Start, Interlagos, 2021

Vote for your 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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[raceweekendpromotion]Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend?

It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last three days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Interlagos.

Driver performance summary

DriverStartedGap to team mate (Q)Laps leading team matePittedFinishedGap to team mate (R)
Lewis Hamilton20th-0.535s63/7121st-13.576s
Valtteri Bottas2nd+0.535s8/7123rd+13.576s
Max Verstappen1st-0.111s68/7122nd-29.444s
Sergio Perez3rd+0.111s3/7134th+29.444s
Lando Norris7th-0.059s0/49210th
Daniel Ricciardo8th+0.059s49/491
Lance Stroll15th+0.212s0/471
Sebastian Vettel11th-0.212s47/47211th
Esteban Ocon10th+0.052s48/7018th-0.491s
Fernando Alonso9th-0.052s22/7019th+0.491s
Charles Leclerc6th+0.134s69/7125th-2.303s
Carlos Sainz Jnr5th-0.134s2/7126th+2.303s
Pierre Gasly4th-0.58s68/7027th-60.609s
Yuki Tsunoda12th+0.58s2/70215th+60.609s
Kimi Raikkonen13th-0.724s29/70212th-29.474s
Antonio Giovinazzi14th+0.724s41/70214th+29.474s
Mick Schumacher18th-0.26s2/69318th+37.356s
Nikita Mazepin19th+0.26s67/69117th-37.356s
George Russell17th+0.056s60/70213th-10.724s
Nicholas Latifi16th-0.056s10/70216th+10.724s

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Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Nicholas Latifi (0%)
  • George Russell (0%)
  • Nikita Mazepin (1%)
  • Mick Schumacher (0%)
  • Antonio Giovinazzi (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (1%)
  • Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (1%)
  • Charles Leclerc (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (0%)
  • Lance Stroll (0%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Lando Norris (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (6%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (89%)

Total Voters: 206

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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59 comments on “Vote for your 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. Tough one 🤔

    1. Yeah for me as well, I ended up settling on gasly as I felt he over performed the car and didn’t Yuki into the side of someone :)

      As for Ham, even Norris thinks he’s got an unfair advantage in that machine.

  2. Hamilton. None of the penalties were his fault and he drove hard and clean. Car advantage yes, but he was decisive and precise in all his racing decisions. I have nothing against Verstappen but I can’t see why some people have voted for him on this occasion

    1. Could verstappen have possibly won with the car he had? No, that’s why we voted for verstappen.

      Oh, and another thing: it was obvious most would vote for hamilton in this case, even when it comes to political elections, I never go vote cause my vote alone isn’t gonna be decisive, in this case my vote is more impactful for a minority that drove well rather than the majority.

      I think hamilton drove great in general, but I don’t see what anyone could’ve done to stop him given the car advantage.

      1. @esporalatore1 So, just out of interest, who did you vote for in Mexico? Presumably Hamilton because he couldn’t possibly have won against the Red Bull there.

        1. Sorry to say that, Steve, but ExTrollatore will never come back to answer your question.

          1. “Sorry to say that, Steve, but ExTrollatore will never come back to answer your question.”

            Hopefully they’re off somewhere learning how elections actually work.

      2. Could verstappen have possibly won with the car he had? Yes.

        He beat Bottas. Who last time I checked was also driving a Mercedes. Had Hamilton not been racing Max would have won. You can’t say it’s the car alone when it was Hamilton who really made the difference here.

        This vote is driver of the weekend and to vote for a driver who lost position from Pole on Saturday, ran another car off track in a dangerous move and was literally given a driving standards flag seems very strange.

        1. Ben

          He beat Bottas. Who last time I checked was also driving a Mercedes. Had Hamilton not been racing Max would have won. You can’t say it’s the car alone when it was Hamilton who really made the difference here.

          Yeah, many here have dismissed Max efforts this year even though Hamilton had beaten Perez. So the same rationale must apply here.

          This vote is driver of the weekend and to vote for a driver who lost position from Pole on Saturday, ran another car off track in a dangerous move and was literally given a driving standards flag seems very strange.

          He didn’t force Lewis into that line in first place. Max was not alone in outbraking himself, and he would have been overtaken if he was the only one to miss the brake point, if his rival had chosen to take a different line since the beginning. Once both had missed it then the chance of a overatake in the next corner was also gone.

        2. Max and Lewis are just much better than Bottas and Perez. They drive the same cars as their teammates but can’t beat them. I think it’s fair to say both Max and Lewis would beat eachother if they have a significant car advantage even if their teammates are in 3rd and 4rth place.

