While he may have lost on the world title, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was at his dominant best during the Brazil Grand Prix as he fended pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas to secure his fifth F1 victory of the season. The Brazilian Grand Prix saw Bottas finish second, while Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari took the third spot on the podium. 2017 Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the race, an impressive feat, considering he started from the pitlane after a crash during qualifying. The 2017 Brazilian GP also marked Felipe Massa's last home race as the veteran hangs up his suit in Abu Dhabi later this year.
(The opening lap saw Magnussen, Vandoorne and Ricciardo collide)
Starting second on the grid, Vettel passed Bottas as the lights turned green on Turn 1 and dominated the remainder of the 71 lap race. The opening lap though also a massive collision at the back of the grid involving Kevin Magnussen squeeze Stoffel Vandoorne and Daniel Ricciardo. While Magnussen and Vandoorne retired as a result of the same. Despite having spun due to contact, Ricciardo continued with the race, albeit at the back of the field.
Another incident on the same lap also saw Esteban Ocon of Force India and Roman Grosjean of Haas come in contact, which resulted in both cars going off the track. While the race ended for Ocon there, Grosjean continued with minimal damage but was later handed a 10 second penalty for causing the collision. The collision also resulted in the safety car coming out until Lap 5.
At the restart, Vettel continued to build pace away from the rest of the drivers while Bottas, Raikkonen and Max Verstappen of Red Bull followed suit. Meanwhile, Massa was looking strong at fifth, having passed Fernando Alonso into Turn 1.
(Vettel dominated the race right from the opening lap, ahead of Bottas)
Meanwhile, Hamilton and the Mercedes W08 were working in harmony as they raced from the back of the field. By Lap 9, the Briton was up to P11 and was looking to pass rookie Pierre Gasly of Torro Rosso. Hamilton was running on soft tyres, which helped maintain consistent pace as other drivers pitted to swap supersoft tyres.
He soon inherited the lead as other drivers caught up and finally pitted on Lap 43, rejoining in 15th place. By now, Hamilton was trailing 19 seconds behind Vettel, while Bottas was about 3 seconds behind the race leader. Bottas eventually crossed the chequered flag 2.7 seconds behind the Ferrari.
(Hamilton closed in on Raikkonen in the closing stages but couldn't pass the Ferrari)
While the top three drivers remained consistent, Hamilton was passing others one by one. The 32-year-old was at his aggressive best in the closing stages as he passed Verstappen at Turn 4 on Lap 59 for fourth. Raikkonen was his next target as he aimed for a podium finish, but the iceman was in no mood of giving it away. With a last minute lock up on the track, Hamilton did not have enough time to recover to challenge Raikkonen and settled for fourth, 5.468 seconds adrift from Vettel.
(Felipe Massa gets an emotional farewell in his last home race)
Finishing sixth was Verstappen after struggling with his tyres in the latter stages of the race, and ahead of teammate Ricciardo. Massa finished seventh in his last home race, fending off competition from Alonso in the McLaren. Force India's Sergio Perez finished ninth ahead of Renault's Nico Hulkenberg.
While the initial laps saw a slew of retirements, the Brazilian GP recorded only one other retirement, that of Brendon Hartley of Torro Rosso, who was asked to come to teh pits on Lap 42 sighting mechanical issues.
