The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix: Verstappen's Victory and the Ferrari Meltdown

The Race That Broke Ferrari's Season

The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix will be remembered for two things: [Max Verstappen](/drivers/max_verstappen)'s superb victory and the moment [Sebastian Vettel](/drivers/vettel) and [Charles Leclerc](/drivers/leclerc) took each other out of the race. The collision between the [Ferrari](/teams/ferrari) teammates on lap 66 — Vettel squeezing Leclerc into the wall on the main straight — was the explosive conclusion to a simmering intra-team rivalry that had defined the second half of the 2019 season.

Verstappen led from the front for most of the race in the [Red Bull](/teams/red_bull) RB15, managing his Honda power unit and tyre strategy with the kind of maturity that belied his 22 years. His winning margin was ultimately comfortable, but the race behind him was carnage.

The Ferrari Collision

At Interlagos, both Ferraris were running in the top five when they made contact on the straight between Turns 3 and 4. Vettel drifted right, Leclerc held his line, and the contact punctured Vettel's left rear tyre and broke Leclerc's front suspension. Both retired on the spot.

Mattia Binotto, Ferrari's team principal, called it a "racing incident." The paddock called it the inevitable consequence of a team that refused to establish a clear number one driver. The data suggested Leclerc was the faster of the two — 7 poles to Vettel's 2 that season — but Vettel's four championships and contractual seniority made the hierarchy impossible to resolve.

Verstappen's Composure

While Ferrari self-destructed, Verstappen delivered one of his best drives of 2019. He managed a one-stop strategy on a circuit that punishes tyre abuse, kept [Lewis Hamilton](/drivers/hamilton) at arm's length through the middle stint, and controlled the final safety car restart with precision.

It was Verstappen's third win of 2019 and his eighth career victory overall. [Pierre Gasly](/drivers/gasly), incredibly, finished second for [Toro Rosso](/teams/toro_rosso) — his first and only podium with the junior team, and one of the feel-good moments of the entire season. [Hamilton](/drivers/hamilton) completed the podium for [Mercedes](/teams/mercedes), extending his already-sealed championship points total.

The Broader Context

The 2019 season was [Hamilton](/drivers/hamilton)'s sixth championship and the year Ferrari came closest to challenging Mercedes across a full campaign since the hybrid era began in 2014. Leclerc won two consecutive races at Spa and Monza and took 7 pole positions. Vettel won in Singapore and took the team's best results at several circuits.

But the internal competition cost Ferrari constructors' championship points at race after race. At Interlagos, the bill finally came due — literally, with two broken cars and zero points from a race where both drivers had been running in scoring positions.

The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix marked the beginning of the end of the Vettel-Leclerc partnership. Vettel would leave Ferrari at the end of 2020. Leclerc would become the team's undisputed leader. And six years later, it would be [Lewis Hamilton](/drivers/hamilton) sitting in the other Ferrari alongside Leclerc — a pairing that carries its own combustible potential.

See the full [2019 season](/seasons/2019), or compare the Vettel-Leclerc careers on our [Compare tool](/compare?d1=vettel&d2=leclerc).