Rate the race: 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

2017 Brazilian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Brazilian Grand Prix.

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The Brazilian Grand Prix was rated 6.74 out of 10. This is below the average (7.22 out of 10) for this race.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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102 comments on “Rate the race: 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix”

  1. A decent race overall. Hamilton’s charge through the field especially was exciting.

    1. was Hamilton’s charge really exciting? In his case, it shows once again just how easy those DRS passes are when you have a Merc engine in the back of your car.

      For me, Riciardo’s charge was much more interesting: he really had to dive deep on the brakes as he didn’t have the job done before the braking point, like Lewis did. But why was everyone so badly defending againts Danny Ric? He did the same lunge every time in Turn 1, wasn’t this broadcasted by the engineers to the drivers to watch out for that? I found that kind of underwhelming to not see at least someone defend the interior in Turn 1 against the notorious Danny Ric lunge.

      1. @gechichan I’d say Hamilton’s easy-looking DRS-assisted passes into turn 1 where more down to the engine power advantage he had over most of the drivers in front of him (for example, the Renault-powered Renault and Toro Rosso-drivers) rather than just DRS alone. Even without DRS, I think they would’ve been more or less as easy-looking as they were with it.

        1. With DRS he had a advantage of about 27Km/h thats a lot.
          Nice job done by Lewis but indeed, very DRS assisted action.

    2. Exciting charge? Not really. Even his pass on Verstappen was with more then 30km speed difference on that strait. Hamilton drove well, at the end just a few seconds behind Bottas, but maybe that says more about Botas then Hamilton

    3. Not IMHO the most exciting of races, VET set a pace that was fast enough to keep those behind him, but nothing more (engine concerns ?)
      HAM’s charge through the pack (reduced by 1st lap incidents) was OK, but nothing less than what would be expected from a 4xWDC with a fast car
      The only real excitement for me was RAI managing to fend off HAM in the final laps to secure the last podium position
      I think BOT will regret not moving over to block VET at the start like pole-sitters typically do these days

    4. i agree with @jerejj pretty good overall (maybe better on highlights) but i think ricciardo’s charge was far more exciting. hamilton was just blasting past on the straights, but his overall pace and the way he looked after the tyres was seriously impressive. given how far ahead of bottas he has been of late, i think he would have been tough to beat had he made it through qualy.

  2. Gave 8. Had suspension until the end and some nice fights (Alo/Mas). Would have been poor 6 or 5 without Ham/Ric rising through the field.

    1. Yeah they all had their suspension until the end :P

  3. Pretty dull in truth after an exciting first lap. Good to see the top 4 so close, but how poor were the top 3 to have Hamilton finish right behind them? Suspect that Vettel was simply managing the gap at the front, but Bottas should have done better.

    1. @ben-n – +1 to your comment. Quite a predictable race, especially after 3 cars were knocked out on lap 1, and Riccardio dropped to the back of the field. Pity to see Ocon out as well.

      Bottas was somewhat underwhelming today, after his astonishing qualifying performance. I think he used up all his mojo on Saturday.

      1. I think “underwhelming” can be used to describe Bottas’ season after Russia really… maybe I’m being a little harsh!

        1. You aren’t. Even Grosjean could have done a better job.

          1. @hamilzors – Just imagine how lap 1 turn 1 would have turned out with the spatially challenged Vettel and Grosjean alongside :-) It would’ve been like a Michael Bay film.

          2. Nah man, Grosjean would have found a way to fumble the podium by crashing out/into someone

  4. That was thoroughly enjoyable and even had my heart pounding near the end! 8/10

    1. Really? A dry Interlagos is always a bit dry. No real racing at all other than Alonso vs Massa. PU gap is still massive 4 seasons on.

    2. Did I watch a different race? It’s that Lewis did some charging trough the field, but then again, that uphill straight is where Mercedes engines shine.

      Eventful first lap, boring and predictable additional 70 laps. 3/10.

