Vettel wins Brazil GP, Hamilton roars back

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has won the Brazilian Grand Prix to end his winless streak but it was Lewis Hamilton that produced the drive of the day.

Hamilton, who clinched his fourth world championship in Mexico two weeks ago, started from pitlane after changes to his car following a crash in qualifying and finished fourth — even leading the race before the halfway stage as others pitted.

Polesitter Valtteri Bottas saw his hopes of overhauling Vettel for the runner-up position in the championship effectively disappear when the Mercedes driver finished second.

It was Vettel’s fifth win of the season, the 47th of his career, and Ferrari’s first since Hungary at the end of July.

Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen was third.

“It has been a tough couple of weeks, but it is nice to have both cars up here on the podium,” Vettel said.

Dutch 20-year-old Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull while his Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth after fighting back from a first-lap collision and spin.

Ricciardo started in 14th after incurring a 10-place grid penalty over his team’s replacing of parts in his car’s Renault power unit and his bid to make up places early in Sunday’s race almost backfired.

He was involved in a three-way collision on the second turn which took Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren-Honda) out of the race, with Ricciardo bumped in the rear and spinning across the bows of both cars.

“It was quite tight and I saw a space on the outside so I tried to get as much room as I could but I knew there were two cars on the inside so there was always a risk they would have contact and then come into me,” Ricciardo said.

“I think that’s what happened but I don’t regret trying.”

Hamilton was already up to ninth after 10 laps at Interlagos, with the safety car deployed after the opening lap collisions.

“It was fun. It was reminiscent of my karting days when I’d start at the back, particularly in my first year or two,” Hamilton said.

Retiring Brazilian Felipe Massa said farewell to his home crowd with seventh place for Williams.

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