2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

[raceweekendpromotion]For the second consecutive afternoon, Lewis Hamilton dispatched almost half the field to salvage a result around Interlagos that scarcely seemed possible the morning before.

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It took just four laps for Hamilton to climb from tenth to fourth behind team mate Valtteri Bottas, who duly opened the door for him to take third. World champion proceeded to pass Sergio Perez on lap 19 after the Red Bull driver proved far less accommodating.

With multiple instances of debris littering the brazlink surface, the interference of the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car not only handed Bottas a free stop to pinch third from an unfortunate Perez, it also put the four leaders into a marginal window of opportunity to stretch their hard tyres to the end of the race on a single stop.

However, with Max Verstappen pitting for a second time at the end of lap 40, Mercedes quickly followed suit for first Bottas, then Hamilton. Verstappen’s superior grip through the middle sector was not enough for him to keep his rival out of DRS range, with Hamilton immediately attacking once he eventually got within a second of his rival on lap 47 and only just avoiding contact as they rounded turn four for the 48th time.

Verstappen once again showed his mettle by soaking up pressure over the next 10 laps with Hamilton rarely more than a second behind. But when the Mercedes was able to pull alongside on the run to Descida do Lago on lap 59, there was no more the championship leader could do to resist.

Hamilton stretched his lead over Verstappen after passing

Now freed from Verstappen’s wake, Hamilton steadily escaped from his rival’s view, confirming that Red Bull just could not match the ultimate pace of the leading Mercedes that afternoon.

Further back in the pack, the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were caught and rapidly dispatched in the latter stages by Pierre Gasly. The AlphaTauri driver was then forced to settle for seventh-place finish behind the two Ferraris, just as they had to settle for being behind him a weekend prior.

Lando Norris’s opening lap puncture saw him almost a full minute behind 19th-placed Kimi Raikkonen before the Safety Car mercifully allowed him to rejoin the pack and recover through the field, ultimately taking the final point in tenth.

Once the race restarted, Raikkonen had a double-dose of Haas headaches – first contact with Mick Schumacher, then stuck behind Nikita Mazepin. Any time lost squabbling would be felt hard in the closing laps, when the Alfa Romeo driver sat just eight seconds away from Norris and a potential points finish in tenth by the chequered flag.

Yuki Tsunoda’s contact with Lance Stroll and subsequent 10-second time penalty put paid to the rookie’s afternoon. But while falling back was inevitable due to the penalty, Tsunoda’s inability to catch Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell ahead in the final third of the race will likely be scrutinised during AlphaTauri’s long flight over to Qatar for next weekend’s third leg of this late-season triple header.

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank	Driver	Car	Fastest lap	Gap	On lap
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda	1’11.010		71
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’11.982	0.972	46
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda	1’12.486	1.476	47
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1’12.526	1.516	49
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’12.621	1.611	54
6	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’12.710	1.700	63
7	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’12.822	1.812	61
8	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’13.227	2.217	53
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’13.634	2.624	69
10	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’13.761	2.751	53
11	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1’13.793	2.783	66
12	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1’13.922	2.912	37
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1’14.204	3.194	62
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’14.227	3.217	44
15	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1’14.355	3.345	45
16	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’14.430	3.420	48
17	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1’14.443	3.433	40
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’14.616	3.606	57
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1’14.954	3.944	36
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’15.344	4.334	25

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

	Stint 1	Stint 2	Stint 3	Stint 4
Lewis Hamilton	C3 (26)	C2 (17)	C2 (28)
Max Verstappen	C3 (27)	C2 (13)	C2 (31)
Valtteri Bottas	C3 (30)	C2 (11)	C2 (30)
Sergio Perez	C3 (28)	C2 (14)	C2 (27)	C4 (2)
Charles Leclerc	C3 (27)	C3 (25)	C2 (19)
Carlos Sainz Jnr	C3 (26)	C3 (27)	C2 (18)
Pierre Gasly	C3 (25)	C2 (26)	C2 (19)
Esteban Ocon	C3 (30)	C2 (40)
Fernando Alonso	C3 (34)	C2 (36)
Lando Norris	C3 (1)	C2 (36)	C2 (33)
Sebastian Vettel	C3 (28)	C2 (27)	C3 (15)
Kimi Raikkonen	C3 (28)	C2 (24)	C3 (18)
George Russell	C3 (6)	C2 (35)	C2 (29)
Antonio Giovinazzi	C3 (29)	C2 (13)	C3 (28)
Yuki Tsunoda	C4 (4)	C2 (35)	C2 (31)
Nicholas Latifi	C3 (13)	C2 (26)	C2 (31)
Nikita Mazepin	C3 (34)	C2 (35)
Mick Schumacher	C3 (11)	C2 (18)	C3 (32)	C3 (8)
Daniel Ricciardo	C3 (30)	C2 (19)
Lance Stroll	C3 (22)	C2 (25)

