Lewis Hamilton took the win in Formula 1 Brazil GP but it was Mercedes who won its fifth consecutive title with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen ending up second from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton started on pole in Brazil but lost out to Verstappen as the Dutchman looked the strongest driver at Interlagos having come through from fifth on the grid. However, luck was not on his side despite the pace.
A tangle with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon on Lap 44 when the Frenchman was trying to unlap himself cost him a win as he ended up second to Hamilton – who despite not having the pace had the luck to win the grand prix.
Ferrari’s soft tyre strategy did not work but Raikkonen managed to secure the final spot on the podium while fending off Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, who started 11th on the grid due to a penalty.
Both Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel opted for a second stop as they finished a lowly fifth and sixth respectively as Sauber’s Charles Leclerc took the best of the rest spot from the Haas drivers.
Here’s a statistical highlights from the Brazil GP:
- Hamilton scored his career’s 72nd win, his 46th from pole and only his second Brazil GP victory after 2016. It is his 10th win of the season and only his second time that he has won 10 races or more in a year – a win in Abu Dhabi will equal his best of 11 but still two behind the ultimate best of Michael Schumacher and Vettel.
- Hamilton scored his career’s 82nd pole and 10th in the season. Mercedes scored his 100th pole position.
- It is Hamilton’s 46th win from pole as Mercedes sealed their fifth consecutive constructors’ championship. It is the German manufacturer’s seventh title as an engine partner with two coming with McLaren and Brawn GP.
- Verstappen scored his 21st career podium while Red Bull’s 160th podium with Raikkonen taking his 103rd podium and Ferrari’s 750th. Hamilton scored his 133rd podium with the win. Raikkonen increased his most third places record to 45.
- Bottas set his career’s 10th fastest lap and seventh this season – he has already clinched the fastest lap award for the season.
- By finishing fourth, Ricciardo gained most places in the race of seven after starting in 11th due to a penalty.
- Haas scored their fourth double points finish – all coming in 2018 season with Romain Grosjean in eighth and Kevin Magnussen ninth.
- By finishing seventh, Leclerc moved ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly in the drivers’ standings to be 14th with 33 points to Gasly’s 29.
- Only two retirements with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson bowing out first after which Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg retired. Despite only completing 32 laps, Hulkenberg set a faster race lap than Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin, who finished the race.
- Both the McLaren drivers got two penalty points each for ignoring blue flags which took their tally to three penalty points each on their superlicense.
- Ocon got three penalty points for causing a collision with Verstappen which takes his tally to five while Grosjean can race without a ban tension in Abu Dhabi as his penalty points has come down to seven – same as Verstappen and Lance Stroll.
- Three reprimands were given out during qualifying with Sirotkin and Magnussen reprimanded for driving back to the pits too slowly while Vettel was reprimanded for the weighing incident.
- With 80 race starts to his name, Carlos Sainz joined the Top 10 list of drivers who are yet to score a podium so far – ties with Vitantonio Liuzzi who has 80 starts from 81 entries.
The stats were compiled by Darshan Chokhani and Jack Ekeller
[Check: Mexico GP]