Motorsport

LEWIS HAMILTON’S has been slapped with a £22,000 fine for taking off his SEAT BELT during his raucous Brazilian Grand Prix celebrations.The seven-time champion fought up from 10th on the grid to take victory at the storied Interlagos circuit after a tumultuous weekend for his Mercedes team.
Lewis Hamilton has been fined after taking off his seat belt during celebrations in BrazilCredit: AFP
Hamilton was forced to start Saturday’s sprint qualifying race from the pits as punishment for a technical DRS infringement.
He managed to finish an astonishing fifth but was then relegated to 10th for Sunday’s main event due to an engine penalty.
The Brit then produced one of the great F1 drives to overtake his championship rival Max Verstappen and give his title hopes an almighty boost.
But in his jubilation at taking the chequered flag, Hamilton removed his seat belt for the in-lap as he waved a Brazilian flag above his car.
And race stewards were unimpressed with the 36-year-old veteran as they called on drivers to set a good example on road safety.
An F1 statement read: “The driver of car 44, Lewis Hamilton, undid his seat belts on the in-lap at the end of the race.

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“While the Stewards are sympathetic to the desire to celebrate, it is fundamentally unsafe to undo the seatbelts while the car is in motion.
“Slow speeds in these cars are very fast for an unrestrained occupant.
“Further, Formula 1 drivers set the example for junior categories. It is critical that junior category drivers learn the importance of using all the safety devices of the car at all times.”
Hamilton was slapped with the fine but the race result is unaffected, meaning the deficit to championship leader Verstappen now stands at just 14 points.
Sebastian Vettel jokes he will ‘touch Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing’ after Brit disqualified from Sao Paulo GP qualifying More

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.
Lewis Hamilton produced an expert drive to win in Brazil – but where does it rank in his iconic career?Credit: EPA
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.
Hamilton triumphed at a sodden Silverstone in 2008Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

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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.
The Brit beat team-mate Nico Rosberg to the Hungary win in 2013Credit: EPA
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.
Hamilton kept his car on the track for victory in Turkey last yearCredit: Reuters
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.
Sebastian Vettel jokes he will ‘touch Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing’ after Brit disqualified from Sao Paulo GP qualifying More

LEWIS HAMILTON turned in this Senna-sational win in Sao Paulo to finally end the debate on the greatest F1 driver of all time.It was fitting that in this Brazilian GP, set in the home of his boy-hood hero Ayrton Senna, that he would deliver such a performance to cement his place at the top.
Lewis Hamilton proudly waved the Brazil flag after his victoryCredit: AFP
Hamilton says the win is among the best of his careerCredit: Getty
And if anyone thought Hamilton would not fight tooth and nail to defend his title then think again.
This was brilliant back-to-the-wall stuff as the brilliant Brit defied penalties, sanctions, a rash move from rival Max Verstappen, even a post-race investigation into him removing his seatbelt on his slowdown lap.
Hamilton said: “I feel this has been one of the most, if not the most challenging with the things we have faced this weekend, but in terms of driving, this has maybe been my best.
“It is easy to get down when you are facing things that can get you down like engine penalties, but everyone just focused on their jobs and stayed positive.
“It was just down to me to let go of things as quickly as possible and move forward, but did I think we could come from last to first?
“I did not know what was possible and this is probably one of my best weekends of my career.

