The Formula 1 fraternity headed down to Brazil for the penultimate race. Concerns about the lack of viewership both on track and on TV was on the top of the minds of most fans, this brought about Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team clinching the Constructiors Title a few races ago, and, Lewis Hamilton clinching the Drivers Trophy, back in Austin. But the concern was all for naught, local fans headed over to interlagos to see their homwtown here, Felipe Massa try and win for the Williams Martini Racing, his home race.
Saturday saw a familiar pair on top of the grid, for the 14th time this year, it was both Mercedes that topped the time sheet. Followed by Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari, whil Kimi Raikkonen will start on 4th after the implementation of a 3 place grid penalty to Valtteri Bottas, who was supposed to start in P4.
At the start, Rosberg quickly got off the blocks to lead the field into the first corner, Hamilton followed suit, and even tried to squeeze by his team-mate, but Nico held on and sped away from the rest of the field as early as lap 2.
It was all about the Mercedes power at Interlagos, the power units were far superior to those of their rivals, the team-mates were exchanging fast lap times, no quarters given, and none taken. It was just a matter of who wanted the win more, will lift up the trophy after 71 laps.
The battle for the remaining step on the podium was between Vettel and Raikkonen. Sebastian was outpacing his team-mate and when Bottas, who was looking at the undercut, came into the pits for his tire change, Ferrari responded immediately by bringing in Kimi; this move worked for the Iceman, as when he came out, Bottas was behind, caught in traffic. Meanwhile, Sebastian was running a quiet race in 3rd.
Hamilton, ever the racer, kept pressuring Rosberg, to the point of destroying his tires in the process. In the latter laps of the race, Lewis lacked the grip and speed to get close to the gap. Even his call to change the strategy was not heeded. Hamilton just followed Rosberg to the line.
Sebastain Vettel took third ahead of Raikkonen; Vettel was about 14 seconds adrift of Rosberg while kept Kimi at bay with a 33 second lead. Valtteri Bottas finsihed 5th to give Williams Martini Racing, enough points to secure 3rd in the Constructors Championship.
It was the 4th win for Nico this year, the 13th of his career, and the 11th 1-2 finish of Mercedes.
The win further solidified Rosberg’s stand at 2nd in the drivers standings as they head to Abu Dhabi for the season finale.
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