F1 news - Imperious Lewis Hamilton seals deserved title as Max Verstappen wins race

Daniel Ricciardo, so happy to start in pole, might have been forgiven for being distracted by thinking about the men lurking behind him on the grid - not least his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen. He got a poor start, and the young Dutchman capitalised, as did Lewis Hamilton from the second row, knowing that a top seven finish would be enough to secure him the drivers' championship.

The Australian worked hard to regain face, closing the gap with the help of DRS to give Hamilton plenty to think about in the first third of the race.

As the Brit's tyres suffered, so did his concentration, and eventually Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen moved through.

Poor Ricciardo's day ended badly too, with his power running out ten laps from the end; he looked both furious and heartbroken as he climbed on the bike that drove him back to the pit after his eighth did-not-finish of the year.

So it was Verstappen on top of the podium, the Ferraris behind him - but Hamilton in fourth place got the title he wanted. And he might not have finished where he wanted, but he was allowed to do some celebratory doughnuts, and park up with the top three.

Four stars out of five. He did exactly what he needed to do, despite a few wobbles.

Hamilton reported tyre problems from Lap 8, describing them as "fragile", and indeed the graining on them was visible. He ducked into the pits for an early stop, setting the trend for the rest of the front-runners.

He almost self-destructed on Lap 47, running too wide at the first turn and ruining his tyres as well as conceding P3 to Ricciardo.

Then he started to fret about his tyres, and his speed, and pretty much everything else in the universe, and his team could have well been justified if they'd just told him that all he had to do was trundle round the track and not finish any lower than seventh and the title was his.

"So sorry, mate." Empty words intended to console a very upset Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton's quick thinking moved him through into second place almost as soon as the lights were out, overtaking a struggling Ricciardo and setting up the rest of a competitive race nicely.

Sebastian Vettel's swing past Ricciardo on Lap 34 was simply wonderful - the Red Bull was hamstrung by backmarkers and the German took full advantage.

Mercedes' conservative pit-stop strategy might not have been the most popular with Lewis Hamilton, who wanted to be at the front and on top of the podium to take his championship in style, but their choice to take no risks kept him in the top seven, where he needed to be, even if it meant he was a little way off the pace.

Stoffel Vandoorne, take a bow - look at that ninth place finish for McLaren!

Fernando Alonso's Sunday was over after five laps, left to park up at the side of the track.

He was unfortunate to have suffered a smack from Esteban Ocon's flying front wing - in turn caused by a collision with Carlos Sainz - which caused enough damage to end his race.

Nothing too glam - a few motorsport faces.

Placido Domingo had a trip round the track.

Actor Will Smith left a voice message for Hamilton as he passed the chequered flag - although he wasn't actually at the track, but that still counts as a celebrity sighting, right?