A dominant win for Hamilton brings him even closer to his fourth world championship. His rival, Vettel, finished second ahead of Verstappen. However, after the race Verstappen was given a controversial penalty for his incredible overtake on Raikkonen on the final lap.
Losing the lead to Vettel at the start, Hamilton managed to take the position back on lap 6. Taking control of the race, he had a clear advantage in pace over Vettel and was able to pull out a lead. However when Vettel pitted on 16 his team opted to keep him out for another 3 laps. When he rejoined, his 5 second lead was all but gone and he had to start again.
Meanwhile, from 16th on the grid due to engine penalties, Verstappen was making incredible progress. Running fifth at the halfway point, he was beginning to threaten the likes of Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen, who were believed to require another stop. Pitting for fresh tyres on lap 37, Verstappen immediately lapped faster than those ahead, leading to Vettel stopping the lap after.
With Verstappen and Vettel both on fresh tyres, in 4th and 5th, they were 15 seconds down on the top 3. But lapping two seconds a lap faster, they would catch the leaders with 10 laps to go. Raikkonen made the pass on Bottas, who was struggling on old tyres, on lap 42. He was soon followed by Vettel on lap 51 and then Verstappen the lap after.
Raikkonen was directed to let Vettel past by Ferrari, in an attempt to keep the German’s title hopes alive. This left Verstappen to attempt a pass on Raikkonen to reach the podium. On the final lap, he made an incredible overtake at turn 16 to take third place. However, he was immediately handed a 5-second penalty for going off the track. This controversial decision is very similar to that in Mexico last year which robbed him of a podium finish also.
The penalty meant that it was Raikkonen who took third, with Verstappen down to fourth. Bottas finished a disappointing 5th, but it was enough for Mercedes to secure their fourth world championship. A close battle between Ocon and Sainz for 6th saw Ocon come out on top, but it was nonetheless an incredible first race at Renault for Sainz. Perez managed to hold on to 8th, ahead of Massa and Kvyat.
Stroll took 11th, with Vandoorne 12th. Hartley was happy with 13th on his F1 debut. Ericsson and Magnussen completed the finishers. Ricciardo and Alonso both didn’t finish the race due to engine failures and Hulkenberg also suffered relaibility problems. The only other non-finisher was Wehrlein, who retired early on with damage from a first lap clash.