An unstoppable Lewis Hamilton beat Max Verstappen to clinch his 6th F1 race win of the season at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Hence the title fight has returned to being insanely close, with just 14 points separating the duo.

Valtteri Bottas completed a crucial double podium, as Mercedes yet again extend their constructor’s lead on Red Bull after being quite under pressure post-Mexican GP.

How the F1 race unfolded at Brazilian GP

Race start at the Brazilian GP

It was the kind of start Red Bull would have hoped for; Verstappen snatched the lead from Bottas going into turn 1. However, more misery struck Bottas, as a couple of bad corners paved way for Perez to claim P2 as well, dropping the Mercedes driver behind the Red Bull duo.

Meanwhile, the two former McLaren buddies came together; Norris attempted a brave overtake on Sainz around the outside of Sainz only for Norris to kiss the Ferrari and suffer a puncture. This clash allowed Hamilton to sneak ahead and found himself in P3 by lap 6.

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Tsunoda brings out the Safety car

Tsunoda attempted an opportunistic move on Stroll, as he dived inside of the Canadian around turn 1. However, the AlphaTauri driver was just too far behind to even think about late-braking.

Hence, Tsunoda crashed into Stroll, and absolutely crushed his own front wing, giving a shower of debris on the track. The safety car was called in, which played perfectly into Hamilton’s plan, as the Briton found himself right behind the Red Bull drivers.

And on lap 10, the lights went green, but, Verstappen and Perez planned their getaway to perfection and made sure neither of them lose their position to Hamilton.

Soon, on lap 11, another lap 1 incident, another front-wing damage, and raining debris, only this time arriving from Schumacher’s car after coming together with Raikkonen. Hence, the stewards opted for a virtual safety car which lasted for 3 laps before the race got going again.

Battle for P2 as Perez falls under threat

While Verstappen continued to pull away from the rest of the pack, the battle for P2 was boiling up; Perez was under immense pressure from Hamilton, who managed to bring his Mercedes within the DRS range. His first attempt arrived on lap 19.

The Briton blitzed past Perez going into turn 1, but the latter remained patient and used the following straight to regain his position. However, in doing so, Perez used up all the energy he had harvested and was left with nothing when Hamilton charged again over the subsequent lap.

One might think, Perez would not be able to challenge Hamilton anymore in the race. But, the Mexican driver’s race engineer affirmed that Hamilton was draining out his medium tires quite a bit faster than the others.

Hamilton & other F1 drivers pit

Just a lap after Gasly pitted, it was Hamilton who pitted for a set of hard tires on lap 27. Hence, acknowledging the Mercedes threat, Red Bull had to bring Verstappen in as well on the very next lap. And it turned out to be the right choice, as the Dutchman joined the track just over a second ahead of his rival.

Meanwhile, Perez pitted on lap 29, hoping to keep himself safe from Bottas. Unfortunately, his attempt backfired as a brief VSC helped Bottas gain a cheap pit-stop and leap ahead of Perez. Similarly, Ricciardo, too, utilized the VSC period to enjoy a cheap pit stop to put his McLaren in P9.

The Verstappen-Hamilton duel begins

The second round of pit-stops was over and Hamilton yet again brought his Mercedes within a second of Verstappen. And on lap 49, Hamilton faked a dive around turn 1, prompting Verstappen to move out of the racing line, and then attacked him on the second DRS straight.

For a brief moment, Hamilton was ahead, but the entire knew Verstappen wasn’t going to give it up that easy. The Dutchman late-braked around turn 4, threw himself and Hamilton off the track, and somehow held onto the lead. It almost looked like Verstappen might pay for it with a penalty.

However, the stewards could not find enough evidence to impose a penalty on Penalty, and rather called it a racing incident. Also, the fact that the duo avoided a collision helped Verstappen’s case.

Finally, Hamilton got his redemption on lap 59, as he secured the lead from the championship leader.

Updated F1 drivers’ standings

1. Max Verstappen – 332.5
2. Lewis Hamilton – 318.5
3. Valtteri Bottas – 203
4. Sergio Perez – 178
5. Lando Norris – 151
6. Charles Leclerc – 148
7. Carlos Sainz – 139.5
8. Daniel Ricciardo – 105
9. Pierre Gasly – 92
10. Fernando Alonso – 62
11. Esteban Ocon – 50
12. Sebastian Vettel – 42
13. Lance Stroll – 26
14. Yuki Tsunoda – 20
15. George Russell – 16
16. Kimi Raikkonen – 10
17. Nicholas Latifi – 7
18. Antonio Giovinazzi – 1
19. Mick Schumacher – 0
20. Nikita Mazepin – 0

Updated F1 constructors’ standings

1. Mercedes AMG (Mercedes) – 521.5
2. Red Bull Racing (Honda) – 510.5
3. Scuderia Ferrari (Ferrari) – 284.5
4. McLaren (Mercedes) – 256
5. Alpine (Renault) – 112
6. Scuderia AlphaTauri (Honda) – 112
7. Aston Martin Racing (Mercedes) – 68
8. Williams (Mercedes) – 23
9. Alfa Romeo Racing (Ferrari) – 11
10. Haas (Ferrari) – 0

Overall, there ends F1’s tour around the American continent, with each of the races in the US, Mexico, and Brazil putting up an ecstatic show for the fans. Now, we return to the middle-east for the final showdown in less than a week’s time. So, how is the title fight going to pan out in Qatar?

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