Newly crowned Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton sealed the constructors’ title for Mercedes with race victory at Interlagos, after Max Verstappen was taken out of the race lead while lapping Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen had blasted past Hamilton early in his second stint and was edging clear when his Red Bull was pitched into a spin having tangled with Ocon at the Senna S.
That dropped Verstappen behind Hamilton, who managed engine and tyre concerns to stay clear and win the Brazilian Grand Prix after clinching the title for the first time – he was winless in the Grands Prix he completed after wrapping up the championship in 2015 and 2017 respectively. The result also clinched the constructors’ championship for Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of a mistake from Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel early on and Valtteri Bottas’s challenge fading to complete the podium.
Hamilton had maintained his pole position advantage at the start as Bottas jumped Vettel for second place.
Verstappen started fifth but made short work on the Ferraris by passing them both on successive laps into the first corner, nailing Raikkonen around the outside under braking before diving inside Vettel.
Max caught Bottas quickly and cleared the Mercedes on lap ten when Bottas inexplicably failed to close the door properly into Turn 1.
Hamilton pitted on lap 19 of 71, one lap after Bottas, as Mercedes switched to fresh Pirelli much earlier than its rivals.
Verstappen continued until lap 36 but emerged behind Hamilton despite initially looking like he might build a big enough lead and Hamilton growing frustrated by what he thought was a lack of information from his team.
By running so long in the first stint Verstappen was able to switch to the soft compound and with much fresher, faster tyres, he cruised up to the back of Hamilton and blasted past on the start-finish straight with 31 laps to go.
With Mercedes protecting Hamilton’s engine that should have set Verstappen up a relatively simple run to the flag, but four laps later Verstappen’s win was out of the picture at the first two corners.
Verstappen put a lap on Esteban Ocon but his ex-karting and Formula 3 rival fought back into Turn 1 to the outside of the Red Bull then held firm as track went back to the right.
Ocon did not back out and Verstappen turned in, with the resulting contact spinning both and leaving Verstappen with floor damage, although he was lucky to only lose a position to Hamilton.
Verstappen was able to gradually cut into Hamilton’s five-second advantage over the rest of the race, but Hamilton was just able to hang on despite voicing engine concerns and complaining of a lack of grip late on.
Raikkonen made it through to third after passing Bottas into Turn 1 just as Verstappen was being taken out.
After passing Vettel in the opening stages when the German ran wide at Turn 4, Raikkonen was repassed by his team-mate in the pitstop phase.
But Vettel let Raikkonen go to attack and successfully pass Bottas – while Vettel had to make a second stop after dropping to the tail of the top six, behind the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
The recovering Ricciardo made it up to fourth after passing Bottas as well, which triggered a second stop, who was complaining with blistering.
Bottas and Vettel therefore completed the top six, while Charles Leclerc took seventh for Sauber after dominating the best-of-the-rest fight.
The 2019 Ferrari driver finished comfortably clear of Romain Grosjean’s Haas after passing team-mate Marcus Ericsson at the start.
Grosjean finished eighth ahead of fellow Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, while Sergio Perez took the final point in tenth.
Brendon Hartley was first finisher outside the top ten after an ill-tempered conclusion in which he raged over the radio at Toro Rosso team-mate Pierre Gasly refusing to comply with an order to swap positions.
Gasly, who was also angry, eventually let Hartley past on the final lap but also lost a place to Renault Carlos Sainz Jr.
There were only two retirements from the Brazilian Grand Prix. Ericsson stopped early on after picking up damage at the first corner, slipping down the order and suffering a spin after his pitstop.
Nico Hulkenberg was ordered to stop as Renault recorded a high engine temperature.
So congratulations to Mercedes in winning the constructors’ title. All that team effort in preparing the race-winning cars for Lewis Hamilton has paid off with this championship victory.
