Max Verstappen has won a chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix, while Aussie Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth.
 
It was a day to forget for the two top teams, with both Ferraris colliding in a clash that will add to the tension in the famous red garage. Mercedes were also out of the mix, with Bottas retiring late in the race, while Champion elect Lewis Hamilton was demoted down the order for a last lap clash with Red Bull’s Alex Albon.
 
Verstappen was joined on the podium by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly who finished an impressive second, while McLaren’s Carlos Sainz ended the day in third for a maiden Formula 1 podium appearance but he didn’t get to celebrate on the podium thanks to Hamilton’s penalty only being confirmed once the celebrations had concluded. Hamilton dropped him from third to seventh.



For CAMS Ambassador Ricciardo it was a mixed day, with the Australian handed a penalty early in the race for a clash with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. Ricciardo lost his front wing in the process and returned to racing in dead last.
 
From there he powered through the field and was rewarded for the drive with a sixth place finish.
 
“After the early incident, I would have said ‘no way we could finish seventh’, so I’m quite happy with that,” Ricciardo said prior to his post-race promotion to sixth.
 
“I take responsibility for the incident with Kevin. It was close, but I went into him and he spun. Sometimes you can do that and it works, but sometimes you touch wheels. In that situation you think the race is over, but we kept our heads down and managed a really strong race. The safety car restarts were fun and it was good out there. There’s one more to go now and I’m excited for that.”


 
Verstappen was understandably elated with his victory.
 
“Unbelievable. It was a lot of fun and of course a great race,” Verstappen said.
 
“Lewis was very quick so I had to keep pushing all the time with the strategy. He kept pitting earlier so we had to be really on top of our pit stops. Two times we had a good move with him and that, all the time, brought us into first and from then I could control the race with the tyres I had.”

The 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship will formally come to an end on 29 November – 1 December at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.