Brazil GP Race Report

A full crowd in Brazil as the world gets back to normal.  The lights went out very speedily, which caught out some of the drivers.  Norris immediately went into a space that wasn't there and had a big off, giving himself a puncture from a Ferrari.  The corners kept catching the drivers out, including the leader of the start, Bottas.  Having already let Verstappen past, this let Perez past too.  In one lap, Hamilton went from 10th to 6th.  Even Sainz was an easy pass for him on lap 3.  It wasn't long before he was past LeClerc and then Bottas let him through to third position.  Whilst this was happening Stroll crashed full on to Tsunoda, who had to pit for lots of new bits.

With a Safety Car out to clear up all of the Alpha Tauri's old, smashed bits, Hamilton cheered Bottas on by telling him over the radio to stick with him.  Although, I don't think he could hear him.

At the restart, Verstappen bunched the pack up dangerously close.  He had Perez as a buffer between himself and the Mercedes.  Suddenly Schumacher's front wing was under his car after tangling with Raikkonen.  Somehow he was able to keep going but there was a Virtual Safety Car.

Lap 17, Hamilton was on the tail of Perez, took him and immediately lost him to a DRS pass.  Both drivers were thinking quickly and cleverly.  Lap 19 saw Hamilton take him on a different corner and made it stick.  With Hamilton in second and heading after Verstappen, it was up to Bottas to now take Perez, although his engine was not as new and shiny.

A third into the race, the pitstop window opened.  Hamilton went aggressively for the undercut with Red Bull responding immediately.  It didn't get him past Verstappen but it did close the gap.  Perez then went for the undercut on Bottas, who didn't respond.

Before you could take a breath, out of nowhere shards of carbon fibre flew off Stroll's Aston Martin following it's earlier contact with Tsunoda.  A Virtual Safety Car was ordered and Bottas took his stop, earning him 3rd position.

Then the second pit stop window opened after no time at all.  I could see we were barely half way through the race with a long time to go but all the action seemed to have happened.  Hamilton was asked over the radio about which tires he would like.  Red Bull panicked about the undercut and brought Verstappen in.  Bottas was brought in to cover that.  Verstappen was now behind Hamilton and Perez, Bottas behind LeClerc.  The undercut worked.

Two thirds through the race and the battle was finally underway.  Hamilton had caught Verstappen on the track with no more pitstops to go.  As Lewis went for the overtake they both went wide and through a run off area.  Did Max push him off the road?  We waited to see if he would get a penalty.  After being "noted" by the stewards, "no further investigation necessary."  #LetThemRace

The crowd went wild as Hamilton finally made it, finishing the race 10 seconds ahead with Perez taking new tires to steal Fastest Lap.  He was clearly overjoyed, stopping to collect a Brazilian flag.  Red Bull put it down to "damage limitations".