LEWIS HAMILTON produced one of the greatest drives in F1 history to claim victory at the Brazil Grand Prix.
The seven-time champion fought up from 10th on the grid to pass title rival Max Verstappen and keep his championship hopes alive.
The Brit was forced to come from behind after starting Saturday’s qualifying sprint race from the pits as punishment for a breach of DRS technical regulations.
But he delivered the win for his Mercedes team with a sensational performance at the storied Interlagos track in Sao Paulo.
Here SunSport takes a look at how his latest victory – number 101 – stacks up against five of his top drives to date.
BRITAIN 2008, MCLAREN, WIN 7
Hamilton had an incredible debut season but he won his first title in 2008 and the race that summed up that season best was at Silverstone. In pouring rain, it is one of the best-ever performances in the wet.
While others went for wet tyres, Hamilton blasted for intermediate tyres. It was ballsy and brilliant and when the others needed to stop later on, he was well clear. He was more than a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld in second.
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CHINA 2011, MCLAREN, WIN 15
He only wins in the best car? Wrong and this proved it. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel had the better car on this day.
Hamilton stuck to a three-stop strategy and when he emerged late on with fresh tyres, he blasted his way through the field. He rated it at the time as one of his best-ever performances.
HUNGARY 2013, MERCEDES, WIN 22
Oh how we questioned what he was doing, but at the Hungaroring Hamilton finally proved us all wrong. He won his first GP for Mercedes having ditched McLaren.
He took an unlikely pole and while he did not expect to convert that into a win, he did exactly that. Working his car while preserving tyre life to give his team flexibility to make their pitstops. Nico Roseberg was 11 seconds behind Hamilton after the Brit had taken the victory.
GERMANY 2018, MERCEDES, WIN 66
A fantastic recovery drive. The previous day in qualifying, Hamilton’s car had hydraulic failure and he sat haunched next to it at the side of the track. He started 14th, well behind Vettel’s Ferrari that was on pole. But as the rain fell during the race, Vettel made a mistake and crashed out.
Greater drama followed when the Brit made a last-minute decision to cancel a pitstop while Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen both stopped for tyres. It was an unthinkable victory.
TURKEY 2020, MERCEDES, WIN 94
Hamilton defied the odds, held his nerve and typically over-delivered as he tiptoed through the rain puddles to go from sixth to first.
While his team-mate, Valtteri Bottas – in an identical car – spun SIX TIMES – Hamilton nursed his intermediate tyres for a staggering 50 laps to win by over 31 seconds to clinch title No.7.
BRAZIL 2021, MERCEDES, WIN 101
A sensational performance from Hamilton when his back was up against the wall.
He recovered a total of 25 places over the course of the weekend to go from last to first over the three days. He defied the odds to remain in the title race.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
