Rosberg holds off Hamilton to win Brazilian GP

Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg stopped Lewis Hamilton's win streak at five by winning the Brazilian GP by 1.4 seconds at Interlagos as the Mercedes duo romped home. Hamilton lost control of his car in the middle of the race and spun. He lost 7 seconds, then caught back up, but was unable to pass Rosberg.

Hometown man Felipe Massa was third in another Mercedes powered car (41 seconds back) ahead of Jensen Button giving Mercedes power a 1-2-3-4.

Sebastian Vettel was 5th and first in the non-Mercedes class of F1.

Rosberg led every practice session, every qualifying session, and the race to make the weekend a clean sweep for his 5th win of the year to Hamilton's 10.

Having led away from pole, Rosberg seemed set for a comfortable victory when Hamilton spun at Turn 4 when pushing hard during the second pit stop period, but Hamilton closed a gap of over seven seconds and the two were never more than a second apart in the final stint.

While Hamilton had shown the pace to catch his teammate, Rosberg didn't put a foot wrong and only out of the final corner did Hamilton drop back and allow the gap to stretch to 1.4s at the flag. Rosberg's fifth win of the season cuts the gap in the championship standings to 17 points, meaning the title would have been decided in Abu Dhabi regardless of double points.

Felipe Massa took an emotional podium at his home race, with his only previous top three finish this season having come at Monza. Jenson Button delivered an impressive drive to fourth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, who passed teammate Kimi Raikkonen late on after the team told him to move over.

Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten, with Bottas having lost out due to a slow second pit stop.

With Rosberg on pole ahead of Hamilton, Massa and Bottas, a cautious start saw the top four all hold position and Button remain fifth. Behind them, Vettel ran wide at Turn 4 and lost out to Magnussen and Alonso.

Track temperatures were as hot as Friday and saw the soft tires limited to a handful of laps, with the top ten all stopping by the end of lap eight and emerging behind those who started on mediums. Massa's first stop proved costly as he was penalized for speeding in the pit lane, getting a five second penalty which he had to take at his second stop.

As the front runners carved through those drivers yet to pit, Rosberg opened up a small gap but Hamilton quickly closed up again when through the traffic. Rosberg then pit on lap 26 – at the same time as Bottas who dropped back due to a slow stop as Williams removed debris from his car – and Hamilton duly set the fastest lap in response to the stop.

With Hamilton looking set to jump his teammate, he stayed out for an extra lap and lost the rear at Turn 4, spinning as he ran wide. Pitting at the end of the lap, Hamilton emerged 7.4s behind Rosberg and with tire wear a concern due to the high track temperatures a fight back looked tough.

However, within ten laps Hamilton had brought the gap back down to four seconds and lock-ups from Rosberg showed he was feeling the pressure. That gap became 1.9s by the final stops and Hamilton emerged a lap after Rosberg within a second of the leader.

At the front, the two Mercedes' were not giving each other an inch, with Rosberg setting a fastest lap ten laps from the end which was just 0.001s faster than Hamilton. However, Rosberg soaked up all the pressure and didn't allow his team-mate even half a chance to try a move, ensuring he converted pole position in to a victory for just the third time this season.

QUOTES

Nico Rosberg
That was a fantastic weekend and I felt very comfortable over the whole three days. I had to learn from Austin, which was a big disappointment, and I think I achieved that. I was able to control the pace a bit better and didn't let Lewis come too close. He drove really well and was always right there pushing me. When he spun I had a bit of time to relax and was able to save some life in the tires for the end of the stint. That worked out perfectly and it was a great day with another one-two for the team. I was also happy for Felipe to be on the podium with us at his home race. The Brazilian people have been so great to us throughout this the whole weekend so it was also a good day for them. Now we have a great finale to look forward to in Abu Dhabi. I'm still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself.

Lewis Hamilton
Naturally, you'll always be disappointed when you make a mistake and I did that today. But honestly, I felt great out there. The car was strong, my pace was good, I didn't give up, kept pushing and made up the time so that's what's most important to me. Generally, when I'm told to push it means the team is bringing me in that lap so that's what I did. In the end, they left me out for another lap which caught me by surprise. By the time I came round to do the second lap my rear tires were gone from where I'd been pushing so hard. Even so, it was my mistake locking up the rears and ultimately that cost me the win. Nico drove a great race – defending well and not making any mistakes. But it's clear I had the pace. It's not a big deal, though. That's motor racing. Obviously, I lost some points which is disappointing. But it's a great team result with a record-breaking one-two finish and I really enjoyed the race. The car is just fantastic – the best I've ever driven – so a big thank you to the team for all their hard work. I'll be pushing just as hard in Abu Dhabi and hopefully we'll get to have another great race like we saw today.

Felipe Massa
It was not an easy race but what a fantastic result for me, for my family, and for the team to finish on the podium in front of my home fans. The energy from the crowd was amazing and really pushed me forward. The car had strong and consistent pace today and this allowed me to stay in third despite issues in my two pitstops. In the first stop I incurred a stop-and-go penalty after speeding in the pit lane after I hit the limiter twice by mistake, and in the second I stopped in the wrong box. We’re not normally next to McLaren and in the light their overalls looked the same color as ours so this caught me out. In the end these issues were not enough to take away my podium because we had a good aggressive strategy and a really good car.

Valtteri Bottas
It was a race full of different problems for me and in the end it just wasn’t my day. I had an issue with my belts at the beginning that we resolved at the first pit stop but this lost me a lot of time and I also lost time in the second stop. The conditions were very challenging as tire wear was high and all cars were experiencing graining. As a team we have managed to come away with some decent points and I’m happy for Felipe as the crowd reaction after he got out of the car was very special. These sort of days happen in Formula One and we need to regroup and make sure that Abu Dhabi is a problem free race for us.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Finish Position: 5th, Start Position: 6th
"I had a good launch at the start and then into Turn 4… maybe I don't have the best memories of Turn 4 here from two years ago, I didn't know how aggressive Kevin (Magnussen) was going to be going into it and I left a bit too much space. I went a bit wide and lost two positions as I couldn't get on the power out of the corner. Then I had to fight hard to get the positions back during the race which we did, especially with strategy. I hoped to get maybe one more position to finish fourth, but in the end it was a good result for us here."

DANIEL RICCIARDO, Finish Position: DNF, Start Position: 9th
"When I went into Turn One, the car went to the right and I knew there was a problem. I came into the pits and the team told me it was suspension failure and we retired. It had been a bit of a boring race, we were close to everyone but not close enough to have many fights; I would have liked to have had a bit more fun, but it didn't really happen. It's a shame, but I had a pretty good run until now, so I can't be too greedy. It would be good to finish on the podium at the final race of the season."

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