          The reason why we’ve had such a great season so far is that the cars are very close most of the time.

          1. I wanted to say

          2. “they can’t beat them”

        3. The top speed of bottas without Drs was 306max Lewis 330.
          Do the math.

  3. Hamilton was pretty far ahead, I would say. Sure, Mercedes gave him a huge amount of power out of that engine. But he still had to do it from last on the grid without any (major) interruptions.

    Another candidate would be Gasly, and I considered Norris (but then he was instrumental in his puncture) and I think I would want to give a shout-out to Mazepin as well. He had a solid qualifying, was able to make up a few positions early on and had a solid defence for a while on track. Sure, nothing heroic. But at least decent in a far from decent car.

    1. I gave it to Mazepin for his interview.

    2. @bascb

      Another candidate would be Gasly

      Not quite deservedly, he was not too far from being outfoxed by both Alpines due to strategy. He had some very good weekends this season, but it was not one of them. From fourth in the sprint grid to eighth which became a sweaty seventh at the chequered flag after Norris misfortune just isn’t an impressive display.

      1. Hm, you do bring up some solid counterpoints there @rodewulf.

        1. @bascb
          Maybe in another track, a little harder to overtake, Alonso and Ocon would have held on in front of Gasly? Who knows. But anyway finishing ahead of him was the long shot for Alpine in this race. Given the pace differential, they can be pretty satisifed in leaving Interlagos still equal on points with AlphaTauri.

  4. Hamilton’s best weekend this year for sure. May be one his best ever. Right up with Germany 2018, Britain 2008.

    Not sure if there were any other amazing performances across the field. Gasly was his usual great, but a bad start which put him behind Vettel compromised his race.

    Alpine drivers and team both did a great job. While running 10th and 12th prior to first pit stops, they wisely utilized the SCs and VSCs to make a 1-stop work (Ocon’s only pit stop being during VSC) and ensured they got same points as Gasly by finishing 8th and 9th.

    I am tempted to even say Mazepin might be one of the better performers his weekend. He was running in 14th until lap 15!!

    1. sumedh

      Hamilton’s best weekend this year for sure. May be one his best ever. Right up with Germany 2018, Britain 2008.

      I agree. First time he shone brighter than anyone since the beginning of the year.

  5. I try not to give these to the race winner because they aren’t necessarily the person who got the absolute maximum out of their weekend or who outperformed their car, but in this case it is very hard to argue that anyone other than Hamilton should get the nod. He was exceptional.

    1. @geemac

      I try not to give these to the race winner because they aren’t necessarily the person who got the absolute maximum out of their weekend or who outperformed their car, but in this case it is very hard to argue that anyone other than Hamilton should get the nod.

      Yeah, Verstappen deserved it that way in Austin with his narrow win against nearly equal machinery and a strong Hamilton performance, as well as a virtually flawless weekend as a whole.

    2. Agree. He didnt out a foot wrong all weekend. Made the most of adverse situations and put in a stellar performance. He was a league above Verstappen this weekend, and I’d go as far as saying it was his strongest performance this season.

  6. Easiest pick of the year: Hamilton of course

  7. Hamilton. One of the easiest DotW picks I’ve ever had to make, aided only a little by the lack of conspicuously outstanding, full-weekend performances elsewhere in the field.

  8. I voted for Lewis but i am afraid the championship is over if they can keep that engine running as high as this weekend. Strange enough before this weekend i said if Lewis takes a new engine Max should take one also. With now only 3 races to go you can run the engine so high.

    It’s almost noone saw the insane speed Lewis had compared with Max and Bottas now in the sprint race he could overtake so easy (and the top let him overtake them as they knew would get position back.) When he ended fifth Lewis began to believe he got win which i said he would.

    I don’t like races with only 1 car so fast the rest doesn’t have any chance.

    1. That’s what I said (last line) and why I voted for verstappen, who was excellent on his own, I was afraid he took too many risks sometimes, but he managed to keep the car safe and kept hamilton behind more than anyone could’ve done.

    2. If they repeat the feat next race @macleod, I think it will see that engine quickly losing oomph. And also, I think it might mean Red Bull/Verstappen will counter it with their own engine replacement to do the same.

      1. Lets hope because right now it’s over.

        1. No it’s not. I think I’ve seen at least one “the championship is over” comment following just about every weekend since Spain. The fluctuations this year make it impossible to know who is going to come out on top.

      2. The problem is that the Honda engine doesn’t degrade as much as the Mercedes engine, so the gain from a new engine wouldn’t be as much as for Mercedes.

