It feels like a first, says Brazilian GP victor Lewis Hamilton

Max Verstappen still 14 points ahead in the championship

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton reduced the points gap between himself and championship leader from Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen after winning the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Third behind Verstappen was Mercedes team’s Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas.

In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen leads with 332.5 points, while Hamilton has 318.5. Bottas is third on 203.

Hamilton said: “I am so, so grateful for the incredible support I've had this weekend from the people of Brazil. I've not had this kind of support since Silverstone. What a race! The team here and at the factory did an amazing job, and Valtteri did a great job to get as many points as possible.

"I was pushing as hard as I could from last on grid, and then with another five-place penalty. This was, I think, the hardest weekend I've had. But my dad said 'you reminded me of 2004' when I was in Formula 3 in Bahrain - I started last and I finished 10th and then I finished first so, this one is for my dad.

"Coming into this weekend I never, ever thought we'd be able to close the gap like we have. And then things just kept going against us, but I think it really shows, just never give up. Whatever you're facing, you've just got to keep pushing, keep tumbling away, keep fighting. Never, ever stop fighting. That's how I've approached this weekend. It feels like a first because I don't feel like I've had a win for a long time,” he added.

Verstappen said: “I knew it would be difficult, but I did everything I could, we were just lacking a little bit. At least it was a fun race, of course I would have liked to have won but realistically I think this was a good result. Lewis and I were fighting for position on multiple occasions, I think it was hard racing but good racing and that’s how it should be. I was hoping for a little bit more performance but this result is definitely the maximum we could do.

“Top speed wise it was tough to defend, you can clearly see when they take a fresh engine that it gives them a bit more power. So, hopefully that will die down over the coming races. There are three races coming up that will be completely different again, so we’ll see how it goes," he added.

Bottas said: “The start was quite tricky and it was a disappointing first lap but I tried my best. After that, the pace was good and from the cockpit, I thought we could have a chance of the one-stop, but we decided to do a two-stop. The team put me in a good place to take advantage of the VSC, and it fell my way for once, so I was happy with that.

“Overall, I'm glad we could score more points than Red Bull. It was a positive result. Congratulations to Lewis, he had an amazing drive," he added.