# 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.
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. 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. Ferrari needed to outscore Mercedes by 13 points or more to prevent Mercedes winning the title after the race's completion.

## Qualifying
### Qualifying classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Final grid |
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Final grid |
| 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 | 11 |
| 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 | | 18 |
| 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: ||||||||

#### Notes

* ^1 – Daniel Ricciardo received a five-place grid penalty for a change in turbochargers.
* ^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.

### 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 lap | 20 | |
| 16 | 35 | Sergey Sirotkin | Williams-Mercedes | 69 | +2 laps | 14 | |
| 17 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Renault | 69 | +2 laps | 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: ||||||||

#### Notes

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

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Lewis Hamilton* | 383 |
| | 2 | Sebastian Vettel | 302 |
| | 3 | Kimi Räikkönen | 251 |
| | 4 | Valtteri Bottas | 237 |
| | 5 | Max Verstappen | 234 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| | 1 | Mercedes* | 620 |
| | 2 | Ferrari | 553 |
| | 3 | Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer | 392 |
| | 4 | Renault | 114 |
| | 5 | Haas-Ferrari | 90 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
* Bold text and an asterisk indicates the 2018 World Champions.