      1. It was pretty dull race after round 1 only lewis coming throught the pack was enjoying to watch but without rain this is an power circuit.

  5. Loved that race. 8/10 for me. Excitement all through the field.

  6. 5/10

    Was there ANY pass without drs?

    1. @dex022 Actually, yes, there was. The passes at first lap and 2 laps after SC came in when the DRS are still disabled.

    2. Verstappen on Perez, which was new tyres versus very old, so meh, doesn’t count.

      1. But he at least surprised Perez there ;)

  7. Call me heartless, but I don’t get this huge fuss around Massa retiring (last year… and even less so this year). I understand that the Brazilian’s are passionate about F1 and their local drivers, but this isn’t Ayrton Senna retiring. This is a reasonably like-able driver who finished second once and has only beaten his team-mate over a season twice (plus half of 2009 and probably 2017). I personally won’t miss him…

    1. He’s likable, and pre 2009 was very highly regarded as a driver.

      He made a comeback after a potentially disastrous accident.

      2008 and 2009 earn him a lot of sympathy.

    2. Well it’s him making it so dramatic every year… And his tears are camera magnets.

    3. Senna retirement was very very imotional in Brazil this does not come close. Without Hamilton 2016 luck he would have been 2008 world champion.

      1. I don’t deal in ‘would have’ so I won’t get in to that one… Massa is not a World Champion.

        1. @ben-n
          Quite agree…would have does not count hence Rosberg beat Hamilton on equal terms last year and was a deserved world champion.

      2. Senna retirement was very very imotional

        retirement… that’s a strange way to put it.

    4. @ben-n Personally I think any F1 driver that raced at least 3 full season deserved a send off. Besides Massa is the closest thing Brazilian people have to have a World Champion after Senna.

      1. Fair comment… though I wouldn’t rate him much higher than Barrichello. I suppose I’ve just engaged ‘miserable old man mode’! I can understand why the Brazilian’s will miss him following his 2006 and 2008 wins there, but I just never took to him personally.

        1. @ben-n I get it. I’m also not a fan of Massa, but I do have a respect for him and figured Brazilian people must have a lot more emotional interest for him. Anyway those celebrations didn’t do any harm to you or me, so let them have it :)

        2. It’s called nationalism. I don’t get it either.

          1. You have no pride in your nation? I don’t get it.

          2. Bobby, I know Brazilians see patriotism in a bit of a different light than the rest of the world, but patriotism isn’t nationalism.
            I don’t think Massa’s sendoff is a display of nationalism at all, so yeah, it’s patriotism, but what I think Sihrtogg might be referring to is how it’s irrational to love a nation just because you were born there, specially if you’ve never lived anywhere else.
            I mean, whatever, it’s fine loving your country, I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m just saying it’s not a bad thing to have a bit of critical thinking and not see things through patriotic glasses all the time.

    5. F1 today is like LMP1 and LMP2 and in that comparison he won LMP2 today. That’s his feeling.

  8. This is the worst drop in form Hamilton has ever had in a season after securing the championship.

    It wasn’t a bad race, good result and racing for Massa.

    1. @philipgb

      Um…..hit my Vettel last time out had his race ruined but took the title, had an astonishing race today.

        1. I assume Philips comment is tongue in cheek since he is literally comparing to one other race (Mexico 2015).

    2. Eh ? He went from the pitlane to 4th less than 5 seconds behind his team mate who stated on pole… Super performance from him today

    3. I forgot online people can’t see my tongue pushed into my cheek. 2008 + 2014 Hamilton won in the last round, so no more rounds to compare his form.

      2015 Hamilton qualified and finished 2nd in all the races after he secured the championship.

      This is the only race there has been since Hamilton secured the championship this year and he failed to qualify and then finished 4th, from a literal stat perspective it’s the worse drop in form he has had after winning the championship during a season, but it’s obviously an absurd statement. Lighten up peeps.

