Brazil – Race: Verstappen’s victory, Gasly’s joy, Ferrari’s disaster

A slightly grayish weather welcomes the penultimate race of the season at Interlagos. The rain predicted at the start of the weekend is not expected to make an appearance. Temperatures are at 21°C in the air and 50°C on the asphalt, indicating a challenging Grand Prix on this winding and fast circuit, both for the tires and the drivers. Let us remember that Pirelli has chosen the hardest tires from its range for the Brazilian event.

In tire choices, let’s note Lando Norris’s surprising decision, starting 11th, to go with soft tires, just like the top 10 drivers ahead of him.

Perfect start by Verstappen while Vettel gets overtaken by Hamilton at the first corner. Starting 14th, Charles Leclerc attacks to begin his climb up the standings. The Monegasque battles with Lando Norris after passing Ricciardo on the outside with authority. The Ferrari driver is 10th at the start of the 3rd lap, equipped with a strategic advantage on his medium tires. Carlos Sainz also makes a comeback after starting last. The Spaniard executes a superb move on Perez, passing him at the first corner by diving into a tiny gap after heavy braking. The McLaren driver is 15th by the 5th lap. The Renaults and the Haases experience difficulties with pace and lose positions. In the battle between Magnussen and Ricciardo, the latter slightly clips the Dane’s car on the inside of a corner, causing Magnussen to spin. Ricciardo has to change his wing after misjudging the lateral space of his Renault against the Haas. Rejoining the track in last position, the stewards penalize Ricciardo with a 5-second penalty for this maneuver.

Charles Leclerc, back in the top 6, is now only 4 seconds behind Albon, in 5th, and just 15 seconds behind the Dutch leader. The latter is calmly managing his lead at just over 2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who is creating an increasing gap with Vettel and Bottas who are not keeping up with the pace.

On the 21st lap, Lewis Hamilton stops at his pit to choose new red tires. This announces a second stop to come. Max Verstappen mimics the Mercedes driver, and despite a superb stop by his team, the Dutchman is blocked by Kubica’s Williams on the way out of the pits. Taking advantage of the undercut, Hamilton moves ahead of Verstappen. Vengefully, Verstappen overtakes the Brit with the help of DRS on the following lap.

On the 25th lap, Sebastian Vettel is called into the pits. The German chooses medium tires and opts for a different strategy. Bottas also stops and goes back out on hard tires, aiming for a one-stop strategy. Charles Leclerc imitates the Finn on the 30th lap and comes out in 6th place.

Without rhythm on his white tires, Valtteri Bottas is called to the pits to switch to medium tires. The Finn comes out in 6th place. His teammate also complains about his soft tires and makes a stop to switch to yellow-walled tires. A long-distance battle for Verstappen as he attacks to prevent the undercut. A great stop at Red Bull allows the Dutchman to come out ahead of the reigning World Champion, also on medium tires.

On the 46th lap, Bottas catches up with Leclerc. With his underperforming hard tires, the Ferrari driver manages to keep the Finnish driver behind him despite several attempts to overtake.

Bottas retires and safety car

On the 52nd lap and still behind Leclerc, white smoke emerges from the engine of Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes. After assessment by the team, the Finn retires by parking his car on the side of the track. Despite this, the safety car is deployed on the track.

Charles Leclerc takes advantage of this opportunity to equip himself with new tires and will therefore be able to fight for the victory.

The safety car leaves the track for the last 12 laps.

Hamilton, the leader, sees Verstappen draw level with him at the end of the straight. The Red Bull driver expertly manages the double corner and makes a superb overtaking move on the Englishman. Behind, Leclerc also attacks Vettel but quickly falls back behind his teammate. Further back, Albon manages to pass Vettel, mirroring his teammate’s move. A lap later, Vettel tries to overtake Albon again, but the latter, eyeing his potential first podium, resists the German’s attack with authority.

Contact between the Ferraris

At lap 66, Leclerc attacks and overtakes Vettel by surprising him. Defending on the following straight, Vettel re-overtakes and lightly touches Leclerc’s wheel, which delaminates, forcing him to retire while his teammate also gets a puncture, ending his race as well.

LAP 66/71

UN. BE. LIEVABLE. #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ONEjAtvaBb

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 17, 2019

At this stage of the race and taking advantage of the race events, Pierre Gasly finds himself in 3rd place.

Debris litter the track and cause a puncture and another retirement for Lance Stroll.

Podium for Gasly after a blunder by Hamilton

Return of the safety car with 3 laps to go. Sebastian Vettel seems furious at the side of the track.

At the restart, Hamilton managed to pass Gasly easily but then clumsily attacked Albon, causing him to spin out. With a damaged wing, the Mercedes driver caught up to Pierre Gasly but couldn’t pass him before the finish line. The investigation into Hamilton’s maneuver on Albon relegated the Englishman to 7th place.

LAP 70/71

Hamilton tags Albon and he spins off!

Gasly is through into second#BrazilGP 🇧🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/dy74Kue078

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 17, 2019

Results of the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix: