Hamilton gifted win in Sao Paolo after Verstappen tangles with backmarker, Bottas P5 to secure Contructors’ title for Mercedes; Raikkonen P3, Vettel P6 as Ferrari fall short once again

Newly crowned World Champion Lewis Hamilton is never one to pass up an opportunity for victory despite having already clinched his fifth world title. Looking like a certain runner-up to  the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, Mercedes’ ace pilot instead took advantage of Verstappen’s misfortune and possible impatience to positively snipe the win at Interlagos in Sao Paolo. After running a flawless race with great strategy and a surprisingly quick Red Bull beneath him, Verstappen’s race was undone in an instant a mere 8 laps after he made his first stop for tires and just four laps after passing Hamilton on the circuit to take what looked to be an unassailable lead. It all went sideways on Lap 44 when a backmarker, the Force India of Esteban Ocon, tried to unlap himself and raced the Dutch wunderkind hard going into the Senna esses.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Perhaps expecting Ocon to back off, Verstappen appeared to turn in as the Frenchman instead dove down the inside to try and stay on the lead lap. The two cars collided with the result that Verstappen spun off the track and watched helplessly as Hamilton steamed by him to regain the lead while his Red Bull waited to reenter the track safely. Verstappen also incurred significant damage to his RB14 chassis’ floor but was able to maintain his P2 position and even hound Hamilton a bit towards the end of this 71-lap contest. But despite having to nurse his slower Medium compound Pirellis to the end of the race and with some potential engine gremlins creeping into the mix, Hamilton had enough pace to hold off the irate Dutchman and win his tenth Grand Prix this year out of twenty races. Hamilton’s victory coupled with his teammate Valtteri Bottas’s P5 finish locked up the Constructors’ title for mighty Mercedes, their fifth in a row, and ensured that this resurrected Mercedes factory effort will go down as one of the most dominant teams of any era.

After the race, a livid Verstappen confronted Ocon at the post-race weigh-in and initiated a shoving match. It’s said that the ill will between the two drivers goes back to their time competing in the junior formulae and speculation was rampant among the more conspiracy minded that Ocon, a Mercedes driver who may get a factory seat with the team in future, had somehow messed up Verstappen’s race deliberately. Far more likely it was yet another lesson for young Max to take nothing for granted when fighting for a Grand Prix victory even if he thinks he is “owed” a free pass by a backmarker as the race leader. Formula 1, apparently not courting NASCAR-like dustups as a feature of their brand, ordered Verstappen to perform two days of community service for instigating the altercation.

Lost somewhat in the shuffle was Ferrari’s all around disappointing day. While Kimi Raikkonen managed to salvage a podium position with a third place finish, their lead driver Sebastian Vettel could do no better than to come home P6. The Ferrari strategy of being the only one of the front-runners to start in the Soft PIrellis rather than the Super Softs did not quite pan out, as the harder compound took a while to switch on and by then the two Prancing Horses were stuck behind the clearly quicker Hamilton and Verstappen. While Raikkonen did well to pick off Bottas for that podium the team were left to ponder another year as runners-up to Mercedes and another season where they were thoroughly dominated in the second half after a very promising start. There will be some soul searching at the Scuderia after this tough year that started so promisingly, which not only saw them fall short but also the sudden death of their chairman, Fiat boss Sergio Marcchione, in July. Vettel in particular must look in the mirror to see if he can improve and drive with more composure, as one might expect from a 4-time champion, after a series of unforced errors in the last several races, perhaps due to overdriving, really cost himself and the team in both facets of the Championship.

Verstappen’s teammate, Daniel Riccardo, had the drive of the day in the other Red Bull after a string of recent DNFs. After starting from P11 due to a turbo change after his last engine failure in Mexico two weeks ago, the veteran Aussie battled his way past the midfield and eventually took the fight to Vettel and Bottas at the front. Ricciardo ran an extra-long first stint of 40 laps, making his Super Softs last incredibly well and then switching on to the Softs while his major competitors had gone to the Mediums. With that tire and grip advantage Ricciardo picked off both Vettel and Bottas on track rather easily for his eventual P4 finish. With Verstappen running the exact same tire strategy bar stopping one lap sooner it should have been the race winning one, as well, but for the tangle with Ocon.

Filling out the rest of the Top 10, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc ran a lonely but effective race to come home a valuable P7, while the two Haas’ of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished P8 and P9 respectively. Ocon’s teammate Sergio Perez kept his Force India clean and took the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Brazilian GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race, the finale of the season, will be in two weeks time from halfway around the world in Abu Dhabi, the stunning day-into-night race at Yas Marina circuit. All the big prizes may have been won by Hamilton and Mercedes but hope to see you then to farewell this exciting 2018 season. After all, the winter is long and, as proved once again in Brazil, you never know quite what you’ll see in a Formula 1 Grand Prix!