Lewis finished the race in P3 but received a five second time penalty after the race. The final results have not been confirmed yet as other cars are still under investigation. Valtteri had to retire his car after 51 laps owing to a loss of oil pressure.
James Allison: It was a very disappointing day - a day where we made some mistakes, where we suffered very uncharacteristic unreliability on one car and turned what should have been a decent result into a DNF for Valtteri and a disappointing finish for Lewis. The simple answer is that we weren't as quick as the Red Bulls today. We were reaching a bit in the end and we paid the price for doing something that was too optimistic - we brought in Lewis for a set of fresh tyres right at the end of the race and lost some places as a result of that and also got tangled up in an accident that was an indirect consequence of that call. Valtteri suffered from an oil consumption issue earlier on in the race and we were monitoring it, but it got worse and ended his race prematurely. Overall a very disappointing weekend for us, we want to put it behind us and move on to Abu Dhabi to put it right there and hopefully finish the season in fine style.
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow leaves Brazil with the worst possible result: no points following a collision between Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, which led to both of them having to retire from the race, after they had both been front runners right up the final laps.
Sebastian was on the dirty side of the track and got wheelspin when the lights went out, so that he was passed at turn 1 by Lewis Hamilton. Starting 14th, Charles got away well, immediately passing Nico Hulkenberg and over the opening seven laps he pulled off a series of incredible overtaking moves to pass Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris, Antonio Giovinazza, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, before setting off in pursuit of Alex Albon in the second Red Bull.
When Max Verstappen and Hamilton made their first stops to fit soft tyres, Sebastian stayed out until lap 25, when he took on medium tyres. Charles kept going until lap 29, pitting for a set of Hards. At that point the order was Verstappen, Hamilton, Sebastian, Bottas, Albon and Charles.
Bottas made a second stop on lap 41 going from Hards to Mediums, which promoted Leclerc to fifth. The Finn closed on him rapidly, trying several times to get past, but Charles defended well. But then Bottas' car, on lap 51, had a problem and he had to park it trackside, which brought out the Safety Car. Sebastian, who had pitted on lap 49 for Softs, stayed out, given that he had no more sets of new tyres, while Charles stopped for new Softs.
At the restart, Hamilton led from Verstappen, Vettel, Albon and Charles: at turn 1, Albon managed to pass Sebastian who tucked in behind the Thai. At the same time, Charles closed right up to his team-mate and passed Seb for fourth place at turn 1 on lap 66. Vettel got a better exit in the second part of the Senna Esses and chased after Charles, trying to take the place back. However, it resulted in the two men colliding on the straight and it spelt the end of the race for both of them. The race was won by Verstappen. The next round, the last of the season, is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which takes place on Sunday 1 December.
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal: "The overriding feeling today is that everyone, first and foremost our drivers are very disappointed and sorry from a team perspective. It was a small collision that had a big consequence. In truth, this sort of thing should never happen. Our drivers were free to race today and they knew that. We have already clinched second place in the Constructors' Championship and they were battling for their own positions in the Drivers' classification.
"Of course we now need to sit down and decide together where the limits are to make sure we all push for the benefit of the team and make sure these things don't happen anymore.
"Our race today was certainly not bad, and similar to Mexico in terms of performance. We are still lacking a bit of pace in the race. Sebastian was in a comfortable fourth, Charles from 14th could have been on the podium. It's such a shame that we ended up throwing away so many points.
Christian Horner: "That was redemption for Max. We went into the race with one objective today and that was to win. From the moment the lights went out, Max stormed into the lead and controlled the race brilliantly. Lewis pitted just before us and committed to a two-stop, then an unsafe release with the Williams cost Max the lead, but taking full advantage of his new tyres he immediately repassed Lewis. Thereafter Max controlled the race and the mechanics did a phenomenal job to turn the car around in 1.9s at the final pit stop. When the Safety Car came out we had the horrible decision of whether to pit from the lead, knowing the car behind would stay out. Our strategist Hannah made the recommendation to pit so we did and Max was once again able to repass Lewis. Alex drove another very strong race, going wheel to wheel with Ferrari and Mercedes. He managed to pass Sebastian on the outside of Turn 1 and was also able to get ahead of Lewis who pitted at the final Safety Car. Unfortunately on the last lap, Lewis went for a gap that was rapidly diminishing and contact was made. That was a 1-2 finish for the Team and second place for Alex taken away, but nonetheless Alex has driven a great Grand Prix and he can leave Brazil with his head held high. Finally, congratulations to Pierre who delivered a very strong weekend and it's great to see him on the podium for the first time. Overall, it's been a really positive weekend for both Red Bull teams and Honda."