  9. That bloke from Stevenage, if he keeps driving like that he’ll have a bright future ahead of him..

    1. Well put! 👍🏽

  10. DOTW & DOTD: HAM.

  11. Hamilton score look like a Belarus presidential polls result.
    They seem to win no matter what you throw at them.
    Absolute top of the game, man and machine.

  12. Althoug I’m a fan of Max I voted Lewis DOTW. All or nothing attitude in the sprint race and continued that mentality on sunday. Also happy that they let them race although you can argue about the defensive moves of Max and the consitency of the FIA. For me this is racing and what I like about F1.
    But nobody can tell me again that RB has the dominant car this year.

  13. Well it really only could be Lewis. OK so he had the best car at his disposal but he still had to make all the right decisions on track and put his car in the right place, at the right time. He was pretty much faultless. One of his great weekends.

    An honourable mention to Gasly as again he delivered on behalf of his team. I am a little surprised he has no votes so far. He did not make a good start to the main race of course. He’s keeping AT in the fight with Alpine for 5th place in the constructors, almost single handed. That has to be worth a mention.

    1. @phil-f1-21

      I am a little surprised he has no votes so far. He did not make a good start to the main race of course. He’s keeping AT in the fight with Alpine for 5th place in the constructors, almost single handed. That has to be worth a mention.

      The reason for that is probably he was outfoxed in strategy by both Alpines, and even though Alonso and Ocon couldn’t stop him, it gave a complicated moment for the last stage of his run against considerably weaker package.

  14. This one is easy. Lewis.

  15. Do we have to vote? It’s Lewis Hamilton. 25th to 1st. That’s unheard of.

    1. Not really as it has happened before. And he had a clear PU advantage on a track where it is easy to overtake with DRS

      1. Didn’t help Bottas much and, lets face it, his engine isn’t that old. I think that there’s a really big amount of skill there too. Please, credit where it’s due!

        1. The engine was also tuned to give more power because it only has to last a few races now
          The power advantage was more than 30 km/hour on the straight, I read.

          I also read Mercedes is going to change the PU every race now because of this advantage.

  16. Pretty clear this weekend. It didn’t seem to matter what was thrown at him, Lewis just found a way. A very impressive weekend from him. Just what the championship needed too, just as it appeared Max was starting to walk away with it.

  17. DotD: The Mercedes PU

    1. @silfen

      DotD: The Mercedes PU

      It shone even brighter than Hamilton during the weekend, even though Bottas wouldn’t be able to do that with the same PU.

      1. They weren’t exactly the same. Hamilton’s PU was newer and tuned to give more power, because it only has to last a couple of races.
        Read a rumour Mercedes is going to change the PU every race now because with the power advantage those 5 places are easily made up.

  18. Lewis made this weekend in so many ways, so I vote for him

  19. Of all the amazing things Hamilton did this weekend, the one that I perhaps enjoyed the most was him not losing even an ounce of concentration when pushed off the track by Verstappen. We have seen so many drivers fly off the handle on the radio in a situation like that, but not only did he not let it get to him, he also kept his wits about him, forcing Verstappen to defend in Turn 1 a few laps later and compromise his exit, which led to the decisive overtake. Very well done, and an easy vote for DOTW this time around.

  20. I’m surprised 8% voted for Verstappen. Nothing against him, actually he’s my second favourite after Lewis, but this weekend was probably the best of Lewis’s entire career and the guy’s an all-time great. Nailed on, Lewis Hamilton.

    If Verstappen had kept Lewis behind, there would be an argument for Verstappen.

    1. James

      If Verstappen had kept Lewis behind, there would be an argument for Verstappen.

      If they were in equally performing machineries for this weekend, it would be true.

  21. Didn’t like Max’s weaving, otherwise he was the best by far. The other guy was just about an average guy in a rocketship.

    1. And btw the 5 grid position penalty for a new ICU seems ridiculous. Apparently it should pay to bring a new one for each race. Penalties should be dissuasive.

      1. BTW wasnt ICE change a 10 place grid penalty when did it become 5.

  22. Gasley’s been driving great. Voted for Hamilton.

  23. Hamilton in my opinion, excellent drive. On a side note I think that DRS was too over the top for this track and made it too easy to pass another car.

  24. when you can vote for Lewis, always vote for Lewis
    unless you can vote for Kimi; then always vote for Kimi
    ;)

  25. Has to be Lewis. Ok, the rockets gets 80% of the credit but still a magnificent drive. Next 3 races will be exactly the same as Mercedes indicated to have 3 new engines lined up for the remaining races. All in 2500 km endurance beast mode. Seems they have outsmarted everyone again.

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