2021 Formula One Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Formula 1 Grand Prix of Brazil.jpeg

Who will lead the constructor's championship after Brazil?

  • Mercedes

    Votes: 63 33.7%

  • Red Bull

    Votes: 124 66.3%
  • Total voters
    187
  • Poll closed .
F1 takes to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace circuit this weekend in Brazil.

Formula One returns to Brazil this weekend after missing the 2020 race. The event will see the return of the sprint qualifying format.

Driver’s championship leader Max Verstappen holds a 19 point lead over Lewis Hamilton at a track both drivers tend to perform well on. Their respective teams, Red Bull and Mercedes, are separated by just one point with Mercedes’ slight edge.

Just four races remain in the 2021 season, with the field travelling to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to close out the year. While Verstappen’s 19-point advantage seems safe at this point, constructor’s standings are more hotly contested. Mercedes’s one point lead could easily swing to Red Bull’s advantage before the end of the year, and the 13.5-point lead Ferrari now holds over McLaren looks to be a tight battle for the remainder of the season.

Behind the four top teams, Alpine and Alphatauri are locked at 106 points each. Pierre Gasly’s impressive 86 points this season have offset Yuki Tsunoda’s 20 at Alphatauri, with Alpine’s points being more balanced at 60 and 46 for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, respectively.

There remains much to be decided this season in terms of the final driver and constructor rankings. Let us know your thoughts on who might finish ahead of where they are currently ranked, and who will take the win in Sao Paulo this weekend.

Image credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula Team
  • Like
Reactions: sergheo, Adyl and Kimirai
About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

More in F1 & Motorsport

Comments

cerebralvortex
Premium
muzikant said:
This behavior is a blot on a year where we've seen some fantastic racing with two titans rising way above the rest.
Click to expand...
It would be fantastic racing when you stop pushing the other car off track. I haven't seen much fantastic racing this year honestly.
 
cerebralvortex
Premium
muzikant said:
then you are one of the few better than the past 6 years. But everyone has their own opinion
Click to expand...
Max is a quick driver, the problem I have with him is his aggressive driving style. Call me old-fashioned but he has no respect on track. He thinks he is entitled to be in front no matter what. I will start respecting him once he stops doing that. I don't care if he wins this year, for me he will not have earned it.

If the FIA does not penalize him for such moves than it means that it is OK to drive like that. Imagine every driver starting to do the same? That would be quite some 'fantastic' racing.. I mean, look at the replay, it's really obvious, let's drive him off-track and not lose a position.. he's quite good at that in the meantime. And he has been doing it for years now. I remember being upset about it years ago already, especially at Spa at some point with Kimi. It's the fault of the FIA really. They made it clear that his moving under braking was not OK years ago, but this pushing off track is also not OK and it has to stop.
 
muzikant
cerebralvortex said:
Max is a quick driver, the problem I have with him is his aggressive driving style. Call me old-fashioned but he has no respect on track. He thinks he is entitled to be in front no matter what. I will start respecting him once he stops doing that. I don't care if he wins this year, for me he will not have earned it.

If the FIA does not penalize him for such moves than it means that it is OK to drive like that. Imagine every driver starting to do the same? That would be quite some 'fantastic' racing.. I mean, look at the replay, it's really obvious, let's drive him off-track and not lose a position.. he's quite good at that in the meantime. And he has been doing it for years now. I remember being upset about it years ago already, especially at Spa at some point with Kimi. It's the fault of the FIA really. They made it clear that his moving under braking was not OK years ago, but this pushing off track is also not OK and it has to stop.
Click to expand...
Lewis does have respect haha... 2 times Hamilton push Albon of the track always the same song Merc always crying and crying...
 
Last edited:
LeSunTzu
cerebralvortex said:
Max is a quick driver, the problem I have with him is his aggressive driving style. Call me old-fashioned but he has no respect on track. He thinks he is entitled to be in front no matter what. I will start respecting him once he stops doing that. I don't care if he wins this year, for me he will not have earned it.

If the FIA does not penalize him for such moves than it means that it is OK to drive like that. Imagine every driver starting to do the same? That would be quite some 'fantastic' racing.. I mean, look at the replay, it's really obvious, let's drive him off-track and not lose a position.. he's quite good at that in the meantime. And he has been doing it for years now. I remember being upset about it years ago already, especially at Spa at some point with Kimi. It's the fault of the FIA really. They made it clear that his moving under braking was not OK years ago, but this pushing off track is also not OK and it has to stop.
Click to expand...
How can you say so about Max? We all heard him say that crashes is "what you get when you don't leave any space".
 
Last edited:
Appie Kuipers
cerebralvortex said:
Max is a quick driver, the problem I have with him is his aggressive driving style. Call me old-fashioned but he has no respect on track. He thinks he is entitled to be in front no matter what. I will start respecting him once he stops doing that. I don't care if he wins this year, for me he will not have earned it.

If the FIA does not penalize him for such moves than it means that it is OK to drive like that. Imagine every driver starting to do the same? That would be quite some 'fantastic' racing.. I mean, look at the replay, it's really obvious, let's drive him off-track and not lose a position.. he's quite good at that in the meantime. And he has been doing it for years now. I remember being upset about it years ago already, especially at Spa at some point with Kimi. It's the fault of the FIA really. They made it clear that his moving under braking was not OK years ago, but this pushing off track is also not OK and it has to stop.
Click to expand...
Bloody Hell, what do you want to see in racing? Ever seen wtcr, nascar? This is dangerous, that is dangerous, F1 is getting a moral class, the best way is let them race on rails. And for yourself, get a Scalextric slot set, if you want that sort of racing.
 