Real unlucky for Max Verstappen to miss out on race victory. That clash with Esteban Ocon when lapping was messy and was the key moment in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Brazilian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1h27m09.066s
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 71 1.469s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 71 4.764s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 71 5.193s
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 22.943s
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 71 26.997s
7 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 71 44.199s
8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 71 51.230s
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 71 52.857s
10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 70 1 Lap
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 70 1 Lap
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 70 1 Lap
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 70 1 Lap
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 70 1 Lap
15 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 70 1 Lap
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 69 2 Laps
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 69 2 Laps
18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 69 2 Laps
– Nico Hulkenberg Renault 32 Retirement
– Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 20 Retirement
Drivers’ championship:
1 Lewis Hamilton 383
2 Sebastian Vettel 302
3 Kimi Raikkonen 251
4 Valtteri Bottas 237
5 Max Verstappen 234
6 Daniel Ricciardo 158
7 Nico Hulkenberg 69
8 Sergio Perez 58
9 Kevin Magnussen 55
10 Fernando Alonso 50
11 Esteban Ocon 49
12 Carlos Sainz 45
13 Romain Grosjean 35
14 Charles Leclerc 33
15 Pierre Gasly 29
16 Stoffel Vandoorne 12
17 Marcus Ericsson 9
18 Lance Stroll 6
19 Brendon Hartley 4
20 Sergey Sirotkin 1
Constructors’ championship:
1 Mercedes 620
2 Ferrari 553
3 Red Bull-Renault 392
4 Renault 114
5 Haas-Ferrari 90
6 McLaren-Renault 62
7 Force India-Mercedes 48
8 Sauber-Ferrari 42
9 Toro Rosso-Honda 33
10 Williams-Mercedes 7
Brazilian Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen was cruelly robbed of what looked set to be a remarkable win at Interlagos, after a dramatic collision while lapping the Force India of Esteban Ocon allowed Lewis Hamilton to take the race victory, helping to secure Mercedes’ fifth consecutive title in the process.
Verstappen was enjoying a strong Brazilian Grand Prix, and had poached the lead from Lewis Hamilton when he tried to put a lap on Ocon down the pit straight. The Frenchman failed to yield however, holding out around the outside of Turn 1 before the pair touched, sending both drivers into a spin, Hamilton gratefully nipping through between the pair of them before going on to record his 72nd career win. Verstappen was left unimpressed, as were the stewards, who duly handed Ocon as 10-second stop-go penalty.
Bad for Verstappen but great for Mercedes, who become only the second team – after Ferrari – to claim five consecutive constructors’ titles, to add to Lewis Hamilton’s fifth drivers’ title from last time out in Mexico.
In a thrilling final few laps, Kimi Raikkonen just managed to hold onto the final podium position from a charging Daniel Ricciardo who finished fourth in the second Red Bull, ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in fifth and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in sixth, while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc drove a fine race to claim best of the rest in seventh.
There were ugly scenes in the driver weigh-in area following the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen angrily shoved his old junior category rival Esteban Ocon before walking away, disgusted. Considering how close Max Verstappen came to winning his second race in a row at this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, it was easier to sympathise was the 21-year-old’s anger. But how had Verstappen, starting from P5 for a Red Bull team who hadn’t led a lap around Interlagos since 2013, managed to get himself into a race-winning position in the first place, having written off his victory chances ahead of the Grand Prix?
Verstappen had been decisive off the line, pulling a fantastic move around the outside of the fourth-placed Kimi Raikkonen into Turn 1, the Finn quickly paying him back three corners later to retake the place. Further ahead, Vettel was beaten off the line by Valtteri Bottas after failing to make a decisive getaway, as Hamilton enjoyed a silky start from pole to hold onto the lead. Vettel slotting into third behind the two Mercedes.
Behind, Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean banged cars into Turn 1, Ericsson suffering floor damage that would ultimately put him out of the race on lap 21 – a shame for the Swede after he’d enjoyed the best Saturday of his career in what looks set to be his penultimate weekend as an F1 driver. Meanwhile, lap two saw the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz jinking angrily around each other, there appearing to be no love lost between the soon-to-be-parted team mates.
It was the Red Bulls on the move in the early part of the race. Having started in 11th following a five-second penalty for a turbocharger change, Ricciardo was up to P6 by lap five, while team mate Verstappen repeated his bold lap one move on Raikkonen, going around the outside on lap three, before poaching third off Vettel a lap later, the Dutchman looking ominously rapid in the early part of the race.
He wasn’t done either. On Saturday morning, Verstappen announced on Twitter that he’d be focussing on race pace over qualifying glory, and that decision seemed to be paying dividends as he snuck past Bottas for second on lap 10, the Finn failing to defend robustly enough to halt Verstappen’s charge, as the Dutchman now set off after Hamilton.