      1. Brilliant drive from Lewis but he made up a lot already with the SC

  9. A very good race……from the formation lap(Kimi) and all the way through…Lewis was outstanding….not sure why Massa is retiring, his team mate is still not in the same class…..Race was spoilt for me slightly with the graphics on screen…either not on or a lap behind….
    Gave it a 9

    1. Race was spoilt for me slightly with the graphics on screen

      @jop452 – That’s a very good point. Not the first time this season that this timing bar on the left has been frozen or out of sync with reality. Liberty/FOM, get your act together on this, its not rocket science.

      1. Yep, the info screens were a real mess and very annoying.

  10. One thing that stood out for me was Massa’s result. What a great story. Putting one over Alonso, of all people, at his home track. In a ‘bonus’ season in which, sad to say, there’s not been much positive to write about. Great touch by the new guard at FOM getting him and Barrichello on the podium at the end.

    1. He had a similar race to Baku. For me those 2 races this season was at a champion level. Even not being so consistently faster I still think it’s a shame that he’s going away of F1 with drivers like Grojean/Ericsson/Magnussen/Wherlein/Hartley/Stroll/Gasly left with a car to race.

      People complain about some teams keeping old drivers, but it’s not their fault if they are old and still better than almost half of the grid.

    2. I’d say it’s more significant that he outdrove Perez, as with Alonso’s lack of power it was an even more impressive performance from him to get anywhere near Massa. But a nice story nonetheless…

      I just can’t get on board with the podium “guests” though. A DJ last time out and now we have three rushed interviews with the Top 3 so we can wheel out Massa again. I totally get that the Brazilian’s want to see him, but it just feels contrived to cut short Vettel’s celebration of a well earned win… Maybe I’m old-fashioned :-)

      1. It’s hard to measure how good Alonso was when he have a rookie at his side like Vandoorne. It’s the same for Massa. No matter how good they perform we will never know how far the car can go.

    3. @keithcollantine It feels good until we remember that McLaren Honda shouldn’t been that close to a Mercedes powered car in the first place. Also they changed the podium music to samba? I think it’s a nice touch if every country can insert their own small local flavor to the race. Here’s hoping the COTA’s cowboy hat to return instead of awkward DJ booth.

      1. Agreed on all points!

      2. Fernando Mariano
        13th November 2017, 3:56

        But then again, McLaren is a much better car overall, just a worse engine… All the corners McLaren nails it, and that’s laptime too, not only straights. If Alonso could catch Felipe a little bit closer, he would have had a chance at turn 1, but there is pretty much no one in history of Formula 1 who does that last corner better than Felipe Massa, I mean it. Felipe outperformed the McLaren, the Force India and the Renaults, so let’s give the little man credit for that, he did a great race. McLaren car takes care of the tyres a lot more compared to the Williams, so at the end Felipe had no tyres at all, and was still holding them off and nailing that last corner over and over again with no mistakes. Felipe outperformed the car today.

  11. 7 or 8 of 10. Gripping race. I might vote Massa for the driver of the weekend, never throught that would happen

    1. He had a great race in Baku almost at the same level, and last race would have ended well for him if it’s not for the puncture and could battle for 4th with Ocon. He’s still in good shape.

  12. Very good race. Great victory of champion Vettel. Extraordinary comeback of champion Hamilton. And excellent performace of Massa, a good memory of his last race.
    Bottas, Kimi, Max … bad race.

    1. Bottas messed up his start, Kimi did not perform but hold off Ham. But what did Max wrong?
      His Renault was turned down on power and the straight line speed was bad. But he did nothing wrong, did he?

  13. 8/10 Excellent showing from Hamilton, Massa, and Alonso. The rest is actually typical F1 race and the Red Bulls is definitely only the 3rd best car here just after Horner declared they have the best car in last 4 races.

    1. They have the best chassis but they don’t have the best engine. Still Mercedes and Ferrari chassis are equal or not so far behind. Engine: 1. Mercedes 2. Ferrari 3. Red Bull / Chassis: 1. Red Bull 2. Ferrari 3. Mercedes.

