2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Heineken do Brasil 2017) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 November 2017 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in the Interlagos neighborhood of São Paulo, Brazil. The race was the nineteenth and penultimate round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the forty-sixth running of the Brazilian Grand Prix, the forty-fifth time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950, and the thirty-fourth World Championship event to be held at Interlagos.

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 19 of 20 in the 2017 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Layout of the Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Race details[1]
Date12 November 2017 (2017-11-12)
Official nameFormula 1 Grande Prêmio Heineken do Brasil 2017[2][3]
LocationAutódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
CoursePermanent racing facility
Course length4.309 km (2.677 miles)
Distance71 laps, 305.909 km (190.083 miles)
WeatherSunny
Attendance141,218[4]
Pole position
DriverMercedes
Time1:08.322
Fastest lap
DriverNetherlands Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Time1:11.044 on lap 64
Podium
FirstFerrari
SecondMercedes
ThirdFerrari
Lap leaders

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas started from pole position with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen behind, after World Champion Lewis Hamilton crashed out of qualifying early and started from the pit lane. Vettel overtook Bottas on the first corner, after which he set the pace through most of the race. Vettel won the Grand Prix, followed by Bottas and Räikkönen. Hamilton eventually climbed to fourth, closing to less than one second of a podium finish.[5]

Report

Free practice

The three free practice session demonstrated very tight competition between Ferrari and Mercedes.[6] In first and second free practice, Lewis Hamilton was quickest, with both Ferraris and both Red Bulls within one second. Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were notably strong in these sessions. In the third session, the order was similar. However, Valtteri Bottas pipped Hamilton's best time by three thousands of a second; and neither Max Verstappen nor Massa put in a strong lap. In the final practice round, less than a tenth of a second separated the two Mercedes and two Ferraris.

The first practice session saw George Russell's Formula One debut appearance. There was also an unusual appearance of a test driver (Antonio Giovinazzi) in the second practice session (usually, any test drivers that participate in a racing weekend, do so in the first practice session).

Qualifying

Qualifying began in a dramatic fashion as World Champion Hamilton lost the back end of the car with over-steer, seemingly due to a driver error, crashing to retire from Q1 without setting a lap time. Räikkönen was fastest in Q1 and Vettel in Q2. In the final qualifying session, however, Bottas took pole position. Vettel qualified a close second, followed by Räikkönen, Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo took a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components and started 14th on the grid. Hamilton elected to change his gearbox and power unit, so started the race from the pit lane.

Race

Vettel achieved a good start during the second phase of clutch control to overtake Bottas on the first corner. There were numerous retirements due to collisions on the first lap. Romain Grosjean lost the back end, clipping Esteban Ocon off the track. Ocon's resultant retirement ended his record streak of 27 races finished from his Formula One debut. Stoffel Vandoorne and Kevin Magnussen also retired due to a collision on the first lap.

Hamilton, starting from the pit lane, implemented an inverted tyre strategy running to lap 44 on one set of soft tyres. After overtaking the back-markers and mid-field, he fell into first place as the leading cars – predominantly on one-stop strategies – pitted. Hamilton's only pit-stop positioned him fifth, after which he overtook Verstappen and was briefly able to challenge Räikkönen for the podium,[5] but unable to overtake Raikkonen in third. Ricciardo also battled up to sixth after starting fifteenth on the grid and dropping to seventeenth as collateral of the Vandoorne-Magnussen collision.

Setting the pace through most of the race, Vettel won the Grand Prix, followed by Bottas and Räikkönen. Including Hamilton, the top four finished within the space of 5.5 seconds, with the two Red Bulls more than 30 seconds behind. The following three positions also carried a race-long battle to the finish line, finishing within 1 second of each other. Initially overtaking on lap 5 (as the safety car was pulling into pitlane), Massa held off Alonso who remained close throughout the race.[7] Sergio Pérez also caught up to these two racers to cross the finish line barely behind Alonso.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.Car
no.
DriverConstructorQualifying timesFinal
grid
Q1Q2Q3
177 Valtteri BottasMercedes1:09.4521:08.6381:08.3221
25 Sebastian VettelFerrari1:09.6431:08.4941:08.3602
37 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:09.4051:09.1161:08.5383
433 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:09.8201:09.0501:08.9254
53 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer1:09.8281:09.5331:09.330141
611 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes1:10.1451:09.7601:09.5985
714 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1:10.1721:09.5931:09.6176
827 Nico HülkenbergRenault1:10.0781:09.7261:09.7037
955 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault1:10.2271:09.7681:09.8058
1019 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1:09.7891:09.6121:09.8419
1131 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes1:10.1681:09.83010
128 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1:10.1481:09.87911
132 Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda1:10.2861:10.11612
1420 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari1:10.5211:10.15413
1528 Brendon HartleyToro Rosso1:10.625No time182
1694 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari1:10.67815
1710 Pierre GaslyToro Rosso1:10.686193
1818 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes1:10.776164
199 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1:10.875175
107% time: 1:14.263
44 Lewis HamiltonMercedesNo timePL6
Source:[8][9]
Notes
  • ^1  – Daniel Ricciardo received a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
  • ^2  – Brendon Hartley received a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
  • ^3  – Pierre Gasly received a 25-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
  • ^4  – Lance Stroll received a 5-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
  • ^5  – Marcus Ericsson received a 5-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
  • ^6  – Lewis Hamilton failed to set a time within the 107% requirement, but received permission from the stewards to start the race. He also started from the pit lane due to a gearbox and power unit changes.

Race

Pos.No.DriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Sebastian VettelFerrari711:31:26.262225
277 Valtteri BottasMercedes71+2.762118
37 Kimi RäikkönenFerrari71+4.600315
444 Lewis HamiltonMercedes71+5.468PL12
533 Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer71+32.940410
63 Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-TAG Heuer71+48.691148
719 Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes71+1:08.88296
814 Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda71+1:09.36364
911 Sergio PérezForce India-Mercedes71+1:09.50052
1027 Nico HülkenbergRenault70+1 Lap71
1155 Carlos Sainz Jr.Renault70+1 Lap8
1210 Pierre GaslyToro Rosso70+1 Lap19
139 Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari70+1 Lap17
1494 Pascal WehrleinSauber-Ferrari70+1 Lap15
158 Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari69+2 Laps11
1618 Lance StrollWilliams-Mercedes69+2 Laps16
Ret28 Brendon HartleyToro Rosso40Engine18
Ret31 Esteban OconForce India-Mercedes0Collision10
Ret2 Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren-Honda0Collision12
Ret20 Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari0Collision13
Source:[10]

Championship standings after the race

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos.ConstructorPoints
1 Mercedes*625
2 Ferrari495
3 Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer358
4 Force India-Mercedes177
5 Williams-Mercedes82
Source:[11]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for the sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates the 2017 World Champions.

References

External links

Previous race:
2017 Mexican Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2017 season
Next race:
2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Previous race:
2016 Brazilian Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand PrixNext race:
2018 Brazilian Grand Prix