Hamilton dominates chaotic Brazil GPposted in F113 | 11 | 2016
LEWIS HAMILTON PROMISED to ‘hunt down’ Mercedes team-mate and world championship leader Nico Rosberg after he won a chaotic, incident-packed Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton heads to Abu Dhabi for the season finale in a fortnight trailing Rosberg by just 12 points having won at Sao Paulo for the first time.
The victory was Hamilton’s third in a row, as he has slashed Rosberg’s lead back from 33 points, and the 52nd of his career, inching him ahead of Alain Prost to now lie in second place behind Michael Schumacher’s 91 GP wins.
In a race which started behind the safety car — which made five appearances, as rain swept across the Interlagos circuit causing a string of crashes caused by aquaplaning — and was red-flagged twice, Hamilton was imperious.
Afterwards, while other bemoaned the conditions, the three-time world champ admitted he’s been able to watch some of the incidents on the big TV screens dotted around the circuit.
Hamilton won from pole, but frustratingly for him, Rosberg — traditionally not all the positive in the wet — finished second, albeit 11.4secs back.
Rosberg knows should Hamilton win in Abu Dhabi, all he needs to do is repeat his Brazilian performance, or even finish third, and the title will be his.
Behind the two Mercedes, Max Verstappen gave a dazzling, mesmerising display of attacking driving making up 13 positions in 16 laps — after Red Bull, strangely, pitted him for fresh Inters — to snatch third.
The stat of the race was delayed by 10 minutes because of the conditions, which were so bad Romain Grosjean spun his Haas out on the ‘warm-up’ lap on the way to the grid.
The safety car stayed out for the opening seven laps, but once the racing stated, Hamilton quickly established a big lead over Rosberg, with Verstappen passing Kimi Raikkonen into the Senna S to snatch third.
Despite the atrocious conditions, a number of drivers and teams elected to pit to fit Inters. The decision was instantly questionable with fifth-placed Sebastian Vettel touching the white line at Juncao and spinning his Ferrari.
Minutes later, the safety car was back on-track after Marcus Ericsson aquaplaned his Sauber into the wall after touching the kerb on the inside of the final corner.
But there was more drama on the restart — on lap 20 of 71 — when Kimi Raikkonen aquaplaned on the main straight. The Finn slammed into the wall and sat for a few terrifying second facing he wrong way as the rest of the field sped past him. The incident prompted an almost immediate red flag.
The race restarted, behind the safety car, after a delay of around 35mins. But to the frustration of the drenched crowd, the TV audience and many of the drivers, the race was red-flagged again eight slow laps later as the rain continued to fall.
A further 27mins passed with the cars sat motionless in the pitlane and, following boos from the crowd, the race eventually got back underway. This time it ran to the end.
Verstappen soon took second after an audacious move round the outside of Rosberg at Turn 3. Then Verstappen brilliantly held a high-speed half-spin at the final corner, and somehow still managed to hold on to second.
Soon afterwards, Red Bull inexplicably pitted both the Dutchman and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to fit intermediates: it proved to be the wrong call. Seconds later Rosberg had a half-spin out of Juncao, and Felipe Massa crashed out of his final home race. Soon after, both Red Bulls pitted again for wets.
Massa meanwhile, with the pitlane closed because of the position of his damaged car, was able to take an emotional fine walk up passed all the garages with a Brazilian flag draped around his shoulder. With tears rolling down his cheeks, he received an emotional reception at former team, Ferrari, before entering his Williams garage.
With the race live again, it was Verstappen who dazzled, delivering a blistering demonstration of stunning overtaking in conditions which remains atrocious. Rejoining in 16th, he finished third, and closing in on Rosberg in second.
Behind Verstappen, Sergio Perez brought his Force India home fourth, one place ahead of Vettel. With Carlos Sainz sixth in this Toro Rosso, Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh for Force India, one place ahead of Ricciardo, with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr ninth and Fernando Alonso grabbing the final point in his McLaren.
F1 — Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos (Result):
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 3h 01m 01.335s / 71 laps
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +11.4s
3. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +21.4s
4. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +25.3s
5. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +26.3s
6. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +29.1s
7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +29.8s
8. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer +30.4s
9. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari +42.6s
10. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +44.4s
11. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +45.2s
12. Esteban Ocon FRA MRT-Mercedes +45.8s
13. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +51.1s
14. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +51.5s
15. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes +60.4s
16. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +81.9s
Retired:
Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +
Felipe Massa BRA Williams-Mercedes +
Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault
Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari
Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari
Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari
Fastest lap
Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 25.305s Lap 67
Related: Hamilton wins Mexico GP
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Jim McGill