Brazil is a great track and I always enjoy watching the races. This year’s Grand Prix was no exception, with lots of on track action and excitement.
Lewis Hamilton went into this weekend knowing he would take a five place grid penalty after Sprint Qualifying due to changing another ICE, (Internal Combustion Engine). However, after regular Qualifying on Friday, his car failed a rear wing check and he was disqualified from the session which meant he would start at the back of the grid on Saturday. He dominated Sprint Qualifying and went from P20 up to P5 in just 21 laps. He then dropped to P10 for the start of the race, because of his penalty, but fought his way through the field in a stunning display of his driving abilities to finish in first.
Max Verstappen had an okay weekend. He did finish second but I felt like he kind of melted into the background for a bit. The only real excitement he brought this weekend was when he and Hamilton both ran wide at turn 4 on lap 48. Personally, I believe that it probably should have been investigated, but I agree with the no penalty because nothing really happened other than the two of them driving off the track for a second.
We had a wealth of safety cars this race, both real and virtual. On lap 1 Yuki Tsunoda crashed into Lance Stroll and on lap 6 the safety car came out so that the carbon fiber on the track from that crash could be cleaned up. The virtual safety car came out on lap 12 so that more debris could be cleared away after Mick Schumacher came in contact with Kimi Raikkonen on the lap 10 restart. We then saw another virtual safety car on lap 30 to pick up some more debris after parts of Stroll’s floor came off due to the damage sustained in his earlier collision.
The fight for third in the championship is leaning more towards Ferrari now as they have had two 5, 6 finishes in a row with only one McLaren finishing 10th two races in a row. Ferrari are now leading McLaren by 31.5 points. McLaren seem to have hit a wall, but hopefully they can start to pick up the pace over the last three races.
There were only two retirements in this race. The first out was Stroll on lap 47 after the damage on his car from his earlier collision with Tsunoda became too great. Next out was Daniel Ricciardo on lap 49 after a lose of power.
Lewis Hamilton showed us all why he is a seven time World Champion with an incredible win. Max Verstappen came runner up ahead of Bottas who completed the podium. Sergio Perez finished fourth followed by Charles Leclerc in fifth, Carlos Sainz in sixth, Pierre Gasly in seventh, Esteban Ocon in eighth, Fernando Alonso in ninth, and Lando Norris rounding out the top ten.
This coming weekend we are racing in Qatar. A track that F1 has never raced at, and one I have never seen. It looks like it will be an action packed weekend, and I can’t wait.
Leave a Reply