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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas won the final sprint race of the season at the Brazil Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit. The Finn claimed his second sprint race victory of the season and was followed by Max Verstappen in second place and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in third.
Verstappen extended his championship lead to a total of 21 points. The Ducthman’s teammate Sergio Perez finished fourth while his title rival Lewis Hamilton finished fifth. Overtaking 15 cars in 22 laps, the Briton recovered from his disqualification penalty of starting 20th on the grid.
McLaren driver Lando Norris finished sixth, followed by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Pierre Gasly finished seventh for Alpha Tauri and was followed by Alpine driver Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel in ninth and tenth respectively.
Bottas bested Verstappen at the start to jump into the lead. From there on, the Finn led the race for the next 24 laps. Verstappen, on the other hand, was also overtaken by Sainz at the start, and recovered second place on Lap 3.
Both Red Bull cars were struggling within DRS range of drivers ahead of them. Verstappen and Perez's RB16Bs seemed to be sliding across the circuit as they were unable to get past Bottas and Sainz respectively.
Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris were the drivers in the top 10 to finish the race on medium tires while the rest were on the soft tire. The drivers outside the top 10 to finish the Brazil Grand Prix on the medium tire were Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Nicholas Latifi, and George Russell.
Despite the early drama with Hamilton’s investigation, Mercedes seemed closer than expected to Red Bull F1 team’s pace and were in attack mode throughout the sprint race. However, in the 71-lap Brazil Grand Prix, things could be pan out differently with pitstops and strategies coming into play.
As a result of the sprint race results, Bottas will start from pole, with Verstappen alongside him on the front row of the grid for the 2021 Brazil Grand Prix. Verstappen will no doubt be looking to make a better start than he managed in the sprint race in order to grab the lead from Bottas.
Full results of F1 Brazil Grand Prix 2021 sprint race
The full results for the sprint race ahead of the 2021 Brazil Grand Prix are as follows:
