Hamilton’s 2021 São Paulo comeback cut into Verstappen’s title lead

Lewis Hamilton’s 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix began with a qualifying disqualification and ended with him beating Max Verstappen by more than 10 seconds from 10th on the grid. The victory further cut into the championship leader’s advantage.

Stewards found that the outer flap of Hamilton’s Mercedes rear wing opened beyond the permitted 85 millimetres during a DRS deflection test. They accepted a mechanical fault as the likely cause, rather than deliberate design, but strict-liability rules made disqualification unavoidable. The ruling sent Hamilton to the back of Saturday’s sprint grid. A separate five-place grid penalty for an additional internal-combustion engine applied to Sunday’s race.

Hamilton climbed 15 places in 24 laps of the sprint to finish fifth. He then started the grand prix 10th and worked through the field to challenge Verstappen, who had started second behind pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen resisted for much of the race before Hamilton passed him; Bottas completed the podium in third.

Afterward, Hamilton said he had not expected the recovery to go so far when the weekend began and praised his team for staying positive through the setbacks. Verstappen called it a good battle but said they had lacked a little pace at the end. He described the result as damage limitation on a difficult weekend, said the points lead remained good and expressed confidence they would bounce back in the coming races.