2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Heineken do Brasil 2018) was a Formula One motor race held on 11 November 2018 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. The race was the twentieth and penultimate round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the 47th running of the Brazilian Grand Prix and the 46th time that the race was run as a World Championship event since the inaugural event in 1973. Following Felipe Massa's retirement from Formula One at the end of the 2017 season, this marked the first Brazilian Grand Prix where no Brazilian driver took part.

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 20 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Race details[1]
Date	11 November 2018 (2018-11-11)
Official name	Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Heineken do Brasil 2018
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.677 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 305.879 km (190.064 miles)
Weather	Cloudy
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:07.281
Fastest lap
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:10.540 on lap 65 (lap record)
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The race was won by Lewis Hamilton from pole position. Hamilton's race win combined with teammate Valtteri Bottas finishing 5th meant that Mercedes were able to claim the Constructors' Championship for the 5th consecutive season.^[2] Kimi Räikkönen finished 3rd for Ferrari, taking his 103rd and final podium of his career as well as his final for the team.

Background

Going into the penultimate round of the 2018 season Lewis Hamilton had already claimed the Drivers' Championship, however Ferrari and Mercedes could both still claim the Constructors' Championship.^[3] Ferrari needed to outscore Mercedes by 13 points or more to prevent Mercedes winning the title after the race's completion.^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:08.464	1:07.795	1:07.281	1
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:08.452	1:07.776	1:07.374	2
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:08.492	1:07.727	1:07.441	3
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:08.452	1:08.028	1:07.456	4
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:08.205	1:08.017	1:07.778	5
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	1:08.544	1:08.055	1:07.780	111
7	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:08.754	1:08.579	1:08.296	6
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	1:08.667	1:08.335	1:08.492	7
9	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:08.735	1:08.239	1:08.517	8
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:09.046	1:08.616	1:09.029	9
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:08.474	1:08.659		10
12	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:09.217	1:08.741		12
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	1:09.264	1:08.770		182
14	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:09.009	1:08.834		13
15	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	1:09.259	1:10.381		14
16	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	1:09.269			15
17	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1:09.280			16
18	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	1:09.402			17
19	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	1:09.441			19
20	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	1:09.601			20
107% time: 1:12.979
Source:[5]

Notes

• ^1  – Daniel Ricciardo received a five-place grid penalty for a change in turbochargers.^[6]
• ^2  – Esteban Ocon received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

Race

Max Verstappen was leading and extending his lead over Lewis Hamilton in second until, on lap 44, Esteban Ocon made contact with Verstappen. Ocon was trying to unlap himself, causing both drivers to spin allowing Hamilton to take the lead and eventually the win. Following the collision, the stewards gave Ocon a ten-second stop-go penalty for the incident. With the win by its driver Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes wrapped up the Constructors' Championship, while Max Verstappen's Red Bull finished second and Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari finished third. Daniel Ricciardo took fourth ahead of Bottas with Vettel struggling home to sixth. Ocon finished 13th.

After the race Max Verstappen pushed and hit Ocon forcefully several times in the chest in the FIA's garage. Verstappen would later be punished for actions that were deemed inappropriate for a sportsman and was punished with two days community service.^[7][8]

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	1:27:09.066	1	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	71	+1.469	5	18
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+4.764	4	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	71	+5.193	11	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	71	+22.943	3	10
6	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	71	+26.997	2	8
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Sauber-Ferrari	71	+44.199	7	6
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	71	+51.230	8	4
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	71	+52.857	10	2
10	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	12	1
11	28	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	70	+1 lap	16
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	70	+1 lap	15
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	70	+1 lap	9
14	31	Esteban Ocon	Force India-Mercedes	70	+1 lap	18
15	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	70	+1 lap1	20
16	35	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams-Mercedes	69	+2 laps	14
17	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	69	+2 laps1	17
18	18	Lance Stroll	Williams-Mercedes	69	+2 laps	19
Ret	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	32	Overheating	13
Ret	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	20	Collision damage	6
Source:[9]

Notes

• ^1  – Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso each received a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Lewis Hamilton* 383 2 Sebastian Vettel 302 3 Kimi Räikkönen 251 4 Valtteri Bottas 237 5 Max Verstappen 234 Source: [10]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes* 620 2 Ferrari 553 3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 392 4 Renault 114 5 Haas-Ferrari 90 Source: [10]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates the 2018 World Champions.