Race Notes - Hamilton wins Brazilian GP ahead of Verstappen

By Mark Karp

Lewis Hamilton, who started yesterday’s Sprint race in last in his Mercedes GP, started 10th and won the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos, passing Max Verstappen on lap 59 to take the lead.

Verstappen finished in second place in his Red Bull-Honda, 10.496 seconds behind. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes GP finishes third, 13.586 seconds behind the winner.

Hamilton takes his sixth win of the season, and takes his 101th career victory. Hamilton now trails Verstappen by 14 points in the Drivers’ Championship, and Mercedes leads Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship by 11 points.

Sergio Perez (39.940s) in the second Red Bull finished fourth, followed by Charles Leclerc (49.517s) in the Ferrari was fifth, his team mate Carlos Sainz (51.820s) was sixth, Pierre Gasly (1 lap) in the AlphaTauri-Honda was seventh, Estabon Ocon in the Alpine-Renault was eighth, his team mate Fernando Alonso was ninth and Lando Norris in the McLaren-Mercedes took the final point in tenth.

Before the start the temperature is warm and sunny, with Bottas sitting on the pole after winning yesterday in the sprint race, with Verstappen alongside on the front row. Sainz and Perez on row 2, Norris and Leclerc on row 3, Gasly and Ocon on row 4 and Vettel and Hamilton (after his 5 place grid drop for a new engine component) starting from tenth).

Raikkonen starts from the pitlane.

All drivers staring on medium tyres, except Tsunoda starting on soft tyres.

At the appointed time the field came around and the lights went out and the race began with Verstappen comes down the inside of turn one and takes the lead. Norris touches Sainz and goes wide with a puncture and limps around. Down the hill Bottas goes wide and Perez takes second place. Hamilton is up to sixth.

Norris pits for new tyres and continues in last place,

On lap 3 Hamilton passes Sainz for fifth.

On lap 4 Hamilton passes Leclerc for

Tsunoda and Stroll touch in turn one.

Tsunoda pits.

On lap 5 Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m14.172s, and passes his team mate Bottas.

Lewis says on the radio, “thanks you Valtteri”.

With debris on turn one, the safety car is out.

Verstappen leads Perez, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc, Sainz, Vettel, Gasly, Ocon and Ricciardo in tenth.

Russell pits.

The field is lead by the Safety car through the pitlane. Stroll pits to repair his damage.

At the end of lap 9 the Safety car comes in and the race resumes with Verstappen in the lead, with Perez, Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc following.

On lap 11 Schumacher limps back to the pits with a damaged front wing, after touching with Raikkonen in turn 1.

The Virtual Safety car is out to clean up part of Schumacher’s debris.

On lap 14 the Safety car ends and the race resumes, Hamilton still chasing Perez for second.

Tsunoda is handed a 10-second penalty for his incident with Stroll.

Perez tells the team “tell Max to give me DRS”.

On lap 18 Hamilton goes around the outside of turn one, then down the hill Perez comes back and reposses Hamilton for the postion.

The next lap Hamilton does the same move into turn one and gets past Perez and makes it stick.

At lap 20 Verstappen leads Hamilton by 3.6 seconds, followed by Perez (6.2s), Bottas (7.0s), Leclerc (11,1s), Sainz (12.9s), Gasly (15.1s), Ricciardo (18.1s), Vettel (19.0s), and Ocon (21.5s) in tenth place.

Vettel and Ricciardo are battling.

Red Bull tells Verstappen that they have the upper hand in the middle sector.

Stroll pits on lap 23.

Verstappen reports, “it is starting to slide a bit more now.”

Hamilton reports, “the rears moving around a lot”.

On lap 26 Gasly pits for hard tyres.

On lap 27 Hamilton makes his first stop for hard tyres and rejoins in sixth place.

Sainz pits as well for hard tyres.

Verstappen pits the next lap for hard tyres and rejoins ahead of Hamilton.

On lap 28 Perez pits from the lead for hard tyres and rejoins fifth.

On lap 28 Hamiton sets fast lap at 1m13.364s, and around the next lap at 1m13.162s.

Norris and Gasly battling, Gasly taking tenth.

The Virtual Safety car is out, and Bottas pits from the lead for hard tyres and rejoins third.

The Virtual Safety car ends.

At lap 30 Verstappen leads Hamilton by 1.2 seconds, followed by Bottas (6.3s), Perez (9.1s), Alonso (18.3s), Leclerc (19.2s), Sainz (23.2s), Gasly (25.4s), Ricciardo (26.4s) and Norris (29.2s) in tenth.

On lap 32 Bottas sets fast lap at 1m13.002s.

Leclerc passes Alonso for fifth place.

Ricciardo is chasing Gasly for eighth.

On lap 35 Alonso pits from sixth for hard tyres and rejoins in 14th.

On lap 37 Ocon passes Tsunoda for tenth.

On lap 38 Norris pits for hard tyres and rejoins in 17th.

On lap 39 Vettel and Alonso pass Tsunoda.

Tsunoda pits.

On lap 40 Verstappen pits from the lead for hard tyres and rejoins in fourth, getting held up on pit exit by Latifi.

The next lap Bottas pits from second for hard tyres and he rejoins in fifth.

Bottas said on the radio, “are you sure about this?”

Stroll passes Russell for 12th.

On lap 43 Perez pits for hard tyres and rejoins fifth.

On lap 43 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m12.959s.

Hamilton pits from the lead for more hard tyres and rejoins in second behind Verstappen.

On lap 43 Bottas sets fast lap at 1m12.862s.

Bottas tells the team, "I think we just threw alway an easy one, two.”

On lap 44 Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m12.135s, and again the next lap at 1m11.982s, and chases Verstappen by under a second.

On lap 48 down the hill Hamilton goes side-by-side with Verstappen, Verstappen runs both of them wide at the exit of the corner, and Verstappen keeps the lead. The stewards will investigate the incident.

Stroll retires in the pits.

At lap 50 Verstappen leads Hamilton by 0.5 seconds, followed by Bottas (8.0s), Perez (12.4s), Leclerc (21.9s), Sainz (25.6s), Gasly (32.7s), Ocon (46.3s), Alonso (47.9s) and Vettel (57.3s) in tenth place.

Ricciardo retires in the pits.

Gasly pits for hard tyres and rejoins in ninth.

On lap 53 Leclerc pits from fifth for medium tyres and rejoins in sixth.

Raikkonen pits.

On lap 54 Sainz pits for hard tyres and rejoins in sixth behind Leclerc.

On lap 56 Vettel pits for hard tyres and rejoins in 11th.

On lap 58 Hamilton looks to the outside on the DRS with Verstappen.

On lap 59 Hamilton gets by Verstappen on the DRS down the hill, and this time makes it stick and takes the lead with 12 laps left.

Red Bull tells Verstappen that he received the black and white flag for weaving down the straight in front of Hamlion, Verstappen responds, "Yeah perfect, say hi”.

Gasly passes Ocon for eighth.

At lap 60 Hamilton leads Verstappen by 1.9 seconds, followed by Bottas (11.2s), Perez (16.1s), Leclerc (50.2s), Sainz (54.1s), Alonso (1m10.5s), Gasly (1m11.4s), Ocon (1 lap) and Norris in tenth.

On lap 63 Gasly passes Alonso for seventh.

On lap 70 Perez pits, Red Bull making challenge to take the fastest lap away from Hamilton.

At the flag Hamilton wins over Verstappen and Bottas.

On the final lap Perez takes the fast lap at 1m11.010s.

On the cool down lap Hamilton stops and picks up a Brazilian flag from a track marshal.