2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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[raceweekendpromotion]For the second consecutive afternoon, Lewis Hamilton dispatched almost half the field to salvage a result around Interlagos that scarcely seemed possible the morning before.

It took just four laps for Hamilton to climb from tenth to fourth behind team mate Valtteri Bottas, who duly opened the door for him to take third. World champion proceeded to pass Sergio Perez on lap 19 after the Red Bull driver proved far less accommodating.

With multiple instances of debris littering the brazlink surface, the interference of the Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car not only handed Bottas a free stop to pinch third from an unfortunate Perez, it also put the four leaders into a marginal window of opportunity to stretch their hard tyres to the end of the race on a single stop.

However, with Max Verstappen pitting for a second time at the end of lap 40, Mercedes quickly followed suit for first Bottas, then Hamilton. Verstappen’s superior grip through the middle sector was not enough for him to keep his rival out of DRS range, with Hamilton immediately attacking once he eventually got within a second of his rival on lap 47 and only just avoiding contact as they rounded turn four for the 48th time.

Verstappen once again showed his mettle by soaking up pressure over the next 10 laps with Hamilton rarely more than a second behind. But when the Mercedes was able to pull alongside on the run to Descida do Lago on lap 59, there was no more the championship leader could do to resist.

Hamilton stretched his lead over Verstappen after passing
Now freed from Verstappen’s wake, Hamilton steadily escaped from his rival’s view, confirming that Red Bull just could not match the ultimate pace of the leading Mercedes that afternoon.

Further back in the pack, the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were caught and rapidly dispatched in the latter stages by Pierre Gasly. The AlphaTauri driver was then forced to settle for seventh-place finish behind the two Ferraris, just as they had to settle for being behind him a weekend prior.

Lando Norris’s opening lap puncture saw him almost a full minute behind 19th-placed Kimi Raikkonen before the Safety Car mercifully allowed him to rejoin the pack and recover through the field, ultimately taking the final point in tenth.

Once the race restarted, Raikkonen had a double-dose of Haas headaches – first contact with Mick Schumacher, then stuck behind Nikita Mazepin. Any time lost squabbling would be felt hard in the closing laps, when the Alfa Romeo driver sat just eight seconds away from Norris and a potential points finish in tenth by the chequered flag.

Yuki Tsunoda’s contact with Lance Stroll and subsequent 10-second time penalty put paid to the rookie’s afternoon. But while falling back was inevitable due to the penalty, Tsunoda’s inability to catch Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell ahead in the final third of the race will likely be scrutinised during AlphaTauri’s long flight over to Qatar for next weekend’s third leg of this late-season triple header.

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Sergio PerezRed Bull-Honda1’11.01071
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’11.9820.97246
3Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’12.4861.47647
4Valtteri BottasMercedes1’12.5261.51649
5Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’12.6211.61154
6Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari1’12.7101.70063
7Charles LeclercFerrari1’12.8221.81261
8Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1’13.2272.21753
9Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1’13.6342.62469
10Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’13.7612.75153
11Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1’13.7932.78366
12Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1’13.9222.91237
13Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1’14.2043.19462
14Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’14.2273.21744
15George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’14.3553.34545
16Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1’14.4303.42048
17Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1’14.4433.43340
18Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1’14.6163.60657
19Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1’14.9543.94436
20Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’15.3444.33425

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1Stint 2Stint 3Stint 4
Lewis HamiltonC3 (26)C2 (17)C2 (28)
Max VerstappenC3 (27)C2 (13)C2 (31)
Valtteri BottasC3 (30)C2 (11)C2 (30)
Sergio PerezC3 (28)C2 (14)C2 (27)C4 (2)
Charles LeclercC3 (27)C3 (25)C2 (19)
Carlos Sainz JnrC3 (26)C3 (27)C2 (18)
Pierre GaslyC3 (25)C2 (26)C2 (19)
Esteban OconC3 (30)C2 (40)
Fernando AlonsoC3 (34)C2 (36)
Lando NorrisC3 (1)C2 (36)C2 (33)
Sebastian VettelC3 (28)C2 (27)C3 (15)
Kimi RaikkonenC3 (28)C2 (24)C3 (18)
George RussellC3 (6)C2 (35)C2 (29)
Antonio GiovinazziC3 (29)C2 (13)C3 (28)
Yuki TsunodaC4 (4)C2 (35)C2 (31)
Nicholas LatifiC3 (13)C2 (26)C2 (31)
Nikita MazepinC3 (34)C2 (35)
Mick SchumacherC3 (11)C2 (18)C3 (32)C3 (8)
Daniel RicciardoC3 (30)C2 (19)
Lance StrollC3 (22)C2 (25)

