Lewis Hamilton finished the Brazilian Grand Prix within six seconds of winner Sebastian Vettel despite starting from the pit lane.
His progress halted when he caught Vettel’s team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Even without that it’s doubtful he would have caught Vettel, though assuming Valtteri Bottas would have moved aside for him quickly it would have been close.
It served to underline that drivers needed a significant performance advantage to overtake a rival at Interlagos. Felipe Massa’s lap times dropped off considerably over the final laps yet he was able to keep Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez behind him.
However Hamilton had enough in hand to make up a total of 16 places from the start of the race to the end. That matches the best climb through the field of any other driver this year: Sebastian Vettel’s rise from 20th to fourth in Malaysia.
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 20 | 4 | 16 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 1 | -1 | -1 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 14 | -3 | 8 |
| Max Verstappen | 4 | 0 | -1 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Sergio Perez | 5 | -2 | -4 |
| Esteban Ocon | 10 | ||
| Felipe Massa | 9 | 3 | 2 |
| Lance Stroll | 16 | 3 | 0 |
| Fernando Alonso | 6 | 1 | -2 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | 12 | ||
| Brendon Hartley | 18 | 6 | |
| Pierre Gasly | 19 | 9 | 7 |
| Romain Grosjean | 11 | -4 | -4 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 13 | ||
| Nico Hulkenberg | 7 | -1 | -3 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 8 | -1 | -3 |
| Marcus Ericsson | 17 | 6 | 4 |
| Pascal Wehrlein | 15 | 1 | 1 |
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Star Performers
- 21 podiums without a win: Raikkonen extends his record
- “We lost it in the start”: Brazilian GP team radio highlights
