HAMILTON WINS CONTROVERSIAL BRAZIL GP

Max Verstappen was denied an almost certain Brazilian Grand Prix victory when he was taken out of the lead in a collision with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The dramatic incident gifted Lewis Hamilton a second career Brazilian Grand Prix victory. That, allied to a fifth place finish for Valtteri Bottas, handed Mercedes AMG fifth consecutive FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ title.

At the race start, Hamilton held his advantage from pole position to take the lead but a poor getaway by fellow front-row starter Vettel allowed Bottas, starting third, to get past the German through the opening two corners.

Verstappen, starting from fifth, was already beginning to work his way forward. He closed on Kimi Räikkönen and at the start of lap three he went past the Finn around the outside into Turn 1. Vettel was the Dutchman’s next target and at the start of the next lap he again used DRS to close but this time he opted for a dive down the inside to claim P3.

Behind him, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was also gaining places, and after passing Haas’ Kevin Magnussen on lap one he quickly began to pick off the cars ahead, rising to P6 on lap seven, ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.

On lap 10 Verstappen made another move, this time choosing the inside of Turn 1 to dive past Bottas and claim second place. Race leader Hamilton was now just 1.7s ahead.

Bottas was the first of the leaders to pit, the Mercedes man heading in for medium tyres at the end of lap 18. Hamilton then ceded the lead to Verstappen at the end of lap 19, with the Briton also stopping for medium compound rubber. Hamilton emerged in P6 behind Charles Leclerc but by lap 25 he was past the Monegasque and closing on fourth-placed Daniel, who was just under six seconds ahead.

Vettel then pitted at the end of lap 27 and the German also opted for medium tyres before rejoining in ninth place. Freed from behind the Ferrari, Daniel moved up to third and set the fastest lap of the race to that point, a 1:12.919. And when Räikkönen pitted the Australian was promoted to second place behind his team-mate.

The Red Bulls began to pull out a lead from those who has already pitted but Verstappen was unable to build a big enough margin before his own stop, and when he rejoined on lap 35 he was in third place, 3.0s behind Hamilton. Verstappen was armed with newer rubber and greater pace than the champion, however, and as the pair arrowed towards the start-finish line to begin lap 39 he eased past Hamilton.

The Dutchman's lead wouldn’t last long, however. At the start of lap 44, he went to lap Ocon, making a move down the inside of the Force India. Despite being lapped, Ocon protected his position and tried to deny the pass. Verstappen turned in to take the second corner and the pair collided. Verstappen was sent into a spin and sustained serious floor damage in the incident, while Hamilton was allowed to sweep past into the lead.

Ocon was later handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing the collision.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, was having his own close calls, twice banging wheels with Vettel as he tried to get past the Ferrari. At the second attempt the Australian won out and he climbed fifth place behind Bottas.

Both Red Bulls began to close on the cars ahead, with Verstappen edging to within two seconds of Hamilton and Ricciardo getting inside DRS range of Räikkönen but neither could make a move stick in the closing stages and after 71 laps Hamilton crossed the line to take the second Brazilian Grand Prix win of his career, ahead of Max, with Räikkönen third ahead of Daniel.

Bottas was left with fifth place ahead of Vettel, while Leclerc finished in a best-of-the-rest seventh place. Grosjean took eighth place for Haas ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the final point on offer went to Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Pérez.

Brazilian Grand Prix, Jose Carlos Pace 71 laps, 305.909km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASSIFIED:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1h27:09.066
2.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 1.469
3.	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	+ 4.764
4.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	+ 5.193
5.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 22.943
6.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 26.997
7.	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	+ 44.199
8.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 51.230
9.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 52.857
10.	Sergio Perez	Force India	+ 1 lap
11.	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	+ 1 lap
12.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	+ 1 lap
13.	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	+ 1 lap
14.	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	+ 1 lap
15.	Esteban Ocon	Force India	+ 1 lap
16.	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	+ 2 laps
17.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	+ 2 laps
18.	Lance Stroll	Williams	+ 2 laps
FASTEST LAP: VALTTERI BOTTAS - 1:10.540
NOT CLASSIFIED:
19.	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	technical
20.	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	technical
2014 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h30:02.555 2015 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes AMG - 1h31:09.090 2016 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 3h01:01.335 2017 Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 1h31:35.335 2018 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1h27:09.066 @MkFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***AFTER 20 RACES***
DRIVERS:
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 Jr.	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:
1.	Mercedes AMG	620
2.	Ferrari	553
3.	Red Bull	367
4.	Renault	114
5.	Haas	98
6.	McLaren	62
7.	Force India(new owner)	48
8.	Sauber	42
9.	Toro Rosso	33
10.	Williams	7
DQ	Force India(old owner)	52

There was contact on the track, and a bit off it too 😡 #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/OajZ1UM4lL

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 11, 2018

Fly-on-the-wall time... #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/n7G2q2OQTY

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 11, 2018