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

	Driver	Team	Pit stop time	Gap	On lap
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	22.656		42
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.664	0.008	43
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	22.666	0.010	52
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	22.667	0.011	27
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.690	0.034	26
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	22.722	0.066	27
7	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	22.745	0.089	53
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	22.766	0.110	40
9	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	22.830	0.174	42
10	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	22.839	0.183	30
11	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	22.856	0.200	41
12	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	22.916	0.260	69
13	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	22.936	0.280	13
14	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	22.958	0.302	39
15	George Russell	Williams	22.978	0.322	6
16	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	22.978	0.322	55
17	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	23.039	0.383	51
18	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	23.064	0.408	52
19	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	23.116	0.460	25
20	George Russell	Williams	23.132	0.476	41
21	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	23.165	0.509	28
22	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	23.263	0.607	30
23	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	23.321	0.665	26
24	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	23.504	0.848	30
25	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	23.541	0.885	28
26	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	23.546	0.890	34
27	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	23.618	0.962	29
28	Lando Norris	McLaren	24.211	1.555	37
29	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	24.375	1.719	34
30	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	24.464	1.808	28
31	Mick Schumacher	Haas	24.627	1.971	61
32	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24.997	2.341	22
33	Mick Schumacher	Haas	25.597	2.941	29
34	Lando Norris	McLaren	27.313	4.657	1
35	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	31.939	9.283	4
36	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	35.416	12.760	39
37	Mick Schumacher	Haas	41.173	18.517	11

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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7 comments on “2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

rodewulf (@rodewulf)
15th November 2021, 0:43

Interesting team work by the Alpines, Ocon used the VSC to get rid of Vettel and Alonso dispatched the faster Aston Martin through long game, and then they tricked Gasly into a two-stops strategy that almost made his race even more underwhelming, and he finished significantly more far away from the Ferraris than he was before. It looked very unlikely that Renault’s brand new F1 team would keep 5th place in the constructors’ standings this weekend, but somehow they did it!
The only painful thing to watch about them this race was Alonso giving up an almost 10 seconds lead ahead of his team-mate, such was his superior pace, but there was an accord between them, of course. Had they fought each other, Alonso probably would overtake Ocon eventually but then the team certainly wouldn’t stand a chance to stop Gasly, which was the long shot target (yes, it has been almost only about him, not quite AlphaTauri as a whole, given that Tsunoda went missing again). So they tied with Gasly in points this weekend and Alpine remains equal to AlphaTauri in the WCC.

sumedh
15th November 2021, 4:17

Didn’t understand Bottas’ strategy of pitting just 11 laps after his VSC stop. I thought he had potential to even do a 1 stopper (like Alpines). It probably would have given him a chance of finishing 2nd ahead of Verstappen.

Also, does anyone know why Alpines swapped Ocon and Alonso when Gasly pitted and swapped back at the end of the race.

sumedh
15th November 2021, 5:05

Also, impressed by Ferrari during the 1st round of stops. When Gasly stopped, they didn’t do the normal thing of pitting the elader driver 1st and then the following driver. They let Sainz pit first as he was more vulnerable to Gasly. By doing that, there was a risk of Leclerc and Sainz being very close after Leclerc’s pitstop.

But they took that risk and aimed to maximize the overall points of the team. Good team spirit between the 2 drivers.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
19th November 2021, 16:25

Alpine convinced Ocon to let Alonso past as he had faster pace during most of the race as part of a plan to create a DRS wall to defend against Gasly. As it didn’t fully work, Alonso gave the position back to Ocon as per the team accord.