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

DriverTeamPit stop timeGapOn lap
1Sergio PerezRed Bull22.65642
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.6640.00843
3Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo22.6660.01052
4Charles LeclercFerrari22.6670.01127
5Lewis HamiltonMercedes22.6900.03426
6Max VerstappenRed Bull22.7220.06627
7Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari22.7450.08953
8Max VerstappenRed Bull22.7660.11040
9Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo22.8300.17442
10Daniel RicciardoMcLaren22.8390.18330
11Valtteri BottasMercedes22.8560.20041
12Sergio PerezRed Bull22.9160.26069
13Nicholas LatifiWilliams22.9360.28013
14Nicholas LatifiWilliams22.9580.30239
15George RussellWilliams22.9780.3226
16Sebastian VettelAston Martin22.9780.32255
17Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri23.0390.38351
18Charles LeclercFerrari23.0640.40852
19Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri23.1160.46025
20George RussellWilliams23.1320.47641
21Sergio PerezRed Bull23.1650.50928
22Valtteri BottasMercedes23.2630.60730
23Carlos Sainz JnrFerrari23.3210.66526
24Esteban OconAlpine23.5040.84830
25Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo23.5410.88528
26Nikita MazepinHaas23.5460.89034
27Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo23.6180.96229
28Lando NorrisMcLaren24.2111.55537
29Fernando AlonsoAlpine24.3751.71934
30Sebastian VettelAston Martin24.4641.80828
31Mick SchumacherHaas24.6271.97161
32Lance StrollAston Martin24.9972.34122
33Mick SchumacherHaas25.5972.94129
34Lando NorrisMcLaren27.3134.6571
35Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri31.9399.2834
36Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri35.41612.76039
37Mick SchumacherHaas41.17318.51711

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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7 comments on “2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres”

  1. Interesting team work by the Alpines, Ocon used the VSC to get rid of Vettel and Alonso dispatched the faster Aston Martin through long game, and then they tricked Gasly into a two-stops strategy that almost made his race even more underwhelming, and he finished significantly more far away from the Ferraris than he was before. It looked very unlikely that Renault’s brand new F1 team would keep 5th place in the constructors’ standings this weekend, but somehow they did it!
    The only painful thing to watch about them this race was Alonso giving up an almost 10 seconds lead ahead of his team-mate, such was his superior pace, but there was an accord between them, of course. Had they fought each other, Alonso probably would overtake Ocon eventually but then the team certainly wouldn’t stand a chance to stop Gasly, which was the long shot target (yes, it has been almost only about him, not quite AlphaTauri as a whole, given that Tsunoda went missing again). So they tied with Gasly in points this weekend and Alpine remains equal to AlphaTauri in the WCC.

  2. Didn’t understand Bottas’ strategy of pitting just 11 laps after his VSC stop. I thought he had potential to even do a 1 stopper (like Alpines). It probably would have given him a chance of finishing 2nd ahead of Verstappen.

    Also, does anyone know why Alpines swapped Ocon and Alonso when Gasly pitted and swapped back at the end of the race.

    1. Also, impressed by Ferrari during the 1st round of stops. When Gasly stopped, they didn’t do the normal thing of pitting the elader driver 1st and then the following driver. They let Sainz pit first as he was more vulnerable to Gasly. By doing that, there was a risk of Leclerc and Sainz being very close after Leclerc’s pitstop.

      But they took that risk and aimed to maximize the overall points of the team. Good team spirit between the 2 drivers.

    2. Alpine convinced Ocon to let Alonso past as he had faster pace during most of the race as part of a plan to create a DRS wall to defend against Gasly. As it didn’t fully work, Alonso gave the position back to Ocon as per the team accord.

  3. I believe Tsunoda started the race on Softs (C4) and not Mediums (C3). He was the only one though!

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