Mercedes appeared to be struggling more than their rivals on the grippiest supersoft rubber, and duly decided to pull their drivers in for mediums earlier thane expected, Bottas then Hamilton coming in on laps 19 and 20. Verstappen out in the lead seemed to be comfortable on his own supersofts, pounding in quick laps as he sought to try and get himself on net terms with Lewis Hamilton, while the Ferraris looked to be the third quickest car around Interlagos. The race as it happened
There were ugly scenes in the driver weigh-in area following the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen angrily shoved his old junior category rival Esteban Ocon before walking away, disgusted. Considering how close Max Verstappen came to winning his second race in a row at this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, it was easier to sympathise was the 21-year-old’s anger. But how had Verstappen, starting from P5 for a Red Bull team who hadn’t led a lap around Interlagos since 2013, managed to get himself into a race-winning position in the first place, having written off his victory chances ahead of the Grand Prix?
Verstappen had been decisive off the line, pulling a fantastic move around the outside of the fourth-placed Kimi Raikkonen into Turn 1, the Finn quickly paying him back three corners later to retake the place. Further ahead, Vettel was beaten off the line by Valtteri Bottas after failing to make a decisive getaway, as Hamilton enjoyed a silky start from pole to hold onto the lead. Vettel slotting into third behind the two Mercedes.
Behind, Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean banged cars into Turn 1, Ericsson suffering floor damage that would ultimately put him out of the race on lap 21 – a shame for the Swede after he’d enjoyed the best Saturday of his career in what looks set to be his penultimate weekend as an F1 driver. Meanwhile, lap two saw the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz jinking angrily around each other, there appearing to be no love lost between the soon-to-be-parted team mates.
It was the Red Bulls on the move in the early part of the race. Having started in 11th following a five-second penalty for a turbocharger change, Ricciardo was up to P6 by lap five, while team mate Verstappen repeated his bold lap one move on Raikkonen, going around the outside on lap three, before poaching third off Vettel a lap later, the Dutchman looking ominously rapid in the early part of the race.
He wasn’t done either. On Saturday morning, Verstappen announced on Twitter that he’d be focussing on race pace over qualifying glory, and that decision seemed to be paying dividends as he snuck past Bottas for second on lap 10, the Finn failing to defend robustly enough to halt Verstappen’s charge, as the Dutchman now set off after Hamilton.
Mercedes appeared to be struggling more than their rivals on the grippiest supersoft rubber, and duly decided to pull their drivers in for mediums earlier thane expected, Bottas then Hamilton coming in on laps 19 and 20. Verstappen out in the lead seemed to be comfortable on his own supersofts, pounding in quick laps as he sought to try and get himself on net terms with Lewis Hamilton, while the Ferraris looked to be the third quickest car around Interlagos.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen blasts “idiot” Esteban Ocon after crash. Motorsport.com has the full story.
Max Verstappen labelled Esteban Ocon “such an idiot” for crashing into him as he was being lapped in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
A furious Verstappen, who later confronted and shoved Ocon after the race, lost victory at Interlagos after being pitched into a spin by his Force India rival at Turn 2.
Ocon had been trying to unlap himself and was on fresher tyres, but was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for his part in the clash.
Speaking straight after the race, Verstappen said: “We had a great car. Then, by such an idiot, to get taken out while he is being lapped. I have no words.”
Verstappen had told his team over the radio on the slowing down lap that he had better not bump into Ocon because there could be trouble.
That appeared to have have happened almost immediately as Verstappen hit out and pushed Ocon in the FIA garage as they lined up to be weighed after the race.
The disappointment of the Ocon incident overshadowed a brilliant drive from Verstappen who charged from fifth on the grid to take the lead.
“I think it was better than expected,” added the Dutchman. “The car was working brilliant today. The team gave me the right strategy, and we could go quite well on the supersoft.
“I don’t know what to say, I am happy for second but we should have won.”
Race winner Lewis Hamilton questions Max Verstappen mindset in Esteban Ocon “racing incident” which cost the Red Bull driver the Brazilian Grand Prix. Motorsport.com has the details.
Brazilian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton says he would have taken a different approach to Max Verstappen in the incident with Esteban Ocon that cost the Red Bull driver victory.
Verstappen was leading the race from Hamilton and seemingly in control when Ocon attempted to unlap himself at the first sequence of corners, initially attacking on the outside into Turn 1, before trying to hold on for the inside at the next corner and hitting the Red Bull.
