© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
By Carol M. Creasey
Brazil is a very important country for Sir Lewis Hamilton. It’s the place he won his first world championship in 2008.
Additionally, his icon Ayrton Senna was Brazilian, and when he equalled Ayrton’s pole positions record, he was presented with a special helmet. The Brazilian people have really taken him into their hearts, as in 2022 he was declared an honorary citizen. It was announced on Wednesday 30th October, that to honour the 30th anniversary of Senna’s death, Sir Lewis had been chosen to drive his McLaren car, and it would take place after the qualifying session on Saturday. This delighted his fans very much. It was a special honour, and when he was told, he stated that he never believed in a million years that he would have the opportunity. But, in fact, he was the obvious choice and no doubt the family of Senna probably had a lot to do with choosing him.
The weather forecast was for rain most of the weekend in Brazil, and in the past when racing, our valiant Briton has loved that, as the challenges it brings are exciting, and over the years he has won so many rain soaked races, it has earned him the nickname of ”rain master”. But, unfortunately that was not to be the case in Brazil. To make it worse, Mercedes car was in Lewis’ own words ”undrivable”, and he had to work hard just to keep it out of the wall.
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For the Sprint Race he qualified in P11, and ended up in that position at the end of the race. Due to heavy rain, Qualifying for the main race had been moved to Sunday, and the same thing happened to Lewis’ scheduled demo run in Senna’s 1990 car. The crowd were in raptures as he drove around, nobody even cared that it was pouring with rain. This winning car had been beautifully preserved for all these years, and it drove like a dream. As Lewis went around the track, the crowds paid homage, and then cheered, waving their flags, rain was not going to dampen their spirits! Then the Brazilian flag was brought out, and Lewis held it out so the crowd could see, as he drove round again. It was a history making moment, and a very poignant one, especially for Senna’s family. His sister Viviane was there to give Lewis a hug of approval on such a landmark day. Lewis said afterwards that it had been an emotional moment for him, and that he had actually done a couple more laps than it was planned.
After this came qualifying for the main race. Lewis suffered again, and he even complained to his engineer by calling the car dangerous. This has never been known for him to complain so strongly before, but the weather was so bad, and he said he had absolutely no grip. After qualifying in 18th place, he said maybe he might start from the pit lane, which sounded like a reasonable idea, because he would be able to make tweaks to the car. Mercedes decided against this idea, and after other penalties were applied from other drivers, he started the race from 14th. George Russell, on the other hand qualified in P2. Lewis ultimately finished the race in P10, after struggling with the car for most of the race. George finished the race in P4.
While Lewis produced one of the finest performances in history of Formula 1 in Brazil in 2021, Mercedes’ current car unfortunately did not give him a chance to repeat this again this year. With three races to go, Lewis’ fans will hope he can bounce back, and be given a car that is safe to drive so he can end his time with Mercedes on a much more positive note.
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