Hamilton wins Brazilian GP as Ocon clash costs Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton scored his 10th victory of the Formula 1 season in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix to clinch Mercedes its fifth consecutive constructors' championship in style after Max Verstappen was spun out of the lead by a lapped car.

Pole-sitter Hamilton led through the first stint before being passed by a rapid Verstappen early into the Red Bull driver's second stint, putting the Dutchman in control of proceedings.

However, Force India driver Esteban Ocon's attempt to unlap himself resulted in contact with Verstappen, spinning the Red Bull driver out of the lead with 27 laps to go.

Verstappen was never able to recover the position, leaving Hamilton and Mercedes to seal the teams' title in fashion, pulling out an unassailable lead over Ferrari, which struggled to third and sixth at Interlagos.

Verstappen catapulted himself into contention for victory with a rapid opening stint. After retaining fifth from the grid in the first two laps, Verstappen dived down the inside of Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel at Turn 1 - the latter having lost out to Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas on the first lap - on Laps 3 and 4 respectively, putting his Supersoft tyres to good use.

Verstappen quickly set his sights on Bottas in P2, pulling off a brave move on the inside at Turn 1 on Lap 10, making Hamilton - who was already airing concerns about his tyres - the only driver ahead.

Hamilton pitted from the lead at the end of Lap 19 with a two-second buffer to Verstappen, handing the lead to the Red Bull driver. With his Supersoft tyres still in good shape, Verstappen was able to stretch out his stint as far as Lap 27, allowing Red Bull to move him onto the fastest Soft compound for the second stint.

With a faster and fresher tyre, Verstappen was able to quickly catch Hamilton through lapped traffic before gaining a tow down the main straight and, once again, passing on the inside at the first corner to grab the lead of the race. Despite a brief attempt from Hamilton to regain the position on the run to Turn 5, Verstappen held firm, and quickly pulled out of DRS range.

Verstappen looked in control of the race as he opened up a gap to Hamilton, but his advantage would prove short-lived. In an attempt to unlap himself, Force India's Esteban Ocon tried passing Verstappen down the inside at Turn 2, only to cause contact and send both cars into a spin.

Hamilton passed with ease as a fuming Verstappen rejoined in second place, five seconds down the road and with floor damage, while Ocon would later be slapped with a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing a collision.

In a bid to calm Verstappen, his engineer assured him he still had the pace to win the race, and to get his head down in pursuit of Hamilton. The Red Bull driver was able to put in a couple of quick laps to whittle the gap down to three seconds, only for it to stabilise as Hamilton looked to manage his tyres to ensure they would get to the end.

Verstappen was able to get to within two seconds of Hamilton as the Mercedes driver hit late traffic, giving the Dutchman a sniff of recovering the lead entering the final handful of laps as they both weaved through lapped cars.

Despite concerns about his tyre life in the closing stages, Hamilton managed to hold on to the chequered flag to record his 10th win of his championship-winning season, crossing the line 1.4 seconds clear of Verstappen.

The result denied Verstappen the chance to record back-to-back wins for the first time in his F1 career, but marked his 10th podium of the year for Red Bull.

Kimi Raikkonen completed the podium for Ferrari on a day that saw teammate Sebastian Vettel struggle for pace. Raikkonen passed Vettel in the opening stint before losing the position through the pit stops, but was waved past again early in the second stint as he went in pursuit of Bottas.

Raikkonen was able to battle past his compatriot before then fending off Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages, with the Red Bull driver charging from 11th on the grid to finish fourth, 0.4 seconds off the podium. Bottas finished the race fifth ahead of Vettel in P6 as both drivers made late pit stops.

Charles Leclerc was the leading midfield driver in seventh place for Sauber, leading the team's charge as teammate Marcus Ericsson suffered with bodywork damage that saw him drop down the order in the early stages after starting on the third row. Ericsson ultimately retired from the race after 20 laps.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen gave Haas a boost in the fight for P4 in the constructors' championship as they finished eighth and ninth, cutting six points out of Renault, who failed to score as Carlos Sainz Jr. finished 12th and Nico Hulkenberg retired due to an overheating engine. The gap between the two team stands at 24 points heading to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Sergio Perez took the final point in P10 for Force India.

Brendon Hartley finished the race 11th for Toro Rosso after completing a long first stint on the Medium tyre, squeezing clear of Sainz and teammate Pierre Gasly in the final few laps. Stoffel Vandoorne finished 14th for McLaren after pulling off a number of late passes, with Ocon taking 15th following his penalty.

Sergey Sirotkin finished 16th for Williams ahead of Fernando Alonso, who overcame Lance Stroll in a late battle for 17th in the closing stages.