The contact spun Verstappen down to second, behind Hamilton, and gave his car significant floor damage that prevented him from being able to challenge the Mercedes, which had its engine turned down due to reliability concerns.
Verstappen was furious after the race, calling Ocon an “idiot” and confronting him in a brief shoving match in parc ferme, but Hamilton felt the Dutchman could have handled it differently.
“I saw it happen,” said Hamilton. “It wasn’t something that… I wasn’t surprised by it.
“I saw them racing but they were not racing for the same position. I would have been in a different frame of mind.
“Fortunately he was able to keep going, no-one got hurt and it was a racing incident, I guess.
“Max is that go-getter guy and every now and again it bites you. But I am really, really proud [to win], I don’t care about anybody else.”
Ocon was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for the clash, despite protestations from his Force India team that Verstappen was the one at fault.
When Hamilton joined Verstappen in the drivers’ room before the podium ceremony, he told him that Ocon “is allowed to unlap himself”.
While Verstappen agreed, before adding “but you can’t crash”, Hamilton also said: “You had more to lose than he did. He had nothing to lose.”
Force India driver Esteban Ocon hits out at “unprofessional” Max Verstappen after shoving post-race. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Esteban Ocon said Max Verstappen lacked professionalism by confronting and shoving him after their controversial clash in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
A furious Verstappen stormed to find Ocon in the FIA garage after the race, and was seen aggressively pushing his Force India rival as he lambasted him for colliding with him as he tried to unlap himself.
Esteban Ocon said Max Verstappen lacked professionalism by confronting and shoving him after their controversial clash in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
A furious Verstappen stormed to find Ocon in the FIA garage after the race, and was seen aggressively pushing his Force India rival as he lambasted him for colliding with him as he tried to unlap himself.
Speaking about the incident, and how the FIA had to intervene to prevent the fight escalating, Ocon told TV reporters: “What I am really surprised about is the behaviour of Max coming into the scales.
“The FIA having to stop him from being violent, pushing me and wanted me to punch me – and that is not professional.”
Asked by Sky if he planned to speak to Verstappen later, Ocon said: “I am used to the fights with Max. It has been the same. It goes back a few years, so no.”
Ocon defended his driving, saying that he had been well within his rights to unlap himself after switching to faster supersoft tyres.
“I was two laps behind Max,” he said. “The first lap I was a lot faster and the second lap I was a lot faster.
“I had fresh tyres basically and the rules say you are allowed to unlap yourself if you are faster, and that is what I did on the second lap because I had massive pace.
“I went around the outside of him, the same move I did on Fernando [Alonso], the same move I did on many other drivers, coming from last on the first lap. But it didn’t happen the same way in the corner after that.”
Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon have been summoned to the Formula 1 stewards over the post-race altercation prompted by their Brazilian Grand Prix collision.
Red Bull driver Verstappen had been leading the race when pushed into a spin by Ocon’s Force India, which was trying to unlap itself having pitted for new supersoft tyres.
The incident cost Verstappen victory, and afterwards he confronted Ocon while they were being weighed
Verstappen was filmed pushing Ocon several times while they argued.
Both drivers must now appear before the stewards at Interlagos to assess whether either contravened article 12.1.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code.
That regulations covers any “act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motorsport generally”.
Verstappen finished the race second behind Lewis Hamilton, while Ocon was given a stop/go penalty for causing the collision and ended up 15th.
Source: Motorsport.com
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was very vocal on his old Formula 3 rival Esteban Ocon post-race. Motorsport.com has the news story.
Max Verstappen says Esteban Ocon was “being a p***y” when the two Formula 1 drivers started shoving each other in retaliation to their controversial Brazilian Grand Prix clash.
Verstappen spun from the lead of the race after he and Ocon made contact at the second corner, where Ocon was trying to unlap himself.
That dropped Verstappen to second and after the race he confronted Ocon while they were being weighed, shoved the Frenchman and was shoved back.
Asked by Motorsport.com to explain what happened, Verstappen said: “I don’t really have lots to comment on that, except that he was being a p***y.”
Ocon was judged at fault by the stewards and received a 10-second stop-go penalty.
Verstappen said Ocon had been “such an idiot” immediately after the race and reiterated his belief that Ocon was the aggressor.
