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Lewis Hamilton capped off a fine weekend in Brazil as he secured a vital win to keep his championship hunt alive with three rounds to go.
The Brit started 10th and made a remarkable comeback to overtake Max Verstappen on lap 59. The Dutchman had to settle for second with Valtteri Bottas finishing third after a poor opening lap.
Starting Grid
A strong start in the Sprint saw Valtteri Bottas claim pole position for the race with the Finn joined by Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid.
Carlos Sainz started on the second row alongside the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez in fourth. Lando Norris was fifth on the grid, Charles Leclerc in sixth, Pierre Gasly in seventh, Esteban Ocon in eighth, Sebastian Vettel in ninth and Lewis Hamilton in 10th after his five-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine.
The second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo started from 11th with Fernando Alonso in 12th, Antonio Giovinazzi in 13th, Lance Stroll in 14th, Yuki Tsunoda in 15th, Nicholas Latifi in 16th, George Russell in 17th, Mick Schumacher in 18th and Nikita Mazepin in 19th. Kimi Raikkonen endured a pit lane start after a rear wing change on his Alfa Romeo car.
As It Happened
A good start from Bottas and Verstappen saw the latter take the lead of the race into turn one. Norris, who started fifth on the grid, also endured a good start as he got alongside his ex-McLaren teammate Sainz. The pair ran side by side into turn one by Norris came out worse as he picked up a puncture which dropped him to the back of the field.
Further into the lap, Bottas went wide into turn four as he looked to regain the lead of the race which allowed Perez to move up to second place.
Hamilton looked to catch the top three as soon as possible as the Brit dispatched Ocon, Gasly and Vettel to claim sixth.
Two laps later, the Mercedes driver made light work of Sainz as he overtook the Spaniard down the start/finish straight that saw him move up to fifth.
The AlphaTauri of Tsunoda made a stupid lunge down the inside of Stroll at turn one as he lost his front wing and had to trundle to the pits for a new one.
After five laps of racing, Verstappen led the race with Perez in second and Hamilton in third after Bottas let his teammate through. The Finn ran in fourth, Leclerc in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Vettel in seventh, Gasly in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Ricciardo in 10th.
The Safety Car was deployed a lap later as Tsunoda’s front wing, alongside other bits of debris, needed to be swept off the track.
On lap 10, the green flag was waved once more as Verstappen led the drivers over the line. The top 10 remained unchanged as the Williams duo of Latifi and Russell dropped down to 19th and 20th. Ricciardo also managed to make an overtake as he moved up to ninth place.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed this time around as Schumacher lost his front wing after a collision with Raikkonen at turn one.
Tsunoda was then slammed with a 10-second time due to his collision with Stroll as the AlphaTauri driver ran near the rear of the field.
During the next couple of laps, Hamilton and Perez endured a great battle for second place which saw the latter eventually make the move stick at the third attempt.
The two McLaren’s of Ricciardo and Norris were making steady progress as the Aussie moved up to eighth ahead of Vettel with the Brit up to 13th after his first lap incident.
The top three all made their pit stops as Verstappen narrowly came out ahead of the chasing Hamilton who got past Ricciardo into turn four.
Debris was scattered on the track once more as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. Bottas made a cheap pit stop at the expense of Perez who lost his third place.
At the halfway point of the race, Verstappen was in the lead ahead of the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas in second and third. Perez, Leclerc, Sainz, Gasly, Ricciardo, Norris and Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
On the next lap, however, Tsunoda was out of the points at the expense of Ocon who breezed past with ease. It went from bad to worse for the Japanese driver as Vettel and Alonso both overtook him two laps later.
As the drivers made their second stops, Verstappen was able to utilise the fresh tyre advantage to have a great out lap which increased his lead over Hamilton in second.
Stroll and Ricciardo both peeled into the pits with about 20 laps to go as they retired their cars from the Grand Prix.
Hamilton was finally able to get ahead of Verstappen on lap 59 as he made the move stick into turn four. In the latter stages of the race, Gasly moved up to seventh as he dispatched both Alpine’s of Alonso and Ocon.
However, the day belonged to Hamilton as he crossed the line to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of his championship rival Verstappen in second and Bottas in third.
Perez claimed the fastest lap alongside a fourth-place finish with Leclerc in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Gasly in seventh, Ocon in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Norris in 10th.
What’s Next?
Formula 1 completes its final triple-header of the season in Qatar next weekend as Lewis Hamilton looks to close Max Verstappen’s 14-point championship gap even more.
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