Valtteri took second place today - his 12th podium with the Silver Arrows and best ever result at the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace. After starting from the pit lane, Lewis finished today's Brazilian Grand Prix in P4. Today's result marks the 25th podium for Mercedes-Benz Power in the 2017 season.
Lewis (345 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 43 points from Sebastian Vettel (302 points) in P2, with Valtteri (280 points) in P3. With one race to go, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (625 points) lead Ferrari (495 points) by 130 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: My first words today must go to our team members. This has been a weekend of extreme and contrasting emotions for us, and then this morning the guys came in again and rebuilt Lewis' car from the ground up. It has been humbling to see their spirit, resilience and dedication this weekend. And it was matched by our two drivers: Valtteri pushed every lap of the race, hanging on to Sebastian but unable to close in quite enough to claim the lead, at a circuit where overtaking is difficult between cars of similar performance; while Lewis delivered the best fourth-place finish I have ever seen. For Valtteri, the race was decided from the start: he got wheel spin on the start which opened the door to Sebastian at Turn 1. For Lewis, he transformed a pit-lane start into a finish just five seconds off the front; it was one of his best performances of the year and showed that we had the quickest car here by a good margin. He threw everything at it today and it was a champion's drive. Now we move on to Abu Dhabi and will be aiming to finish our season on a high.
Andrew Shovlin: It was a frustrating result for both of our drivers and for the team, although it's also a day that is easy to take positives from. With Valtteri the race win was decided by the smallest of margins, a little too much wheel spin off the line gave up the lead, an undercut that almost worked but in the end we were just a couple of tenths from making it happen. After a great lap to secure pole, it's always going to be disappointing to come away with anything less than a win but he has had a very solid weekend and did a good job managing the tyres on a track that was up at 60°C and showed pace in the race that looked every bit as fast as Vettel. For Lewis, to start from the back and finish just five seconds off the leader is a great achievement but also frustrating that we didn't quite make it to the podium. He drove an attacking race but to do so was pushing the tyres to the limits on both sets. We stayed out on the soft as long as we could but once we started to lose the rears, we had to come in for the super-soft and we couldn't afford to manage those, so he was pushing hard from the word go, trying to reel in the leaders. We've come into these final races with an eye on using Fridays running for 2018 development but our desire to win races hasn't diminished and it's a shame to leave here without the win. However, we can take some comfort in the fact that our car was the fastest today on what was the hottest track of the year, which shows the progress we have made with the W08. It's been a tough weekend for the team but we are good at learning from tough weekends. We are looking forward to Abu Dhabi, it's a great track that should suit our car and we'll go there looking to finish what has been a long but amazing season on a high.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "A bit of a static race today. We were having to push very hard to try and keep up with the leading pack. That in turn took its toll on the tyres, then you become a little bit limited in your stint length and after Max got caught and passed by Hamilton we made a precautionary stop to get him to the finish. Daniel drove a very strong race as usual, made some great passing moves on the brakes from far back into Turn 1 and finished in P6 which, today, was probably the optimum."
Maurizio Arrivabene: Already yesterday, in qualifying, it was clear that the SF70H was quick and well prepared. Today, we got the confirmation that we have a very good car at our disposal. The result of this race is also down to the great job carried out by the team, both here at the track and back in Maranello, not forgetting the drivers who, on the day, know how to step up to the mark. Now we look ahead to the next challenge in Abu Dhabi, still determined to give it our all, right to the very end.
Sahara Force India scored two points in today's Brazilian Grand Prix with Sergio Perez fighting hard to finish in ninth place, while teammate Esteban Ocon was taken out of the race on lap one.
Robert Fernley: "It was disappointing to see Esteban's fantastic run of consecutive finishes come to an end on the opening lap. He was tapped into a spin as he was making a move on Grosjean into turn six: there was nothing he could really do to avoid the incident because he was simply the innocent victim of another driver's mistake. Being pushed wide at turn two by Alonso compromised Checo's race as both Alonso and Massa were able to come past him before the Safety Car was deployed. Checo conserved his tyres well on an alternative strategy and got very close to Alonso and Massa at the end, but ultimately wasn't able to overtake them. Despite having the fourth quickest car, we've not been able to maximise our results today so we will look ahead to Abu Dhabi, determined to end our most successful season to date on a high note."
Felipe Massa finished seventh and Lance Stroll 16th in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Both cars started on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, with Felipe starting in ninth and Lance 16th due to several penalties to other drivers including a 5-place penalty for Lance after a gearbox change. Both Felipe and Lance avoided several accidents on the opening lap, to go P6 and P13 respectively. The safety car was deployed and Felipe made the most of the restart to take P5 from Alonso.
Felipe pitted on Lap 27, with Lance pitting a lap later, both changing to the soft tyre. Felipe ran the remainder of the race in P7, with Lance running in P14 before a second stop put him back to P16. Felipe regains 10th in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Lance in 11th. The team remains fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 82 points.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: First of all, it was a fantastic race with amazing weather and a magnificent crowd. Felipe had a good start and got to sixth before the safety car was deployed. He made another position on the restart from Alonso and was able to execute a perfectly timed pitstop to prevent the undercut from Alonso. Alonso spent the whole race trying to come back but never made it stick, even whilst under threat from Perez who was behind. Felipe drove a perfect race, managing all of his systems, and particularly the tyres, to maintain that defence and finish very strongly as the "best of the rest" in the current competition. On Lance's side, he had a problem with his gearbox yesterday which meant we damaged his fourth power unit of the season and he had to revert to his third power unit for qualifying and the remaining races this season. That power unit is down on performance in comparison so it was never going to be easy for Lance to get points today. Starting 16th, he was having a good drive before getting stuck behind Grosjean for too long and he flat spotted a tyre trying to get out of that situation for which he paid the price later on as eventually the flat spot caused the tyre to delaminate. Lance took a final set of supersofts for the last three laps. But today was Felipe's day and the team are extremely happy that we were able to provide him with the material and support to deliver such a perfect result at his final race in Brazil. So, congratulations to him for the race today.
Fernando Alonso drove his heart out in a race-long pursuit of Felipe Massa, ending his Brazilian Grand Prix in a hugely impressive eighth position.
Starting from sixth, Fernando was overtaken by the Brazilian on lap six. He settled down in hot pursuit of the Williams driver, and only lost positions to the faster cars of Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo before he reached the chequer.
After making his sole stop of the race on lap 28, Fernando really put the hammer down to close a 2.8s gap to Felipe. For the remaining 41 laps, he pushed relentlessly, closing the gap down to 0.4s by the chequer. While his bid was ultimately unsuccessful, it was supremely spectacular.
Stoffel's race lasted only until Turn Two. Kevin Magnussen clattered into him, breaking his left-front track-rod and front wing, forcing him to retire immediately.
Eric Boullier: "Fernando's performance was a timely reminder of just what a competitive animal he remains. When he was given the green-light from the strategists to attack Massa, he was utterly relentless, driving each lap as if it were a qualifying lap, and narrowing the gap on a lap-by-lap basis.
"Even if pulling off an overtake might have been tricky, given the limitations of our package, that did nothing to deter him, and I'm sure he could have made it happen given a handful more laps. It was a fantastic display of controlled, hard driving, a fantastic spectacle to watch, and, I'm sure, terrific fun in the cockpit. Bravo, Fernando.
"Stoffel was incredibly unlucky. He'd made a great start, was making progress, then got side-swiped by Kevin Magnussen at the exit of Turn Two. It was a pointless collision, and Stoffel was entirely the victim. Still, he'd enjoyed a solid weekend until that moment, and will hit back in the final race in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight's time."
Yusuke Hasegawa: "It was a good race for us today, with Fernando having some exciting on-track battles against his rivals.
"Fernando, who started the race from P6, managed his tyres well, even in the high temperatures, and maintained a consistent pace throughout the afternoon. Although it was disappointing that he was unable to overtake Massa and move further up the field, it was a great performance and he collected more points for the team.
"On the flipside, Stoffel had a very disappointing race and was unable to make it to the end of lap one, through no fault of his own. Up until then, he'd had a solid weekend.
"Overall, it was an okay weekend for us, with our package showing decent speed during each session and two more points collected as a reward for everyone's hard work.
"We have only one more race to go for this season as McLaren Honda, so we'll try our maximum to extract all the potential from our package."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "From the very beginning of the weekend we suffered a lot of problems as we missed the first practice session, and both of our cars had to start from the back of the grid on Sunday due to penalties. The race was quite positive for us as Pierre closed the gap to the cars in front and showed a good performance. Unfortunately, we had to call in Brendon because of a high oil consumption which we need to investigate and which unfortunately didn't enable him to finish the race. Now, we are looking forward to the last race in Abu Dhabi, where we can hopefully successfully defend our sixth position in the Constructors' Championship."
Haas F1 Team endured a difficult Brazilian Grand Prix with drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finishing 15th and 20th, respectively, in the penultimate round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The race came undone for the American squad on the first lap around the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo. In turn three of the 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn circuit, Magnussen made contact with the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, sending both cars out of the race. Then a few moments later in turn six, Grosjean spun off the track as he attempted to defend his position from the Force India of Esteban Ocon.