      1. The best car is referring to chassis and engine combo. Also many people underestimating how good Mercedes chassis is. Running the “secret factory engine mode” would not be able to cover the gap between Force India or Williams to Red Bull and Ferrari.

        1. I don’t believe Williams and Force India have the same engine performance. But who knows…

      2. How do you claim that RBR have the best chassis despite the fact that this season and in chassis tracks they were outclassed by Ferrari (Monaco,Hungaroring and Singapore) ?

        1. If you judge by after the summer break it’s a different scenario.

          1. Ferrari have been faster in all downhole tracks all year. Malaysia Vettel or Raikkonen would have won, Singapore as well. Middle sector this race Rb were no where. Was there a technical directive this race about dodgy suspensions….low and behold Rb no where. Some small quality control issues and driver brain fade cost Ferrari titles this year.

          2. No it’s not and correct me if I’m wrong.
            Singapore : Vettel on pole.
            Malaysia : Vettel was affected by reliability issues during qualifying but in the race he did a blistering stint of 18 laps in the 1:34s something Hamilton nor Verstappen were able to do and scored the fastest lap of the race.
            Japan : Vettel qualified ahead of the two RBRs by half a second
            USA : Vettel qualified/finished ahead of the two RBRs
            Mexico : Vettel on pole
            Brazil : Vettel qualified ahead/finished ahead of the two RBRs.
            How on earth did RBR outclassed Ferrari chassis wise after the summer break ?

    2. Funny how some fans in here can’t even bring themselves to nominate Vettel among the best. Second in quali, great (non DRS) overtake for the lead, controlled the pace enough to keep faster Mercs in check. What should the guy do to get on that list? Great drive by Ham, not to take anything away from it, but new engine (and half the car was new as well) in a track that completely suits Mercedes and couldn’t pass Kimi on newer tires when it mattered for the podium. Happy Massa was able to keep Alonso behind in his last grand prix. “Alonso is faster than you” must have been in his mind the whole race. Alonso is a beast. Hope the change to Renault next year works out given the fact that Honda seems to be progressing quite well. Very good performance by Ricciardo as well. Thumbs down for Verstappen who groaned and moaned about his tires all race long and did nothing of note.

  14. Really disappointed with this. Usually such a great GP – 2016 had Max’s stunning charge through the grid in torrential rain.

    2017 was a bunch of drs passes and grosjean being a disgrace of a driver yet again. Stunned he is still in the sport.

    1. It helps to have Maldonado, Gutierrez and Magnussen as teammates.

    2. see elsewhere, but maybe not GRO’s fault
      he possibly got tagged by VAN and had a puncture which caused the spin

  15. Well, it had great moments, and interest in seeing if Hamilton could indeed get his podium. But, the only fight for the lead was brief and lacklustre into the 1st corner, with Bottas not being able to do anything to counter Vettel. Ricciardo had to go for a lot of non-drs overtakes because of his engine/chassis strenghts, while Hamilton was often just a lot faster even before DRS. Except near the end, after Stroll helped him to only have one real attempt at Raikkonen, which he failed. The Massa/Alonso fight was good, fully agree with what @keithcollantine said above about that. All in all, the race was quite exciting, but not quite stunning, I gave it a 7/10.

  16. Would have been aa 5 without Danny Ric’s and Lewis H’s drives through the field. Boy Wonder especially disappointing.

  17. 6 for this one. I had to order pizza around lap 41 to keep myself from falling asleep.

  18. I think we all owe Lewis Hamilton a huge debt, because if he hadn’t stuffed it in the wall yesterday that would have been a fairly dismal race.

    Turned out to be fairly tense and exciting towards the end, seeing what would happen among the top four. I imagine it was interesting watching Massa/Alonso/Perez too, but we didn’t really get to see that.

    Gave it a 7.