Last edited:
LeSunTzu
Appie Kuipers said:
Bloody Hell, what do you want to see in racing? Ever seen wtcr, nascar? This is dangerous, that is dangerous, F1 is getting a moral class, the best way is let them race on rails. And for yourself, get a Scalextric slot set, if you want that sort of racing.
Click to expand...
Did you say so after the Silverstone incident?
 
Mr. Malarkey
Premium
LeSunTzu said:
Just in case it was missed:
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but it looks to me like VER intended to outbrake HAM and then close the door on him, and was just a little too late and couldn't make the corner. Dumb move? Maybe. But it could be argued that HAM trying to pass on the outside there, at the very last second, was also overly aggressive and ill-advised. I can hardly blame VER for trying everything possible to keep HAM behind him. Was he intentionally running HAM off the track? Not in my opinion. And apparently the stewards agreed. As did HAM. The only one pissing and moaning about it is Wolff.

The problem is, HAM and Merc were penalized for violating a rule that is very black-and-white. The DRS flaps MUST be a certain size. Merc's was too big, and they got penalized accordingly (just as Vettel did earlier in the season for the amount of fuel he had left). I know Wolff is saying they should have been allowed to fix it, but they had already driven qualifying with an illegal wing - that bell couldn't be un-rung. They had to be disqualified. If the stewards start bending rules like these here and there, where does it end?

What VER did, while probably a desperate move that only delayed the inevitable, isn't a black-and-white issue. The stewards have discretion, and they exercised that discretion. No one was hurt. The cars continued on with neither car gaining a lasting advantage. So no penalty. In my opinion, that was the right decision.

Wolff and Horner both need to quit their crybaby antics and focus on beating the competition on the track, instead of whining to the stewards (and the cameras) in hopes of gaining advantages. Let the drivers race.
 
PickABetterUsername01
People wanted to see if Verstappen turned right into Hamilton. Well he didn't, what he did was very late braking trying to defend against a car going 30km/h faster than you. Well he tried, but we all knew Hamilton was going to overtake him eventually, you cannot defend forever against such a huge gap in car performance.
 
Turk
PickABetterUsername01 said:
People wanted to see if Verstappen turned right into Hamilton. Well he didn't, what he did was very late braking trying to defend against a car going 30km/h faster than you. Well he tried, but we all knew Hamilton was going to overtake him eventually, you cannot defend forever against such a huge gap in car performance.
Click to expand...
Only Max knows how much grip he had. After watching the onboard I think it could be argued Max made a balls of it. He turned in late, completely ran out of road. If I was in his shoes I could see myself doing something similar by paying too much attention to what's going on behind rather than actually making the corner.

To me it could be argued Max was juggling too many balls and ran wide. I don't think his plan was ever to leave the track and go over the dirt so it looks like a mistake from driver error.

Or... He could have done it on purpose and ran wide just to make it look more like an accident.

It doesn't really matter now. Bottom line is whenever these two guys are on the same piece of track my heart is in my mouth. we're watching history being made with these two.
 
Last edited:
PickABetterUsername01
LeSunTzu said:
You can defend Max's driving without being as dellusional as that.

People wanted to see if Max attempted to make the corner.
Click to expand...
Delusional is to call Hamilton's driving in Brazil "legendary" when all he did was easily overtake cars in straights. Some saying this was one of the best drives by Hamilton, which is kinda hilarious considering the absurd car advantage he had and how it easy it was to overtake everyone in straights.
 
LeSunTzu
Mr. Malarkey said:

Mercedes request 'Right of Review' over Lap 48 Hamilton-Verstappen clash in Brazil​


Oh for pete's sake. What sore winners. This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to use the stewards to put Bottas into 2nd place and gain a few extra constructor's championship points.

If you can't beat them on the track or in the garage, beat them in Race Control, I guess.
Click to expand...
RedBull did the same at Silverstone with even less in their file. They did it to put pressure on Hamilton and the stewards, not because they expected anything concrete out of it. Same for Mercedes.
 
Amereto1
Max did not lock up his tyres, Max did not hit the apex (no where near it, Max was not full steering lock into the corner, this was a controlled attempt to run his opponent off the track, It doesn't matter who the driver is, how can this kind of driving not get penalised.
 
PickABetterUsername01
Amereto1 said:
Max did not lock up his tyres, Max did not hit the apex (no where near it, Max was not full steering lock into the corner, this was a controlled attempt to run his opponent off the track, It doesn't matter who the driver is, how can this kind of driving not get penalised.
Click to expand...
More steering angle doesn't mean more turn in.
 

Latest News

Article information

Author
Mike Smith
Article read time
1 min read
Views
22,395
Comments
358
Last update

Share this article

To join the OverTake Racing Club races I want them to be: (multiple choice)

  • Free to access

    Votes: 46 86.8%

  • Better structured events

    Votes: 7 13.2%

  • Better structured racing club forum

    Votes: 8 15.1%

  • More use of default game content

    Votes: 4 7.5%

  • More use of fixed setups

    Votes: 15 28.3%

  • No 3rd party registration pages

    Votes: 18 34.0%

  • Less casual events

    Votes: 6 11.3%

  • More casual events

    Votes: 17 32.1%

  • Other, specify in thread

    Votes: 1 1.9%
See comments…
Back
Top