Lewis Hamilton produced the standout performance of the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix after blasting his way from last to finish in fourth place. It was nothing short of a master class from the newly crowned Formula One world champion, who brought the race to life and ensured there was a thrilling climax, as he only narrowly missed out on a place on the podium.
It was a performance from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Team star that typified his excellent season, as he set about scything his way through the field.
It all started with a mistake and an accident during qualifying, which left him starting from the pit lane, Lewis’s display at Interlagos brought the capacity crowd in Sao Paulo to their feet. The four-time world champion, who won this year’s Formula One world drivers’ title at the previous Grand Prix in Mexico City, powered his way through the field before eventually running out of laps to pass third placed Kimi Raikkonen.
Lewis said: “It was fun. It felt reminiscent of my karting days when I always started at the back. I messed up yesterday and put myself in the worst possible position. I was quick enough to win the race from pole to the flag and I didn’t do that so I made the job a lot harder. Waking up in the morning my goal was just to redeem myself after yesterday’s mistake and really do the team proud and try and get the points back. I was trying to get back to third but I just ran out of tyres in the end but I enjoyed the race and I enjoyed the battle through the pack.
“Hopefully that continues to show to everyone that I still have a lot of fire in my heart, I’m still young at heart and there’s still many, many more races to go. There’s no room for mistakes when you’re working to be the best, but of course it happens and it’s part of the growing process. It’s not what you work towards. I’ve had a very clean year, I’ve had no crashes and I’ve managed the car. Yesterday is behind me and today was positive. To get back to fourth I have to be very grateful and be happy with that. I gave it everything from my heart and the car.”
Silver Arrows team mate Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole position, after an impressive display on Saturday and was unfortunately overtaken by eventual race-winner Sebastian Vettel at the start. Sadly for the Finn it was a mistake that ultimately cost the Finn a shot at the victory. Nevertheless the result marked Valtteri’s 12th podium with the Silver Arrows and best ever result at the legendary Autódromo José Carlos Pace Circuit.
Valtteri explained: “For me the issue was the initial wheelspin. As soon as I started to release the clutch I broke the traction. I had wheelspin and a poor getaway, I was trying to cover the inside, but looking in mirror I couldn’t see Seb anywhere. I was guessing he would come inside, and he did. Our pace and our car was pretty similar today, there was not much pace difference. Being first out of turn one would have been quite a different race.”
Credit:Monster