The S O Paulo Grand Prix 2021 was the 19th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, during the weekend of the 12th to the 14th of November.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 10th position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Valtteri Bottas, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 79 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 6-8: 43 stops
- Laps 25-30: 13 stops
- Laps 39-43: 8 stops
- Laps 51-53: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lando Norris's, stopping the clock at 17.673 seconds during his pit stop on lap 7, while the slowest one was was Mick Schumacher's, who stopped the clock at 41.173 seconds, 23.500 seconds slower than Norris, during his pit stop on lap 11.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 3 to 5 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 4 stops strategy.
3 stops
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3Fernando Alonso
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8Daniel Ricciardo
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-Esteban Ocon
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6Lance Stroll
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2Nikita Mazepin
4 stops
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4George Russell
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9Lewis Hamilton
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12Kimi Räikkönen
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2Sebastian Vettel
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2Valtteri Bottas
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-Max Verstappen
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3Carlos Sainz
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1Antonio Giovinazzi
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-Pierre Gasly
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1Charles Leclerc
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-Nicholas Latifi
5 stops
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5Lando Norris
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-Yuki Tsunoda
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-Sergio Pérez
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-Mick Schumacher
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy gained 1.67 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 0.55 positions, while those on a 5 stops strategy lost an average of 1.25 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 4 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered a power loss on lap 49, and Lance Stroll, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 47.
Power loss
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Daniel RicciardoLap 49
Collision damage
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Lance StrollLap 47
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.438 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:07.934. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.