  19. Fernando Mariano
    12th November 2017, 18:36

    But also, how faster is McLaren on the rest of the circuit besides straights?? Williams has one of the worst chassis… Not to tell that in the end Felipe had no tyres, because the car didn’t have that pace he was putting at the begining. Felipe in the end was lapping high 15’s, his tyres were dead, and still he was managing to not make any mistakes and kept both behind him. Felipe’s setup also was clearly favourng the straights, so nothing wrong there, even Fernando applauded him, so I don’t get the point of people always trying to diminish Massa. He is a guy that is completly humble in a world of egos, wich is F1, he has always been the most unselfish driver on the grid, and was still a great driver, definetly still better than most of the grid even to this day. Great race by Felipe today, he deserved to be in F1 even next year, but F1 has turner a weird way, where money speaks louder than skills even in a team like Williams.

  20. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    12th November 2017, 18:59

    Lance Stroll: “There’s something on my tyre.”

  21. Difficult to gauge such a race, Hamilton and to some extent Ricciardo made it interesting, charging down the field.

    But I am just wondering how it must feel to get lapped by the driver who started last ?

    I think there are too many are being unfairly critical of Bottas. The Mercedes doesn’t follow other cars very well and it is something Mercedes really need to look into. If it wasn’t an issue Bottas may have been able to give Vettel more of a challenge.

    As it is, and it is unfortunate, too many races are being settled on the first lap or corner.

  22. 7/10

    If only, everyone had access to qualifying modes for large stints of the race though :(

  23. Almost fell asleep. Do people really find DRS passes exciting? Following Hamilton’s progress through the field might have been entertaining if it wasn’t a foregone conclusion each time he opened his rear wing. Apart from that, the front of the field circled round in the dirty air, the tyre strategies were all the same, and the midfielders were either saving their engines (all Renault-powered cars) or trying to stay in the slipstream to launch one final attack (Alonso).

    5/10, highly average race that was decided in the first couple of corners. Extra point for Massa’s emotional farewell.

  24. Gave it an 8. Some nice battles and lots of suspense. Top 4 cars finished within 5 secs of each other and P7-P9 were covered by a few tenths. DRS was a bit too powerful as usual but apart from that, Interlagos delivered a good race, as it usually does.

  25. Very big yawn!

    The polesitter got overtaken at the first corner. Someone from the back of the field almost makes it to the podium. Some stupid clashes. Renault engine failing. Plenty of drama.

    But exactly this happened in Mexico too, and in Austin. Different players, same action.
    Ah well :-)

  26. I don’t know why they thought these aero regs were a good move. The dirty air has killed so many possibly exciting battles this year.
    The renaults and hondas can barely keep up with ferrari and merc engines. The Mercs can’t follow in dirty air with the best engine and an extra mode. A real shame as it could have been a lot better with the cars being so close in performance at the front.

  27. 6 for me, after the first lap hurley burley it settled down to the usual suspects. Yes I did see Hamilton and Ricciardos “charge’ through the field. Drivers of that caliber in cars with such superior speed particularly Hams Merc would you expect less?

  28. Underwhelmed by Seb, Valtteri, and Kimi. Lewis, Daniel, Phillipe, and Fernando all put on good shows and fought the good fight.

    1. @motoduc250 I see you have no clue on how to manage a race then,…

  29. Fairly dull race. Drs was far too strong ensuring that faster cars didn’t have to fight for their positions (apart from poor old Alonso in his McHonda). First six positions could have been predicted after a few racing laps, with the only question being exactly how far up Hamilton would get.

  30. 6/10
    The start was even. Vettel had better initial getaway than Bottas and could hold on to the inside line into the first corner. Although safety car marginally helped Hamilton, it was exciting to see the charge through the midfield. At the same time it was disappointing to see the gap in engine performance. The Mercedes car had a tremendous performance advantage out of the final corner and up the hill leading into turn 1. Even if the pass could not be completed into the first turn, second DRS zone was there to help as in the case of Max vs Lewis (although there was tyre performance gap, the engine was just too powerful and there was DRS as well). Then the other disappointing factor was to see several cars down a lap to the leading cars. Even, the Red Bulls were so far off the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes.
    The final disappointing factor was Grosjean. Nothing is impossible in F1 and I think Haas should reconsider their decision to retain him next year.
    It was good to see Gasly put in a decent performance in the Torro Rosso and Hartley as per my expectation was lacklusture.

