Brazilian GP: Vettel wins as Hamilton recovers to fourth

Vettel passed pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas down the inside into Turn 1 and had the pace to fend off an attack from his Mercedes rival to secure Ferrari's first victory since Hungary in July.

Bottas crossed the line second, 2.7 seconds adrift, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen holding off a charging Hamilton, who had started from the pitlane, to finish third for the third race in succession.

Vettel made a great start from second on the grid and though Bottas gave him a squeeze into Turn 1, the Ferrari driver made it stick to take the lead.

Further down the field, Kevin Magnussen squeezed Stoffel Vandoorne towards Daniel Ricciardo, causing a collision and bringing out the safety car.

Ricciardo was spun round, dropping him to the back of the field, but he continued while Vandoorne and Magnussen retired.

At the restart, Vettel retained the lead from Bottas, Raikkonen and Max Verstappen, with Felipe Massa delighting his home crowd with a pass around the outside of Fernando Alonso into Turn 1 for fifth.

Hamilton, running on soft tyres, made good progress through the field and was up into the points by lap nine, passing Pierre Gasly for 10th.

Bottas was the first to pit for softs, with Vettel pitting a lap later and rejoining just ahead of the Mercedes driver, managing to hold him off into Turn 4.

As those who started the race on the supersofts pitted, Hamilton inherited the lead and pushed on until lap 43, when he pitted, rejoining 15th - 19 seconds behind Vettel.

The four-time world champion was the fastest driver on the track, catching and passing Verstappen around the outside on the run to Turn 4 with 12 laps to go.

He then rapidly caught Raikkonen but a lock-up into Turn 1 dropped him back and his challenge faded.

Verstappen, who struggled with his tyres in the closing stages leading to a late stop for supersofts, was fifth ahead of Red Bull teammate Ricciardo.

Massa held off Fernando Alonso to take seventh in his final Brazilian Grand Prix and penultimate race of his Formula 1 career.

Sergio Perez took ninth, crossing the line a fraction behind Alonso, with Nico Hulkenberg scoring the final point in 10th.

Esteban Ocon suffered the first retirement of his Formula 1 career after being tagged by Romain Grosjean, who lost control of his Haas at Turn 5 on lap one.

Grosjean continued, but was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, and ultimately finished 15th.  

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Engine	Time
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari	1'31:26.260
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	Mercedes	2.762
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari	4.600
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	5.468
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	TAG	32.940
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	TAG	48.691
7	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes	68.882
8	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda	69.363
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes	69.500
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	Renault	1 lap
11	Carlos Sainz	Renault	Renault	1 lap
12	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	Renault	1 lap
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari	1 lap
14	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber	Ferrari	1 lap
15	Romain Grosjean	Haas	Ferrari	2 laps
16	Lance Stroll	Williams	Mercedes	2 laps
	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	Renault
	Esteban Ocon	Force India	Mercedes
	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	Ferrari
	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	Honda