Sebastian Vettel claimed victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix, one race on from having had to concede the world championship title to arch rival Lewis Hamilton.
It was Vettel's first win in four months amid a disastrous second half of the season for the Ferrari driver.
But any hopes Hamilton had of making the weekend in Brazil a celebration of his freshly won fourth world championship were dashed even before the start, when Hamilton crashed out of qualifying. Forced to start from pitlane after also changing to a new engine, Hamilton charged though the field but got no further than fourth place.
At the head of the field, Vettel’s Ferrari held sway for the entire race, the German appearing to always have the measure of second-placed Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes. Likewise third placed Kimi Raikkonen never really threatened to relieve Bottas of the runner up's spot.
Max Verstappen was a lonely fifth, followed by Red Bull Racing team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Like Hamilton, the Australian was forced to battle his way through the field after being tapped into a spin by Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren after it was hit by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Local hero Felipe Massa was seventh in what was his swansong appearance in Brazil as Massa is set to retire from F1 at the end of this season.
It was at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil in 2008 that Massa was beaten to the world championship by Lewis Hamilton in the dying seconds of the race.
The 2017 Formula 1 season wraps up in Abu Dhabi in two weeks.
