The second last round brought the F1 circus to Sao Paulo, Brazil. There was a 60 % risk of rain during the qualifying, which caused some extra tension. There had been some rain at the end of the first session, so everyone rushed out at the beginning of the second segment, as it was vital to get a banker lap in. The tyre strategy turned out extremely interesting. Mercedes and Red Bull sent their drivers out on the red-walled softest rubber, as did Ferrari. However, the Red Team called their drivers in after an installation lap, and both drivers switched to the yellow-marked middle compound. It was a risky but genius call from Ferrari, as the soft tyres proved extremely competitive. Bottas went fastest, but Sebastian was only five hundredths of a second down on the Finn. As soon as the other top teams saw, how competitive the Ferraris were on the harder rubber, they, too sent their drivers out on softs. However, with seven minutes remaining in the clock, the rain intensified especially in Turns 13 and 14. No improvements in the lap times were made by either Mercedes or Red Bull. The only driver to be able to improve his lap time at the end of the session was Sauber's Leclerc, who insisted to give it a one more try, although the team had already called him in. The future Ferrari driver made an outstanding lap, jumping 8th in the time sheets. However, the most eye-catching incident in Q2 took place, when Sebastian was called for the weigh-in. The German was in a hurry to get the softs on and set a lap time, but he had to stop at the weighbridge. Sebastian was very annoyed about that and was waving his hands and telling the FIA officials to hurry up. Sebastian drove off the weighbridge himself, causing damage to the scales. However, he got away from the incident unpenalized, as one of the officials had given him a signal that he was allowed to drive off.
There was no more rain, as the decisive third segment was kicked off. When it came down to the decisive laps, the five-time world champion nailed it again. Hamilton took provisional pole, but only by 0.073s to Sebastian. Bottas was third and Kimi fourth. In dry conditions Red Bull seemed unable to match Mercedes' and Ferrari's pace, in terms of one-lap pace. The second runs brought no change to the order of the top six. Hamilton was the only driver, who managed to improve his lap time on his second flyer. So it was the 10th pole position for the superior Briton. Ricciardo, who had qualified sixth, was dropped down to P11 due to a turbo charger change. The most positive surprise of the qualifying was Sauber's performance, as Ericsson and Leclerc locked down the fourth row.
Due to Ferrari's varying tyre strategy in the qualifying, the red-suited drivers were the only top ten drivers to start to the race on the soft compound, whilst everyone else was on the super-softs. Pole-setter Hamilton took a convincing start, holding on to his lead. Teammate Bottas made stunning work as well, passing Sebastian at the start. Kimi in P4 had an intense wheel-to-wheel battle with Red Bull's Verstappen. These two often seem to "find each other" on track! First Verstappen made an overtaking move on Kimi, snatching P4. Kimi was stubborn to get his position back, and attacked the Dutchman a few corners later, claiming his fourth place back. However, Verstappen was like a lion unleashed. A few laps later he attacked the Iceman again in Turn 1, making it past the Finn. A lap later Verstappen already attacked Sebastian, who was struggling with his pace due to a sensor issue. Verstappen passed Sebastian, jumping already third in the race. Sebastian also made a small mistake, which enabled teammate Kimi to get past as well.
Mercedes were clearly struggling with tyre degradation, and on lap 10 Verstappen was already right at Bottas' tail. Another staggering overtaking move took place, and the flying Dutchman was already second in the race. Meanwhile, teammate Ricciardo had already made his way through the field, moving up to P6 already. Both Mercedes and Ferrari drivers pitted for the white-walled medium Pirellis. Kimi was the driver to lose most during his pit stop, as he lost positions both to Bottas and his teammate Sebastian. After the pit stop Kimi's pace was significantly better than Sebastian's, and there was a rarely-seen team order for Sebastian to let Kimi past. After switching positions, Sebastian had no chance to match his teammate's pace.
It was absolutely amazing, that Red Bull didn't seem to suffer from tyre degradation at all. Verstappen in the lead didn't pit until at the halfway point of the race! The Dutch Red Bull ace opted for a fresh set of softs, and re-joined the track right behind Hamilton. Verstappen already smelled the world champion's blood. And there was no stopping Verstappen! He made his move at the end of the main straight, overtaking Hamilton and taking the lead.
Something dramatic happened on lap 44, which was the turning point in the race. Force India's Ocon had just exited the pits, and race leader Verstappen was lapping him. However, Ocon was very fast on the fresh tyres and wanted to unlap himself by overtaking Verstappen. That led into contact between these two, and Verstappen span! Hamilton thanked for the gift and snatched the lead. Verstappen had just been robbed of the victory! Ocon was handed a stop-and-go penalty for causing the collision. Meanwhile, Kimi had been able to pass his compatriot, and the Iceman was driving a strong race in third.
Ricciardo, too was flying on his fresh soft tyres. The Australian was challenging Sebastian for P5. Their wheels had already touched a few laps earlier, but finally Ricciardo managed to pass his ex-teammate. Sebastian pitted for the second time and re-joined the track on the super-softs in modest P7. Bottas, too pitted for the second time after losing a position to flying Ricciardo. With five laps to go, Ricciardo was extremely hungry to challenge Kimi for the podium place, but the Iceman defended his position in style, impeding Ricciardo's overtaking moves. Hamilton crossed the finish line as the race winner, with Verstappen second and Kimi third. Ricciardo was left fourth, Bottas fifth and Sebastian sixth. With this result, Mercedes clinched their fifth consecutive constructors' championship. However, it was extremely heart-warming, that this was already Kimi's 12th podium finish this season! Verstappen was so furious after the race, that he made physical contact with Ocon by pushing him off multiple times. Not a sportsman-like behavior, but still pretty understandable. Not acceptable though!
One more round to go. Abu Dhabi GP will mark Kimi's last race as a Ferrari driver. One era is coming to an end.
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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