Grosjean was able to continue, albeit last among the 17 drivers still running, with Ocon joining Vandoorne and Magnussen on the sidelines. When Brendon Hartley retired his Toro Rosso after 40 laps, Grosjean inherited 16th, and when Lance Stroll was forced to pit his Williams on lap 67 of the 71-lap race for a new set of tires, Grosjean picked up 15th.
Winning the Brazilian Grand Prix was Sebastian Vettel. The Scuderia Ferrari driver scooted past the pole-winning Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in turn one and never looked back to earn his 47th career Formula One victory, his fifth of the season and third at Interlagos. Vettel's margin of victory over second-place Bottas was 2.762 seconds.
Nineteen rounds into the 20-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains eighth in the constructors standings with 47 points, two points behind seventh-place Renault and six points behind sixth-place Toro Rosso with a 19-point cushion over ninth-place McLaren. Grosjean is 13th in the championship standings with 28 points and Magnussen is 14th with 19 points.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a disappointing result. At the beginning, our cars and drivers were motivated enough to do better than this, but it all went down on lap one. Racing accidents happen. With Kevin, he tried to do his best, but it just happened in turn one. Romain, as well, went off, and in addition to that - after he was penalized already with the incident - he got another time penalty. I don't agree with it. Anyway, it didn't reflect in the result because we were in no position to get points. We move on to Abu Dhabi and see if we can make up for it there."
Renault Sport Formula One Team's Nico Hulkenberg returned to the points with a tenth position finish in a fast-paced and hot Brazilian Grand Prix, whilst Carlos Sainz crossed the line just one position and 6.5 seconds behind. Both cars lost a position at the start and thereafter ran clean races without issue.
Nico started the race from P7 on his qualifying Supersoft (red) Pirelli tyres, stopping on lap 30 to change to a new set of Soft (yellow) tyres. Carlos started from P8 and stopped a lap later than Nico for the same Supersoft to Soft swap.
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director: "Our focus was on reliability for this weekend and we saw three Renault-powered cars finish in the top ten and five cross the finish line. This better reliability unfortunately came at the expense of performance, as were clearly running below our potential pace. Our race result was decided on the first lap, with both drivers losing position and then Ricciardo and Hamilton moving up the order. There were no opportunities to gain position thereafter."
The Sauber F1 Team finished the Brazilian Grand Prix in P13 (Marcus Ericsson) and P14 (Pascal Wehrlein). In comparison to previous races, the two drivers were fighting in the lower midfield, making some progress in terms of pace. The team is now packing up and heading out to the final race of the 2017 FIA Formula One Season in Abu Dhabi.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "The overall pace was decent. It is a shame that Pascal didn't advance more in the first lap. Unfortunately, he lost a couple of positions after the start due to the incident involving Daniel (Ricciardo) and Stoffel (Vandoorne). Then, the plan for Pascal was to reach the end of the race on the soft tyres, which was a bit optimistic perhaps. Marcus had a strong race, and he was not so far from our direct competition ahead. It seems that we are able to make improvements, which we have not seen in the results yet."
A one-stop strategy from supersoft to soft won the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel taking the lead in the action-packed first lap of the race and then maintaining his advantage to the finish - managing to make his sole pit stop without losing the effective race lead.
Two alternative strategies provided other highlights of the race. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was forced to start from the pit lane and worked his way up the field after being one of just five drivers to start the race on the more durable soft tyre. He pitted from the lead on lap 43, rejoining fifth, then used the extra speed of the supersoft to help him finish fourth.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo also started on the soft tyre from 14th after a grid penalty, but dropped even further down the order after being caught up in the early drama and having to stop for a fresh set of softs on lap one. He then stopped again for supersofts later in the race, working his way up to sixth at the finish. His team mate Max Verstappen also used a two-stopper, finishing fifth after a late stop for more supersofts.
We predicted the winning strategy to be a one-stopper, switching from supersoft to soft between laps 26 and 32, and Sebastian Vettel was right on schedule, making his single stop on lap 28. The same tactic was adopted by Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who finished second, pitting one lap before the German.
Mario Isola: "Today we experienced the hottest track temperatures that we have seen so far this weekend by some margin; largely in excess of 50 degrees centigrade at the start of the race. Nonetheless, most frontrunners were able to complete the race with just one pit stop as expected, helped by an early safety car. Lewis Hamilton in particular drove an extraordinary race, setting fastest laps on old soft tyres even when surrounded by cars on newer supersofts. Red Bull also proved that an alternative strategy could work, with both cars finishing strongly despite Daniel Ricciardo being forced into an extra stop at the end of the first lap. We now remain at Interlagos for the final 2018 tyre test of the year, with McLaren on Tuesday and Wednesday, before all the teams get the chance to experience next year's tyres for the first time at Abu Dhabi after the last grand prix of the season."