Renault F1 Team's Daniel Ricciardo made a strong recovery in a frenetic Brazilian Grand Prix to finish in seventh place at Interlagos.
Daniel had to overcome both a front wing change and a five-second stop and go penalty during a chaotic race, where he fell to the back of the pack after an early collision with Haas' Kevin Magnussen.
Nico Hulkenberg received a separate five-second penalty for an infringement under the safety car, which meant he was demoted to fifteenth place after finishing twelfth at the flag.
Daniel suffered front wing damage after attempting an overtake on Magnussen at Turn 4 early on in the race. A slick 10-second pit-stop, including the wing change, meant Daniel languished in twentieth place and seemingly with little hope of breaking into the points.
He was given a five-second penalty for his involvement in the incident, which was added to his second pit-stop on lap 40.
However, two safety cars during the final 16 laps saw Daniel progress his way up the order: climbing to tenth after the first restart and then - with both Ferrari's retirements - to seventh after the second restart.
Daniel was promoted to sixth after post-race penalties were applied.
The team remains fifth in the Constructors' Championship on 91 points.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "In view of our less than optimal starting positions on a track that really doesn't suit us, we once again had to go for a bold strategy. This time it didn't pay off, in stark contrast to previous races. After a difficult start on medium tyres both our drivers were pitched against cars on soft tyres. The collision with Magnussen and the ensuing penalty effectively excluded Daniel from a race that could have been better for him, especially with a bit of patience at the beginning of the race. He nonetheless showed resilience even when racing in last place, right until the events at the end of the race that allowed him to climb back up the order. Unfortunately, these events also helped our rivals. We must absolutely avoid putting ourselves in this situation at the last race in Abu Dhabi."
Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finished 11th and 13th, respectively, in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, the 20th round of 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Both Haas F1 drivers started on Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires and both held position from their grid positions of seventh for Grosjean and ninth for Magnussen during the opening three laps before Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen and Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc were able to slip past the duo by lap four, dropping them to ninth and 11th.
Magnussen dropped another couple of positions over the unfolding laps and was battling to keep Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo from 13th when the two made contact around the fast, left-hand turn four that sent Magnussen spinning off track on lap eight. The Haas driver was able to continue with minimal left-front wing damage and resumed in 19th place before quickly picking up a pair of positions and settling into 17th. Ricciardo was subsequently issued a five-second penalty for avoidable contact.
Meanwhile, Grosjean held his relative position and was up to sixth when he pitted on lap 27 for a set of Yellow medium tires, resuming in 17th and then moving forward several positions before settling in at 12th by lap 30. Magnussen made his pit stop from 15th for medium rubber on lap 29 and resumed in 18th.
Grosjean moved up to 11th and Magnussen to 17th when Ricciardo served his five-second penalty during his second pit stop on lap 41. As several of the front-runners began executing two-stop strategies ahead of him, Grosjean briefly crept as high as seventh on lap 49 before dropping back down to eighth a lap later.
The order shuffled considerably as the result of a safety car period for the stopped Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in the turn-four runoff, during which Magnussen pitted for a new set of soft tires and dropped to 17th while Grosjean stayed on track in seventh place. On the lap-60 restart, Grosjean dropped four positions to 11th, encountering an MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit Kinetic) issue as the pack charged the line, while Magnussen dropped back to 18th.
Grosjean was later called to the pits for a set of soft tires that would take him to the finish. He resumed in 18th but graduated up to 15th after Leclerc and his Scuderia Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel collided and saw their day end prematurely and prompting another safety car period. Magnussen, meanwhile, moved up to 12th.
The safety car exited the track to set up a final, two-lap shootout, during which Magnussen advanced to his finishing position of 11th and Grosjean to 13th.
With today's results, Haas F1 Team remains ninth in the constructors' championship on 28 points.
