The 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2021) was a Formula One motor race, held on 14 November 2021 at the Interlagos Circuit in São Paulo, Brazil. The race was the 19th round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The event marked the 49th edition of the Grand Prix and the first time the event was known as the São Paulo Grand Prix, with previous editions being known as the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After being disqualified from Friday qualifying due to an inconformity with his drag reduction system (DRS), Lewis Hamilton started twentieth for the sprint race, recovering to fifth. After taking a further five-place grid penalty for the main race for exceeding the quota of internal combustion engines allocated to him, Hamilton caught up to, and ultimately passed, a leading Max Verstappen. Sprint polesitter Valtteri Bottas finished in third, which alongside Hamilton's victory, further extended Mercedes's advantage over Red Bull Racing in the fight for the Constructors' Championship; Verstappen would remain ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship standings.

Background

The race marked its debut in the Formula One Championship calendar under the name São Paulo Grand Prix, with previous editions being known as the Brazilian Grand Prix. In November 2020, a deal was signed which would see Formula One continue to race at Interlagos until 2025, albeit under the title of São Paulo Grand Prix. The governing body, the FIA lifted the curfew on that limits overnight working after weather conditions meant the equipment arrived late to the venue. This is the 38th time that Interlagos has been visited by the championship. The race was originally to take place on this date, but it was firstly rescheduled to 7 November due to the postponement of the Australian Grand Prix; then it was rescheduled again to its original date due to the reduction of the overall number of Grands Prix in the calendar, from 23 to 22.

Championship standings Heading into the race Max Verstappen led the World Drivers' Standings with 312.5 points, 19 points ahead of second-placed Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas was in third on 185 points, too far behind Verstappen to be able to win the title, but 20 points ahead of Sergio Pérez in fourth with Lando Norris fifth on 150 points. In the World Constructors' Standings, Mercedes led with 478.5 points, one point ahead of second-placed Red Bull Racing. Ferrari were third with 268.5 points ahead of McLaren on 255. Alpine and AlphaTauri were fifth and sixth with 106 points each, with Alpine being ahead courtesy of a win, compared to no wins for AlphaTauri.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race or practice. Kimi Räikkönen achieved his 350th Grand Prix entry in this race and became the first F1 driver to reach that milestone.

Tyre choices Sole tyre supplier Pirelli allocated the C2, C3, and C4 compounds of tyre to be used during this Grand Prix weekend.

Practice The weekend saw two practice sessions, each lasting one hour. The first took place on 12 November at 12:30 local time (UTC-3) and the second took place at 12:00 on 13 November.

Qualifying Qualifying took place at 16:00 on 12 November, with the results determining the starting order for sprint qualifying.

Post-qualifying After the qualifying session, Hamilton was referred to the stewards for an alleged technical infringement. The technical delegate's report stated that Hamilton's drag reduction system's opening slot was larger than the permitted . The rear wing assembly of Hamilton's car was removed and impounded pending investigations. He was later disqualified from qualifying, forcing him to start at the back of the grid for the sprint qualifying.

Verstappen was referred to the stewards for an alleged violation of article 2.5.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code, after he appeared to have touched Hamilton's car during parc fermé. Verstappen received a €50,000 fine.

Qualifying classification DriverConstructor133 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda1:09.3291:08.4991:08.3721277 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:09.0401:08.4261:08.4692311 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda1:09.1721:08.9731:08.4833410 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1:09.3471:08.9031:08.7774555 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1:09.0461:09.0311:08.8265616 Charles LeclercFerrari1:09.1551:08.8591:08.960674 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:09.3651:09.0301:08.980783 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1:09.3741:09.0931:09.0398914 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1:09.3911:09.1371:09.11391031 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1:09.4301:09.189N/A10115 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1:09.4511:09.399N/A111222 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1:09.3501:09.483N/A12137 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari1:09.5981:09.503N/A1314991:09.3421:10.227N/A141518 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1:09.663N/AN/A15166 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1:09.897N/AN/A161763 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1:09.953N/AN/A171847 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1:10.329N/AN/A18199Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1:10.589N/AN/A1944 Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:08.7331:08.0681:07.93420107% time: 1:13.544Source: Notes – Lewis Hamilton qualified first, but was disqualified because his DRS was found not to be in conformity with the rules. He was allowed to race in the sprint qualifying at the stewards' discretion.

Sprint qualifying Sprint qualifying took place on 13 November at 16:30 and was contested over 24 laps, with the results determining the starting order for the race.

Sprint qualifying classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints177 Valtteri BottasMercedes2429:09.559231233 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda24+1.170122355 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari24+18.723513411 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda24+19.78734544 Lewis HamiltonMercedes24+20.872201064 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes24+22.55875716 Charles LeclercFerrari24+25.05666810 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda24+34.15847931 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault24+34.632108105 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes24+34.867119113 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes24+35.8698111214 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault24+36.578912139924+41.88014131418 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes24+44.03715141522 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda24 +46.1501215166 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes24+46.76016161763 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes24+47.7391717187 Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari24+50.014131947 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari24 +1:01.6801818209Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari24 +1:07.4741919Fastest lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:12.114 (lap 9)Source:

Notes – Lewis Hamilton received a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of internal combustion engines (ICE). – Kimi Räikkönen qualified 18th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane due to a rear wing assembly change under parc fermé conditions.

Race The race was won by Hamilton, with Verstappen and Bottas completing the podium, and Pérez setting the fastest lap.

Race classification DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredPoints144 Lewis HamiltonMercedes711:32:22.8511025233 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-Honda71 +10.496218377 Valtteri BottasMercedes71+13.576115411 Sergio PérezRed Bull Racing-Honda71+39.940413516 Charles LeclercFerrari71+49.517610655 Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari71+51.82038710 Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda70+1 lap76831 Esteban OconAlpine-Renault70+1 lap84914 Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault70+1 lap122104 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes70+1 lap51115 Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes70+1 lap9127 Kimi Räikkönen70+1 lap1363 George RussellWilliams-Mercedes70+1 lap17149970+1 lap131522 Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda70+1 lap15166 Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes70+1 lap16179Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari69+2 laps191847 Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari69+2 laps18 3 Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes49Power loss11 18 Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes4714Fastest lap: Sergio Pérez (Red Bull Racing-Honda) – 1:11.010 (lap 71)Source: Notes – Includes one point for fastest lap.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Driver Points1 Max Verstappen*332.52 Lewis Hamilton*318.53 Valtteri Bottas2034 Sergio Pérez1785 Lando Norris151Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points1 Mercedes*521.52 Red Bull Racing-Honda*510.53 Ferrari287.54 McLaren-Mercedes2565 Alpine-Renault112Source:

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

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