Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix piping championship leader Max Verstappen, climbing through the ranks after starting 10th on the grid on Sunday. The victory caps off a stunning yet turbulent weekend for the seven-time world champion who was first disqualified from the Friday qualifying session due to a DRS infringement and had to start from the back of the grid in a Saturday sprint race. 

Also Read | F1: Valtteri Bottas wins Brazil sprint race, Lewis Hamilton rallies to finish fifth

Hamilton made his way up the grid in the sprint race and finished 5th on the day, however, for Sunday, he had to serve another five-place grid penalty for a change in engine. Within six laps, Hamilton rose from 10th to the third position.

Verstappen, the winner of the race’s previous edition in 2019, finished second and saw his lead in the driver’s championship shrink to 14 points, with three races left. The winner of a race gets 25 points.

“Let’s keep pushing,” Hamilton said on team radio. He took a Brazil flag to celebrate his win, just as his idol Ayrton Senna did.

Also Read | F1: Lewis Hamilton disqualified from Brazil GP qualifying after DRS infringement

Verstappen led most of the race after the first turn, when he overtook polesitter Valtteri Bottas. But Hamilton went ahead of Verstappen on lap 59, putting a raucous crowd on their feet at Interlagos. Meanwhile, Bottas finished third ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who clocked the fastest lap of the race.  

Hamilton finished the race with a 10-second advantage over Verstappen.

Meanwhile, the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished 6th and 7th behind Perez and ahead of Pierre Gasly.