Friday November 12th 2021
F1 preliminary decision in Brazil?
Hamilton is almost fighting for the last chance
The starting point is clear – Lewis Hamilton is no longer the hunted in Formula 1, but the hunter. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, his fate even threatens to slip away completely. Namely when he can no longer become world champion on his own.
Lewis Hamilton first relaxed with music after landing in Brazil, while the Mercedes star grooved himself to new beats for the planned race to catch up in the World Cup duel with Max Verstappen. “Stay positive and don’t let yourself get down,” wrote Hamilton to the world on Instagram: “You can do it, I believe in you.”
Presumably, Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff Hamilton will use very similar words at the showdown in São Paulo (Sunday, 6 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) swear in, or as his race engineer Peter Bonnington always says over the radio: “It’s Hammertime!” Means something like: “Give everything you have. Now.” Brazil is not about anything else. Hamilton has to deliver – otherwise the dream of the unprecedented eighth world title is probably over.
With four races to go, the defending champion is 19 points behind Verstappen, while the young challenger was two points behind three races ago. If Hamilton is 24 or more points behind the Dutchman on Sunday evening, the 36-year-old can no longer become world champion on his own. But he doesn’t want to talk about a last chance or particularly great pressure. “Since the break, a win has been a must for us in every race,” said Hamilton.
São Paulo is not Hamilton’s favorite circuit
Only: Most recently, only Verstappen delivered two wins in a row, the eighth and ninth in the season. Hamilton is at five, and three of them he picked up in the first four races of the year. The Red Bull is rated faster than the Mercedes again in Interlagos. And: São Paulo is really not Hamilton’s route. Although he became world champion for the first time here in a major drama in 2008, overall he only won twice in the home of his idol Ayrton Senna.
Doesn’t all count for Hamilton, who has only won one of the last eight grands prix. “Now we are fully focused on the remaining races, and man, I love Brazil. We go on,” said the previously untouchable. But this year, it seems that Verstappen can actually crack series world champion Hamilton. “Of course it looks good,” said the Dutch leader. And added cautiously, “But it can also spin very quickly.”
Wolff also relies on this. Mercedes and Hamilton went “full speed” into the São Paulo Grand Prix “and the races that followed,” assured the Austrian, who assumes that the title fight will remain exciting until “the end. Both teams will fight hard until the last lap . ” Mercedes is challenged and must “catch up”, said Wolff: “But we will continue to give everything and not lose sight of our goal.” Hamilton and Co. do not want to let themselves get down, they (still) believe in their chance.