gasly	70	1 lap		6
8	Esteban Ocon	70	1 lap		4
9	Fernando Alonso	70	1 lap		2
10	Lando Norris	70	1 lap		1
11	Sebastian Vettel	70	1 lap
12	Kimi Raikkonen	70	1 lap
13	George Russell	70	1 lap
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	70	1 lap
15	Yuki Tsunoda	70	1 lap
16	Nicholas Latifi	70	1 lap
17	Nikita Mazepin	69	2 laps
18	Mick Schumacher	69	2 laps
	Daniel Ricciardo	49
	Lance Stroll	47
View full results

How the Brazilian Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position Bottas led Verstappen on the charge to Turn 1, where Max dived down the inside to grab the lead as he eased Valtteri on to the dirt on the exit. Bottas then ran wide at Turn 4, allowing Perez up to second place.

Behind them, McLaren’s Lando Norris clashed wheels with a slow-starting Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) on the run to the first corner and sustained a left-rear puncture.

After his five-place grid penalty for an engine change, Hamilton vaulted up from 10^th to seventh on the opening lap. He then passed Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin for sixth at the start of Lap 2, and Sainz there a lap later. By Lap 5, Hamilton was up to third after he passed the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Bottas then let him past immediately.

Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) clashed with Lance Stroll's Aston Martin at Turn 1 and required a new front wing, causing a safety car on Lap 6. The race resumed at the start of Lap 10 in the order Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc and Sainz.

Mick Schumacher’s Haas clashed with Alfa’s Kimi Raikkonen, costing him his front wing and causing a virtual safety car. After debris was cleared, the racing resumed once more on Lap 14 with Verstappen holding a 1.5s lead over Perez, who had Hamilton right behind him.

Hamilton got DRS for the first time on Lap 17 and swept past Perez around the outside of Turn 1 a lap later but Perez repassed him, with DRS of his own, on the run to Turn 4.

Hamilton overtook Perez earlier on the next lap, which helped him make the move stick. He was 3.9s in arrears of Verstappen at this point.

Hamilton pitted early on Lap 27, so Verstappen covered him a lap later. Hamilton had to pass Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren but closed to within 1.6s of Verstappen due to the undercut and set a sequence of fastest laps. Perez also pitted, allowing Bottas to lead.

Hamilton was on the verge of getting into Verstappen’s DRS range as the race went under virtual safety car again, due to Stroll losing part of his bargeboard on the start/finish straight, which allowed Bottas to get a cheap pitstop, moving him ahead of Perez.

Verstappen opted to stop again for more hard tyres on Lap 41, but got stuck behind a Williams as he left the pits. Bottas pitted a lap later from third, with Perez responding to that on the next tour.

Hamilton led Verstappen by 18s and pitted again on Lap 44, handing the lead back to Verstappen with a 2.7s gap between them, but with hard tyres that were three laps fresher.

Hamilton then pushed hard, setting fastest lap and cruising up to the rear wing of Verstappen. He got DRS on Lap 48 and tried to pass at Turn 4 but Verstappen braked incredibly late and forced them both wide and off the track, both cars clipping the grass as they rejoined. “That’s crazy,” said Lewis.

Hamilton regrouped for a couple of laps, then attacked again as the stewards reported no investigation was necessary. On Lap 58 Hamilton got another run into Turn 4, but wasn’t able to nose ahead this time.

A lap later, at the third attempt, Hamilton swept past him on the straight into Turn 4 and Verstappen could hold him off no longer. Verstappen was then shown a black and white flag for earlier weaving to try and break the tow.

Hamilton pulled away to win by 10.4s, with Verstappen taking an easy second ahead of Bottas and Perez. Red Bull pitted Perez on the last lap in a successful attempt to wrest fastest lap and the bonus point from Hamilton.

Leclerc and Sainz scored more solid points to maintain Ferrari’s advantage over McLaren in the constructors’ race, as Norris could only finish 10^th and Ricciardo was forced out with a power unit issue.

The other points scorers were Gasly and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

2021 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	71	1'11.010			218.453
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	46	1'11.982	0.972	0.972	215.503
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	47	1'12.486	1.476	0.504	214.005
4	Mercedes	49	1'12.526	1.516	0.040	213.887
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	54	1'12.621	1.611	0.095	213.607
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	63	1'12.710	1.700	0.089	213.346
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	61	1'12.822	1.812	0.112	213.018
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	53	1'13.227	2.217	0.405	211.839
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	69	1'13.634	2.624	0.407	210.668
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	53	1'13.761	2.751	0.127	210.306
11	Mick Schumacher	Haas	66	1'13.793	2.783	0.032	210.215
12	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	37	1'13.922	2.912	0.129	209.848
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	62	1'14.204	3.194	0.282	209.050
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	44	1'14.227	3.217	0.023	208.985
15	George Russell	Williams	45	1'14.355	3.345	0.128	208.626
16	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	48	1'14.430	3.420	0.075	208.415
17	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	40	1'14.443	3.433	0.013	208.379
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	57	1'14.616	3.606	0.173	207.896
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	36	1'14.954	3.944	0.338	206.958
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	25	1'15.344	4.334	0.390	205.887
View full results

2021 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre history

(#1 and #2 triggered as cars drove through the pits during safety car period)

Cla	Driver	1		2		3		4		5		6
1	Lewis Hamilton	M	7	M	8	M	26	H	17	H	28
2	Max Verstappen	M	7	M	8	M	27	H	13	H	31
3	M	7	M	8	M	30	H	11	H	30
4	Sergio Perez	M	7	M	8	M	28	H	14	H	27	S	5
5	Charles Leclerc	M	7	M	8	M	27	M	25	H	19
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	M	7	M	8	M	26	M	27	H	18
7	Pierre Gasly	M	7	M	8	M	25	H	26	H	19
8	Esteban Ocon	M	7	M	8	M	30	H	40
9	Fernando Alonso	M	7	M	8	M	34	H	36
10	Lando Norris	M	1	H	5	H	6	H	7	H	36	H	69
11	Sebastian Vettel	M	9	M	10	M	30	H	29	M	17
12	Kimi Raikkonen	M	7	M	8	M	28	H	24	M	18
13	George Russell	M	6	H	1	H	2	H	35	H	29
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	M	7	M	8	M	29	H	13	M	28
15	Yuki Tsunoda	S	4	H	2	H	3	H	4	H	35	H	31
16	Nicholas Latifi	M	7	M	8	M	13	H	26	H	31
17	Nikita Mazepin	M	7	M	8	M	34	H	35
18	Mick Schumacher	M	7	M	8	M	11	H	18	M	32	M	8
	Daniel Ricciardo	M	7	M	8	M	30	H	19
	Lance Stroll	M	9	M	10	M	24	H	27
View full results