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“Coming into this weekend I never, ever thought that we would be able to close the gap like we have, and these things that just kept going against us, but I just think it really shows to everyone just never give up,
“Whatever you’re facing, you’ve just got to keep pushing, keep fighting and never, never stop fighting.
“Coming here 19 points behind and only one point ahead in the team’s championship, we really needed a solid result but then we had all these penalties, which just made it…
“Mentally you could have thought it was over, but nothing is over if you put your mind to it, and we went in fighting, guns blazing.”
Former F1 driver Mark Webber once said that Hamilton created some self-invented heat in order to get the best out of himself.
This time there was no need for any self invention stuff.
He had the pent up anger from seeing the previous day’s disqualification for having a rear wing that failed a gap-test by 0.2mm.
Then there was the incoming five-place grid drop for taking a new engine, a self-inflicted penalty but one Mercedes had to make meaning he started this race in 10th place.
The Brit started way back in TENTH on the gridCredit: Getty
Add into the mix the frustration within his own camp at having their rear wing assembly confiscated by the FIA.
Boss Toto Wolff was understandably furious before a wheel had even turned, telling the FIA – F1’s governing body “they can keep it and cut it into pieces if they want”.
Wolff’s anger was directed at the FIA, particularly as rivals Red Bull had been granted permission to change their rear wing set-up for the third time in as many races.
Wolff’s opposite number at Red Bull, Christian Horner replied his team were “perfectly permitted to change it from a reliability point of view”.
His comment afterwards would have stung Wolff as he quipped: “You have to apply for permission to change it. It is a very different thing to not passing a test.”
Needle aside, this had an explosive start as Valtteri Bottas delivered what is becoming an increasingly disappointing end to his Mercedes career by losing P1 by turn one.
Having taken pole, he was quickly leapfrogged by Verstappen and then Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
At that point, it looked comfortable for Red Bull as they ran in first and second but the question remained, could Hamilton catch them, even from 10th?
The answer became clear on the Red Bull pitwall very early. On the first lap, Hamilton was up to sixth and a handful of laps later, Merc were already sacrificing Bottas, as he was told to allow Hamilton to pass and into third.
A flurry of pitstops shuffled the order until the real drama unfolded on lap 48. Hamilton made his move on Verstappen, who ran the Mercedes wide, so wide they both ended up off track, somehow they avoided making contact.
Hamilton blasted the move as “crazy” yet a few laps later on being told Verstappen would not be penalised, cynically Hamilton replied “Of course man, of course.”
Former F1 driver Martin Brundle said he felt “Max was a lucky boy to not get a penalty for that”.
Wolff however, did not bite his tongue afterwards, questioning how the decisions had all gone against his team over the duration of the weekend.
He said: “We had a broken part on our rear wing which we couldn’t look at, couldn’t analyse, failed the test, and after disqualified, very harsh.
“And then you see on the Red Bull repairs, three times in a row on a rear wing whilst being in parc ferme with no consequence.
“That’s one thing, and obviously that really peaked with the decision in the race, which was, I mean, really wrong defence from Max, absolutely an inch over the limit, but he needed to do that to defend.
“Lewis just managed it even more brilliantly by avoiding contact and end the race that way.
“But that was just over the line, it should have been a five-second penalty at least.
“Probably Max knew that. Just brushing it under the carpet, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just laughable.”
With the bite firmly between his teeth, Hamilton finally made his move stick, despite Verstappen’s erratic weaving.
On lap 59, Hamilton swooped into the lead, having sized-up the move through turns one, two and three before completing the pass on four.
He then set about keeping ahead of the Dutchman and coasting home for his sixth win of the season.
Hamilton said: “The team did an amazing job. I was pushing. I was pushing as hard as I could. But from last on the grid and then another five-place penalty was I think the hardest weekend I’ve had.
“But my dad reminded me of 2004, when I was in Formula 3 in Bahrain, and I started last and I finished 10th, and I finished first. So this one is for my dad.”
Hamilton overtook championship rival Max VerstappenCredit: Splash
Verstappen was nonetheless gracious in defeat and had Perez thank for setting the fastest lap to take the bonus point from Hamilton.
He added: “In the end we just missed a little bit of pace but we gave it all and it was a lot of fun.
“We still have a good points lead you know, so today was a bit of damage limitation on a weekend where it was a bit difficult for us.
“But I’m confident that in the coming races we will bounce back.”
Hamilton celebrated, draped in a Brazilian flag he stopped to receive from a marshal, removing his seat belt, as the fans chanted Senna’s surname.
And perhaps it was also fitting that in true Senna style there would be yet even more controversy involving the stewards.
They summoned the race-winner for a hearing into why he removed his safety belt on the slow down lap so he could retrieve the flag.
Hamilton was slapped with a £4,266 fine for doing so. It seems that rather like Senna, Hamilton doesn’t have much time for the stewards or their decisions.
Sebastian Vettel jokes he will ‘touch Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing’ after Brit disqualified from Sao Paulo GP qualifying More

FOUR-TIME F1 champions Sebastian Vettel joked he will ‘touch Lewis Hamilton’s rear wing’ after the Brit was disqualified from qualifying in Sao Paulo.The joke comes after title hopeful Max Verstappen was slapped with a hefty £43,000 fine for touching rival Hamilton’s car after finishing behind him in Friday’s session.
Vettel joked with the idea of touching Hamilton’s car and picking up a hefty fine like Verstappen didCredit: GETTY IMAGES
Hamilton’s car was ultimately deemed to have broken technical regulations concerning DRS, leading to him being forced to start Saturday’s sprint race from the pits.
But that didn’t stop the seven-time champ as he astonishingly drove his way fifth placed finish in the sprint race.
He will, however, start Sunday’s Brazilian GP from tenth due to a separate five-place penalty for taking a new engine.
Vettel joked: “I’m going to touch Hamilton’s rear wing.”
Members of Aston Martin’s radio team replied: “Don’t you dare. Very Expensive.”
The German continued: “I’m joking. Maybe I’ll try the front wing, maybe it’s 25 grand.”
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Although yesterday’s barnstorming drive keeps Hamilton’s hopes of a record eighth title alive, Verstappen has the upper hand.
The Dutchman starts in P2 behind Valtteri Bottas.
And with four races to go, the Brit trails Verstappen by 21 points in the driver standings.
Max Verstappen shows off his new racing helmet ahead of Brazil Grand Prix More