“We had a great car today,” said Verstappen. “I’m very happy with that, the strategy was also working really well. We could do our own pace until I got taken out.
“I think a penalty says enough. If the stewards give him a penalty you know who was wrong in that situation.
“You can easily say afterwards that I have much more to lose than him but I’m just trying to do my race.
“Suddenly a backmarker is trying to race you and taking a stupid risk to dive inside. What can I do about it?
“The penalty for me is that I lost the victory but hopefully in 15 years time we can laugh about it.”
Asked if Ocon’s penalty was too lenient, Verstappen said it did not matter because it did not change his own result.
Lewis Hamilton, who inherited the win, said he would have handled Ocon differently in Verstappen’s position and told Verstappen post-race that Ocon was not in the wrong to try to unlap himself and Verstappen had more to lose.
Addressing the media post-race, Verstappen said: “Of course they have the right to unlap themselves but you have to be careful. That has always been the case.”
Both McLaren drivers are punished for ignoring blue flags. Motorsport.com has the details.
McLaren Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne have both received points on their licences for ignoring blue flags while being lapped during the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The pair were also given five-second time penalties. Alonso’s was awarded during the race, and demoted him from 16th to 17th.
Vandoorne’s penalty was only decided after a post-race hearing in which an incident where he blocked eighth-place finisher Romain Grosjean’s Haas while battling with Lance Stroll was discussed.
The penalty will drop Vandoorne from 14th to 15th, elevating Esteban Ocon.
Both McLaren drivers received two penalty points on their licences, taking their tallies to three, but this punishment will prove irrelevant because neither will race in F1 in the 2019 season.
Alonso and Vandoorne had started only 17th and 20th, and spent most of the race battling with the two Williams drivers and the recovering Ocon.
Vandoorne overtook his teammate, Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin on track to secure 14th on the road in a performance he declared himself extremely proud of.
“Maybe no one noticed again, but I think it was a great race again today,” said Vandoorne.
“We did a good job in the first stint, made the tyres last a little bit longer than the others, came out on the fresh tyres, had a good fight with Fernando and from there on we did a good race.
“We managed to overtake the Williams as well.
“It might not look on the timing board like it’s been a great race, but I feel like today I maximised everything so I’m happy.”
Alonso’s strategy of a very early first pitstop backfired, not helped by a slow stop, and though he was able to repass both Williams following a late second stop for new supersofts he then lost one position to Sirotkin again due to his penalty.
“It was tough today,” Alonso admitted. “We gambled on the strategy a little bit, stopping very early. It didn’t work.
“With the medium tyres we blistered the tyres and we were not competitive in the second half of the race. The pitstop was not clean and smooth so we lost a bit of time in there.
“Overall we’ve been too slow all weekend. We didn’t have the pace to be in the top 10 so whatever strategy, whatever we tried I think the points were unreachable.”
Max Verstappen has been ordered to complete two days of “public service at the discretion of the FIA” as punishment for his post-race altercation with Esteban Ocon in Brazil.
The Red Bull driver confronted Ocon while the drivers were being weighed after the race, shoving the Frenchman in reaction to their collision during the race that cost Verstappen victory.
Both drivers were summoned to the stewards for the off-track incident, and it was decided that Verstappen was guilty of making “deliberate physical contact” with Ocon.
The verdict from the stewards said Verstappen “is required to perform two days of public service at the discretion of the FIA within six months of the incident”.
In a statement explaining the verdict the stewards said they understood Verstappen’s feelings on the situation, and they noted that during the hearing both drivers “acted appropriately and cooperated”.
They added: “Max Verstappen entered the FIA Weigh Bridge Garage, proceeded directly to Esteban Ocon and following a few words, started an altercation, pushing or hitting Ocon forcefully several times in the chest.
“The stewards understood from Max Verstappen that he was extremely upset by the incident on track during the race and accepted his explanation that it was not his original intent to strike Ocon, but that he was “triggered” and caused him to lose his temper.
“While sympathetic to Verstappen’s passion, the stewards determined that it is the obligation of sportsmen at this level to act appropriately and as role models to other drivers at all levels and found that Verstappen failed in this respect.”
No further action was taken against Ocon – who was given a 10-second stop-go penalty during the race for the on-track collision.
Source: Motorsport.com