Guenther Steiner: "Obviously it was a disappointing race, we had hoped for more, and it had looked like we might get it. Kevin (Magnussen) was spun out by Ricciardo, so his race was basically over, it put him back a lot. Romain (Grosjean) was doing a good job and our plan was to do a one-stop race. On the restart we had an MGU-K issue and he was overtaken by a lot of people. From there onwards it was just going backwards. Unfortunately, we started in the top ten but ended up outside of the top ten. We know we're in a difficult position with the car. There's one more race to go, then hopefully we can come back stronger next year."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "P4 in the Constructors' World Championship for McLaren secured. First podium for Carlos in his F1 career and first podium for McLaren since 2014. What an amazing achievement for the entire team back home in the factory plus here at the track, and for Carlos and Lando after putting in so much hard work throughout the year.
"Big, big thank you to every single member of the team. We woke up this morning after a difficult Saturday with a clear commitment to never give up and fight back. We executed well today as a team, we had some difficult strategy decisions to make, did great pit-stops, had two brilliant race drivers in the cars and in the end deserved to score this P3 and P8 after the cars at the front were dropping out.
"We keep our heads down and now focus on securing our positions in the Drivers' World Championship. The achievement this year together with the podium today is the perfect motivation for all of us to keep working hard in order to score podiums again in the future for McLaren based on our own outright performance."
Otmar Szafnauer: "A tough day for us, even though we managed to salvage a couple of points in the final few laps. Before the Safety Car came out, we had both cars on different strategies with Lance doing a good job to make the one-stop race work. It looked as though he would score points, but we switched him to a two-stop race under the Safety Car and then he got hit by debris when the Ferraris got together. Sergio switched to a two-stop race early on and took advantage of the chaotic final laps to finish in ninth place. We face an uphill task in Abu Dhabi to reclaim sixth place in the Constructors' Championship, but we will go there fighting and give it everything."
Certain days are full of surprises. We knew it would be a good day right from the start, when both Kimi and Antonio leapt forward from their grid spots and straight into the top ten; but when Valtteri Bottas's retirement triggered a Safety Car that bunched the pack up, we couldn't imagine it would lead to the crazy final ten laps of the race we witnessed today.
On a day when the field was shaken up and the midfield came to the fore, we celebrate our team's best result of the season. Kimi crossed the line in P5, one spot ahead of Antonio in P6: these positions were later amended to P4 and P5 due to a penalty to Lewis Hamilton. The 22 points we brought home were a huge reward for the countless hours of work, the relentless search for performance, the passion we displayed day in, day out, since the start of the season. The sweetest part, of course, was to bring not one but two cars in the points this far high in the results.
This is also a huge motivational boost. With one race left in the season, we head to Abu Dhabi conscious of the value of our work, aware of the steps forward we keep making. We know it will still take a lot of work to get where we want to be: but we know we are on the right way. And we also know that we, too, can spring a little surprise every now and then.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "We can be really happy and proud with this result. To bring two cars in the points just outside the podium is the reward for the hard work of everyone in the team. We didn't let our head drop in the races where we were unlucky and now we can celebrate our best result of the season. There was no defining factor today: everyone did a great job - in the cockpit, in the pitstops, on the pitwall and back at base. We have made a lot of progress in the last few races, but it wasn't until today that it showed. Now we can look forward to the chance to do another good race in Abu Dhabi and finish the season on a high."
Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer - Vehicle Performance): "What a Race! This is a great day for Toro Rosso and Honda. It's thanks to a fantastic team effort here at the track, in our Operations Rooms in Faenza, Bicester and in Sakura that we could achieve such an amazing result together - the second step of the podium! Today we didn't make any mistakes; we had a good start, good pace during the whole race, we managed our tyres when the track temperatures were very high, especially at the start. Pierre drove impeccably and was able to keep Lewis (Hamilton) behind in an incredible last lap, finishing his race P2. Amazing!
