Lewis Hamilton accepts victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix came as a welcomed surprise after seeing Max Verstappen spin out of the lead a💖fter clashing with the lapped Esteban Ocon while he also battle late engine issues.

The newly-crowned 2018 Formula 1 world champion helped secure the constructors’ crown for Mercedes with victory at Interlagos in a race which looked✱ to have gone away from the British driver following Max Verstappen’s initial charge through the pack before using a stronger tyre strateꦏgy to claim the lead.

But at the start of Lap 44, Verstappen collided with Ocon – as the Force India driver attempted to⭕ unlap hi༒mself at Turn 2 – which sent both drivers into a spin and hand Hamilton the lead.

“It was definitely a bit of 🅰a surprise to meꦡ,” Hamilton said. “I was in the lead, the pit stop was pretty premature and then they passed us on fresh tyres and there was nothing I could do, plus the engine was turned down.

“That was difficult to give up the lead at that point but then I was able to stay with him and he must have been just managin🔥g, clearly, with the pace that he hadᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ at the end.

“And then that crash ♍happened at Turn 2 and I came through the middle of these two guys who were both facing me and I was like ‘ahh nice, this is great’. I wanted to hold on to that and after that I heard he came back on track and was still qꩲuite close behind so I pushed as hard as I could to try to manage the gap but I couldn’t match his times with the power loss that I was having.”

Hamilton has duly paid tributeꦉ to Mercedes fo♏r securing its fifth consecutive F1 world constructors’ title.

“I’m very proud of everyone’s hard work and proud that I could be a part of it and contribute to th🍸em winning their fifth world title,” he said. “It is just astonishing and I want to continue to try to elevate Mercedes and make them the most successful brands of all time.”