Losers: Aston Martin
This was a brutal weekend for Aston Martin. Their mechanics were up against it after both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso crashed in qualifying – but they did an incredible job to get both cars ready for the race just a few hours later.
However, Stroll didn’t even get to take the start after he spun on the formation lap (he said after the race it felt like a brake failure) and as he tried to recover, the car got beached in the gravel.
Alonso spent most of the race in the points, but said he encountered a brake issue after the restart and later spun out of the top 10. The Spaniard reported a lot of discomfort in his back, courtesy of the car bouncing significantly, and he limped across the line 14th.
Winners: Alpine
Alpine had not completed a single racing lap inside the top five all season coming to Brazil – but that all changed at Interlagos as they took advantage of the wet conditions to seal a remarkable double podium.
Esteban Ocon briefly led before coming second, one place ahead of Pierre Gasly who was racing in his 150th Grand Prix weekend.