Saturday was spent in the jury room – and after a long deliberation, Lewis Hamilton went on a heavy penalty before tonight’s sprint. But he got flank support from Valtteri Bottas, who beat Max Verstappen.
It was an extremely dramatic day in the F1 scenery.
Well, Lewis Hamilton would be poked down five places in the starting field, everyone knew that. But when the competition jury in Brazil announced that the British had come under scrutiny for other offenses, the World Cup race seemed to be decided.
That was until Max Verstappen also suddenly ended up in the jury’s teeth.
What had happened?
Tough punishment for Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s car was irregular in the qualifiers, where the Briton was in a class of his own. After the qualifier, the car was inspected and the officials noticed that the DRS door in the rear wing was too large.
Max Verstappen in turn broke against closed park-the rules. Specifically, he touched his own and Hamilton’s hind wing after parking it after qualifying – strictly forbidden.
The penalty: a $ 50,000 fine for Verstappen – disqualification in the Hamilton qualifiers.
In practice, this meant that Hamilton would have to start at the back of the field in the last sprint of the season. Verstappen started the competition which determines the starting order in Sunday’s competition from square one.
Mercedes still had a joker up its sleeve: Valtteri Bottas, who now started from square two.
Superstart paved the way for Botta’s sprint victory
There seemed to be a consensus that the soft tires that Pirelli conjured up to Brazil did not measure up. Or that they would not last long enough to be worth using even in the sprint.
Mercedes still put soft tires under Botta’s car – and the chance bore fruit. Bottas flew past Verstappen at the start and took care of the lead already in the first corner.
Verstappen was also forced to capitulate to Carlos Sainz, who also had to try to manage the soft tires that were crushed all the time.
The World Cup one quickly passed Ferrarin, turned its back on Bottas – but did not get past. On the contrary, Bottas managed to keep Verstappen behind him all the way and finished first.
– The tires were exhausted, they were just enough, Bottas stated on the stable’s radio. Sainz was clearly worse off, but in turn managed to keep Sergio Perez behind him and finished third.
– The start was crucial. It was a gamble, but it went our way. The tactic worked perfectly, Bottas explained in the TV interview.
Lewis Hamilton then? The reigning world champion showed just how strong he can be.
Hamilton impressed, starting from square ten
Hamilton picked place after place and was seventh with five laps left. Partly thanks to Kimi Räikkönen, who at best could have been in the running for a place among the top ten, collided with his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and ended up off the track.
The distance up to Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris was still several seconds and the struggle to catch up with them looked unprofitable.
But still Hamilton managed to get past them both and finished fifth. This clearly means that he starts from square ten.
– It’s not over yet, Hamilton stated on the stable’s radio.
Räikkönen starts from square 18 after overtaking the Haas cars after their collision.
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