Race Analysis - A clashing win

By Dan Knutson

There were 20 drivers in the Brazilian Grand Prix but the race for the win was all about three of them: Max Verstappen, who should have, could have won; Lewis Hamilton, who did win; and Esteban Ocon who played the role in the switch for first. Here's how it all unfolded.

10 AND 100

Hamilton started from the pole, his tenth of this season, and the 100th for Team Mercedes in F1.

A CHEAP $28,346

Sebastian Vettel did not follow the proper procedure at the official weigh scales in pit lane during qualifying. This could have resulted in a grid penalty. Instead, the stewards gave the Ferrari driver a reprimand and a 25,000 euro ($28,346). That was mighty cheap compared to being pushed further down the grid. So Vettel stayed in the second spot.

SILVER AND RED

Like row 1, the second row of the grid was silver with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and red with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

PUSHED BACK

Row three should have consisted of the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. But the latter was pushed back to 11th place because of the grid penalty for a turbo change.

BEST EVER

Marcus Ericsson qualified his Sauber seventh and started sixth. Those were career highs in F1 for the Swede who is moving to IndyCars next year.

THE START

Hamilton took the lead at the start of the 71-lap race, skillfully positioning his so Bottas moved into second place. Next came Vettel, Raikkonen and Verstappen.

COMING THROUGH

Verstappen was on the move, passing and slicing past the Ferraris.

STOPS

Bottas pitted for tires at the end of lap 18 and Hamilton a lap later. Verstappen now led.

FINALLY

Verstappen's tires were lasting much better than his opposition. He finally stopped at the end of lap 35. But a few laps later he was back in front as the pit stops cycled through.

THE CLASH

Heading into the first turns on lap 43, Verstappen came upon Ocon's Force India. And that triggered the events that determined the winner and a post-race shoving incident. The Red Bull and Force India collided. Verstappen spun. Hamilton sailed through to take the lead.

UNLAPPING

"Max (Verstappen) came out of the pits," Ocon said. "I stayed behind him for nearly two laps but I was much faster than him and the team advised me to unlap myself. I went on the outside at Turn 1 – the same move I made on Fernando (Alonso) and on many others before, but Max didn't give me any space. Once I was beside him I couldn't just disappear, so we collided. But it was my corner and I had the right to the space."

THE RULE

The stewards ruled that Ocon was guilty of causing a collision and gave him a 10 second stop-and-go penalty.

TAKE YOU OUT

"Once I got by Lewis, I was just saving my tires to bring it to the end," Verstappen said. "Of course, they have the right to overtake you; of course, you have to be cautious. The amount of risk he (Ocon) was talking I don't think was correct. They gave him a penalty and I guess that says enough anyway. Of course, afterwards you can always say 'Max, you should have given him more room' but it's not like that. We are racing and you don't expect a back marker to take you out."

THIS IS GREAT

The clash gifted the win to Hamilton.

"When that crash happened at Turn 2," he said, "and I came through the middle of these two guys who were both facing me and I was like 'ahh nice, this is great!'"

GIVING CHASE

An angry Verstappen, now second, chased after Hamilton. But he remained second.

HOLDING ON

"I didn't expect the Red Bulls to be in the race like that today," Hamilton said. "I thought they'd be in a similar pace to us, but they were quite a bit quicker. We struggled with the tires in the first stint and they were able to manage the tires better than us. In the second stint, I was on the medium tire and had an issue with the engine, so I was really just trying to bring the car across the line."

FIVE FOR FIVE

Mercedes clinched its fifth constructors' championship in five years.

FOR THE RECORD

The rest? They played no real role in all of this, but for the record, Raikkonen finished third ahead of Ricciardo, Bottas and Vettel.

IT'S NOT OVER

The race was over, but Verstappen was not over his fury. He went into the FIA scrutineering/weighing area to confront Ocon.

SADDENED

"I was saddened by his behavior after the race: he was very aggressive and the guys from the FIA had to intervene," Ocon said. "That's not the way to handle these things."

FURIOUS

Did Ocon do anything to antagonize Verstappen and will he try and speak to Ocon at once when emotions have settled down later on?

"I don't really have a lot to comment on that, except that he was being a #&%#," said Verstappen.

SUMMONED

Ocon and Verstappen were summoned to the stewards.

THE OFFICIAL VIEW

The official statement from the stewards declared: "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."

THE PUNISHMENT

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."

Ocon was given no further punishment besides his 10 second penalty.