"As for Dany, his race was a bit more difficult, having to fight with all the other cars around, but he was able to finish the race in P10, bringing another point to the team. Now we will go to Abu Dhabi on a high and ready to fight again. Fifth position in the Constructors' Championship is not unreachable."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "It was a fantastic race today, especially for the spectators as the safety car periods really made it a show, very exciting. Toro Rosso, Honda and Pierre Gasly together showed a fantastic performance. Pierre was competitive straight away, from Friday onwards, and he showed great pace again yesterday in Qualifying, where he finished the session in P7. He started from P6 on the grid (due to LEC's penalty) and he had a good start to the race, with a very clever first stint in managing his Option tyres and avoided overheating. On his first pit stop, he changed to the Prime tyre and he had even better pace than expected, and then on the last set of Options he already had a five-second advantage over the others. He reacted well to Kimi Raikkonen's challenge because he was able to pick up the pace and go a couple of tenths faster to hold his position - this was very impressive as he was able to do this without overdriving and overheating the tyres. It was a great drive from him, so he really deserves his second-place finish. Ferrari and the others have certainly helped, but Pierre anyhow had the pace to finish in P5 or P6 without these collisions, and today he drove his best race at Toro Rosso. Daniil's race was much more difficult, but he was able to score a point. It was tricky for him on the Prime tyres because it took a long time to get t hem into the ideal working range, and it was the same for a few of our competitors as well. On Options it was much better, and I think that without the safety car he could have had a chance to finish further ahead. Having said this, we are still happy with the point he scored as it also helped reclaiming the sixth position in the Constructors' Championship. I also want to congratulate Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and Max, for their amazing victory. We are looking forward to Abu Dhabi now, where we still have a chance to fight for an even better position. Let's hope we can find a good setup and put everything together for the last race of this season."
Masamitsu Motohashi (Honda Chief Engineer for Toro Rosso): "At the very end of the race, we managed to get second place with Pierre after a very close fight with Hamilton. Really, I am lost for words. This is our second podium of the year with Toro Rosso, which is a wonderful achievement and it puts them in a very strong position to finish at least sixth in the Championship. At the start of the weekend, we had some PU issues, but thanks to the hard work of everyone in the team and our Honda crew, we recovered well and this is a great reward for all the hard work. We have worked with Pierre for the past two seasons now and so this is a great result in what was in some ways a difficult year for him. Our congratulations go to him and our friends at Toro Rosso and let's not forget that Daniil also managed to finish in the points. This is a great boost for the team, but we must now aim to do even better next year."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "This is our first win in Brazil since Ayrton Senna's epic victory in 1991. Today's win was down to an aggressive and intelligent race from Max and a well-executed strategy from the team. To take a third win this season is a great result for everyone at Honda and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. Congratulations also to Pierre Gasly on a fantastic drive in which he got the most out of the car to record his first F1 podium and also to Toro Rosso for their second top three finish of the year. Pierre performed well throughout the race especially in that last lap fight with Hamilton, which I'm sure will be a real boost for him. I am happy for him in what has been a difficult year. The car-PU package worked very well with both our teams and that has to be a good sign for the final race of the season and when we look ahead to next year. We would like to dedicate this win to our founder, Soichiro Honda, whose birthday it would have been today. Finally, congratulations to McLaren, with whom we scored that last win in 1991, for finishing on the podium today."
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a dramatic safety car affected race with three pit stops, having started from pole. He made his final stop under the penultimate safety car, sacrificing his lead to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. However, at the re-start the Dutchman got back ahead to claim his third win of the year, ahead of Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso. As expected, race day conditions in Sao Paulo were much hotter than previous days, with track temperatures more than 20 degrees warmer than they had been during free practice on Friday.
Verstappen was one of only two points-scoring drivers to make three pit stops, gambling on one more stop during the penultimate safety car.
There were three completely different strategies in the top four, with a wide variety of tactics all the way down the field. While Verstappen and Hamilton made three stops, McLaren's Carlos Sainz was fourth at the flag (before any stewards' decisions) with one stop from last on the grid, and Gasly finished runner-up with two stops.
The two safety cars at the end of the grand prix turned it into a race of opportunism, with several dramatic incidents occurring as cars tried to take advantage of the changing situation.
Before then, a soft-medium-soft strategy had been favoured by most of the frontrunners, which offered both speed and flexibility in the warm conditions.
With the higher temperatures today, degradation was slightly increased for some drivers and all three compounds were used during the race, but there were still some long initial stints seen on the soft compound.
Mario Isola: "Today will go down as one of the really dramatic races of Formula 1 history, with almost unbelievable action all the way to the finish line. The two safety car periods at the end of the race completely changed the complexion of the strategy, which up to that point had seemed to favour a two-stop race, in the notably higher temperatures that we experienced on race day compared to previous days. These also brought the most durable hard compound into play. However, Carlos Sainz proved that a one-stopper was still possible, and there were many other drivers who made the most of this very unpredictable race to choose different calls on tyre strategy that paid off. Congratulations to Pierre Gasly and Toro Rosso for a well-deserved second place, and to Honda for putting two of their cars on the podium."
