New Delhi: British car racer Lewis Hamilton sped past Dutch racer Max Verstappen and Finnish Valtteri Bottas to win the 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix 2021 or the Sao Paulo Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo, on Sunday.
Hamilton started from the 10th position on the grid, whereas his Mercedes counterpart Valtteri Bottas started from the pole, ahead of the second placed-Verstappen.
Verstappen and Bottas also set some of the fastest time laps in the racing event. The distance between Verstappen and Hamilton kept decreasing as they indulged in a cut-throat equalizing lap time.
Verstappen skilfully blocked Hamilton and had enough gas to keep defending his opponent before the cars went off-track in the 50th lap.
However, Hamilton veered outside at turns 2 and 3 to snatch the lead from futile Verstappen at the 59th lap. The Dutch tried digging him in vain from behind. Hamilton increased the time gap between the two and led the match in his favor.
Perez replaced Hamilton to score the fastest lap point in the GP.
But the organizers also fined Hamilton $5,000 for breaching the security laws by unfastening his seatbelt on the last lap.
He currently stands at driver’s rank 2 with 318.5 points, while Verstappen stands 1st at 332.5 points.
(Avya Mathur)