Mercedes’ strategy confusion let Vettel off the hook, after the German made yet another mistake in a season that has been characterised by them. Needing to make up ground from his fifth place on the grid, following a three-place grid penalty, he tangled with Ricciardo and spun on the first lap. He fought back up to fifth quickly enough but for a long time it looked as if Hamilton would win the title, as he was too far back to score enough points to keep the race alive. But as Bottas ran into tyre trouble in the closing laps, Vettel was able to close in, and he dived for the inside of Turn 12 on the penultimate lap, as Bottas helped him through by running wide. Raikkonen drove a superb race. The Finn defended impressively against Hamilton, who was on fresher tyres, before his first pit stop, judging his car position beautifully, and kept Hamilton within sight afterwards.
That gave him the lead and on older tyres he was controlled and perfect in the closing laps as Verstappen and Hamilton applied pressure from behind. It may have been his last chance of a win – he moves to Sauber next season to make way for the promising Charles Leclerc at Ferrari – and he took it beautifully. Verstappen, meanwhile, was superb in fighting for the win after starting 18th because of problems in practice. He made lightning progress through the back markers in the early laps and was soon running fifth. Red Bull then pitted him before Bottas to move him into third, which became second when Hamilton stopped again. It was a superb drive. After the race, Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen were disqualified from eighth and ninth places for fuel irregularities.
Ocon’s car used more than the permitted maximum fuel flow of 100kg per hour on the first lap and Magnussen’s more than the maximum fuel allowance of 105kg for the race. The decisions moved Ocon’s team-mate Sergio Perez into eighth place behind the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson into the final two points positions.
