Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prêmio De São Paulo 2021Formula 1

[Jimlaad43]

Max Verstappen's hand is starting to head closer to the Driver's title after a dominant display in the Mexico City Grand Prix. Hamilton hasn't given up on the title, and heading to the country of his idol Ayrton Senna, he'll be raring to get back into it. Formula 1 has its third (and hopefully final ever, but unlikely...) Sprint Race on Saturday, so remember that we'll have qualifying on Friday. There's still a lot of battles down the grid to be sorted out and probably our last chance of a wet race this season, with three desert races following, so there's plenty still to play for. We'll have to see if it's normal or chaos at the SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX!

First Grand Prix
1973

Number of Laps
71

Circuit Length
4.309km

Race Distance
305.909 km

Lap Record
1:10.540
Valtteri Bottas (2018)​

 

[PeterJB]

Looking forward to the last good race of the year.

 

[andrea]

Every F1 fan should try and make it to race weekend at least once in their lives. It can be expensive, but so worth it.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I remembered to say this is a Sprint Race weekend for once in the blurb at the top.

Forecast is dry for all 3 days currently.

 

[AshenGraey]

Lewis will really need to do something extraordinary this weekend if he wants to keep his championship hope alive because if Max win both sprint and the race, the driver championship battle is over and Max will be the new WDC.

Brazil tends to have some good racing so I hope we'll be in for a treat this weekend.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Lewis will really need to do something extraordinary this weekend if he wants to keep his championship hope alive because if Max win both sprint and the race, the driver championship battle is over and Max will be the new WDC.

Brazil tends to have some good racing so I hope we'll be in for a treat this weekend.

The earliest Max can win the title is Qatar, there are too many rounds left and not enough of a gap yet.

 

[BrainsBush]

Better get used to it:

 

[AshenGraey]

The earliest Max can win the title is Qatar, there are too many rounds left and not enough of a gap yet.

I agree. However I said Brazil because Max already has 19 point on Lewis. If he wins the sprint and the race that will give him 27 points over Lewis. That's assuming Lewis finishes 2nd in both sprint and the race and not taking into account fastest lap points. After Brazil, Max will just need to finish at least P2 at all 3 remaining races for him to be crown champion. It wouldn't matter what Lewis does. So Lewis really needs to do something in Brazil....matter of fact I think he'll need to win both the sprint and the race to really keep this going all the way to Abu Dhabi and honestly I feel like that will be a tall order considering Max form and that Red Bull car. Granted that neither one is fully safe at the moment, a retirement/point-less finish could either swap things around or just put the final nail on the coffin for the season.

 

[BrainsBush]

Rumour goes that Lewis will/needs to take a five place grid penalty for changing combustion engine again. 5th ICE this season

 

[GingerBredMan]

Rumour goes that Lewis will/needs to take a five place grid penalty for changing combustion engine again. 5th ICE this season

You have to hand it to Honda, that engine was a joke 6 years ago. Never thought it would outperform the Merc but here we are.

But if true, this will sadly be a very anticlimactic end to the championship.

 

[BrainsBush]

You have to hand it to Honda, that engine was a joke 6 years ago. Never thought it would outperform the Merc but here we are.

But if true, this will sadly be a very anticlimactic end to the championship.

It seems that Mercedes had to 'turn up' the engines the last races to keep more or less the same pace as the RedBulls. Down side is the 'overheating' and reliability of this e.g. ICE over a longer period. Sounds 'plausible'. Therfor replacement sooner then anticipated.

But the main source --> Mercedes themselves keep their lips sealed until Friday/Saturday (they say)

 

[Samus]

So another non-event in the title battle. Thanks, engine penalties.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

It did seem like Mercedes had to crank things up to remain competitive relatively. Sure the end may be anticlimactic, but this is Red Bull beating Mercedes. Though if Red Bull has an issue then the championship could open up again.

 

[Samus]

It did seem like Mercedes had to crank things up to remain competitive relatively. Sure the end may be anticlimactic, but this is Red Bull beating Mercedes. Though if Red Bull has an issue then the championship could open up again.

Yeah I mean I'm just a bit salty about the penalties denying us potential racing but ultimately Red Bull have just been better this season. Without the bad luck earlier in the season VER would have already been on the verge of the title, if not already champion.

 

[GroupB]

Would have been interesting to see how the championship would have gone without the pre-season floor rule changes that handicapped Mercedes. Would Red Bull still have been as strong?

 

[ScottPuss20]

Would have been interesting to see how the championship would have gone without the pre-season floor rule changes that handicapped Mercedes. Would Red Bull still have been as strong?

Probably not.

 

[DG_Silva]

I don't think it would've been a case that Red Bull wasn't as strong, just that Mercedes would've been stronger than they are at the moment - the floor regs hurt low rake cars a lot more than high rake, so they've been hampered in terms of performance.

 

[Veinz]

Would have been interesting to see how the championship would have gone without the pre-season floor rule changes that handicapped Mercedes. Would Red Bull still have been as strong?

Judging by their pace in Abu Dhabi in 2020, it would most likely still be very close imo. That would have been the 7th straight win for the Mercedes team there but Max beat them to pole and won by 15 seconds. Honda has made big gains.

 

[PeterJB]

Judging by their pace in Abu Dhabi in 2020, it would most likely still be very close imo. That would have been the 7th straight win for the Mercedes team there but Max beat them to pole and won by 15 seconds. Honda has made big gains.

People love to obsess over that race but it's obvious Mercedes weren't giving it 100%. They clearly had the fastest car all year and then suddenly have no answer to Red Bull in the final race of the year having already wrapped up both championships and with a driver who's clearly still unwell who's rushed back into the car because he doesn't want to get shown up by a rookie again...

 

[McLaren]

Kym Illman shared yesterday that some teams still had not received their cars and/or engines from Mexico & curfew was lifted to give everyone more time. Questioned if everyone would be fully prepared for FP1.

 

[Blitz24]

Rumour goes that Lewis will/needs to take a five place grid penalty for changing combustion engine again. 5th ICE this season

Rumor confirmed:

 

[GingerBredMan]

And there goes the championship.

 

[Rossell2]

Brazil is unpredictable as has been proved before so not just yet. If Verstappen starts pulling away though... Yeah.

 

[Silver_Wolf]

I should NOT be happy reading Lewis takes a grid penalty for the engine but I think that will make things more 'interesting'.

The sprint race tomorrow though I guess will determine things for Sunday, if Verstappen takes command like he did in Mexico I would say bar car/race issues then he has secured enough points to only need to finish 2nd in the final three races on the basis of Lewis coming in first each time.

Very much want to see this go to a decider in Abu Dhabi but I think it will be 'wrapped' up before then.

In overall review this has been the one season I have actually watched every race, it really gave some encouragement that the 'era' of change is happening again.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Would've liked to see McLaren's pace on the softs and how they stack up to Ferrari.

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

Rumor confirmed:

Too early to congratulate Max on his first championship but it's all but a foregone conclusion now.

 

[Liquid]

They'll never admit it publicly, sure, but I wonder if Mercedes-Benz has internally accepted that they're not winning the DC this season?

 

[Dennisch]

I hope that Perez can keep the speed up for the last couple of races to snatch that WCC too.

 

[GingerBredMan]

I hope that Perez can keep the speed up for the last couple of races to snatch that WCC too.

Given Bottas' form the last few races I think they're taking that home too.

 

[PaMu1337]

F1TV is messing up a bit, I'm only hearing Crofty and not Martin (?).

Edit: now I can hear both, but it was really weird hearing Crofty talk to himself with very long very awkward pauses

Ted is still on mute though...