  31. It was as exciting as a race that had no significance can be. Watching the Alonso / Massa fight was intersting to some degree. What was most dissapointing was Hamilton making it to the top of the field with almost zero effort – even Verstappen gave up without a fight (nothing he could do in reallity).

  32. By modern F1 standards it was a fairly decent race… Helped by Hamilton and Riciardo.

    Start was exciting, then ot was plagued by overtakkng inability. Highlight was Massa holding on to his place.

  33. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    13th November 2017, 14:27

    7. Decent one but not as decent as last year…

  34. I gave this 7/10. Was heading for a 6 but I thought the last 8/10 laps were quite exciting.

    Hamilton did a good job coming through the field but to be honest most of the passes were fairly simple DRS ones. It was not until the Mercedes came up against a car of similar power i.e. Ferrari that it really became interesting. This was true for most passes in the race.

    The Massa/Alonso fight was good but in truth Massa should have been able to hold Alonso off being in a Williams.

    1. Fernando Mariano
      13th November 2017, 18:05

      In what world is Williams an overall better car than the McLaren? They just have a better engine, that’s all… McLaren nails the corners, and that’s laptime too. No one in F1 history makes that last corner of Interlagos better than Felipe Massa, that’s also why Alonso never got him, he was never close on the exit to try something, even if Alonso was flying on sector 2.

      1. Well it is obvious from your comment above that you are a big fan of Felipe and I think this is reflected in your comment. I was in no way suggesting that he is somehow sub standard. However, the Williams is a much faster car than the McLaren in a straight line.

        We saw the advantage of straight line speed in the way in which Lewis was able to carve through the field in the Mercedes. It is a big advantage on this circuit. Fernando was also complaining about his lack of pace. The main reason Fernando was able to get so close is that is just very skilled and very fast. I accept though that the McLaren has the better chassis.

  35. Race was okay-ish. But coverage was quite bad, the last few laps with MAS-ALO-PER were probably nice to have, but instead we got RAI-HAM even when they were in parts of the circuit were there was not going to be an overtake ever (meaning, not in the straight).

    Car transponders or whatever it was, also terrible, the positions took close to half a minute to update on overtakes and pits!

  36. I found it a solid performance from Hamilton. However everybody could see his Mercedes had so much more speed at the straights that it was not skill alone that brought him to fourth place. So in the end no surprises I rated a 3.

  37. I thought it was a good race and I gave it a 6.5.

    As it was going to be dry I thought that whoever led after the first lap would win the race unless they had problems and that is just what happened, Vettel got the better start and so beat pole sitter Bottas into the first corner, after that the only time Vettel was under threat was when Bottas tried the undercut with his pit stop, and for a moment it looked like the tactic would pay off but Vettel re-joined the circuit still in the lead after he stopped a lap later.

    The recovery drives from Hamilton and Ricciardo provided entertainment throughout the race, although most of those overtakes where relatively straight forward and easy.

    It was a question of how far up they would manage to get and their finishing positions of Hamilton fourth and Ricciardo sixth were probably where you would have predicted in a dry race at Interlagos given where they started.

    Hamilton did catch Raikkonen before the end but as we have seen in recent years it can be hard to overtake here if the cars are evenly matched like the Mercedes and Ferrari were, so I didn’t expect Hamilton to pass Raikkonen and get onto the podium.

    It was nice to see Massa have a good race at his final home Grand Prix, much better than his final home Grand Prix last year when he crashed out in the wet. Even with Ricciardo and Hamilton starting where they did, seventh was the best Massa could hope for unless someone from the top three teams retired.

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