Nico Rosberg had to win the penultimate race of the season if he was to retain half a chance of winning the world title. He did it in style, dominating every practice session to win the Pole Position award of the season, a fine acclaim in itself given that Lewis Hamilton, considered by many to be the fastest man in F1, is his team-mate at Mercedes.
Winning the prime starting slot was one thing; now Rosberg had to convert this into victory, something he had failed to do five times in the previous 17 races. The chances of a repeat seemed likely as Hamilton took the outside of the front row and aimed for his sixth win in succession.
This time, however, Rosberg was primed and ready, taking an immediate advantage going up the slope from the Interlagos starting grid and aiming for the downhill apex of Turn 1. When Hamilton slotted into second place, the 71-lap encounter would be settled either by tyre performance or Hamilton pulling off another stealthy passing move similar to the one that brought victory over Rosberg the previous Sunday in Texas.
Stung by that defeat, Rosberg was totally focussed this time, maintaining a gap of a couple of seconds through the first early pit stop (to get rid of the worryingly susceptible Soft tyre and switching, along with other leading runners, to the Medium for the rest of the afternoon).
Running at the front, Rosberg had priority call on coming in first for the second (of three) stops. When the silver Mercedes disappeared into the pits, it quickly became evident that this might not be an advantage at all.
Hamilton, running in clear air, put in a blistering (literally) lap that was so good, his back-up crew felt he could do another to secure the undercut and come out in the lead. It turned out to be a call too far. On the next lap, Hamilton discovered he had taken too much from his exhausted tyres when he locked his rear brakes (aided by Hamilton cranking on too much rear bias) and went sideways into Turn 4.
Luckily it was only a half spin, thus avoiding running backwards into the barrier. But while damage may have been avoided in the physical sense, the lost seven seconds would cost any chance of taking the lead after stopping at the end of that lap. (A subsequent simulation would show that, but for the moment in the run-off area, Hamilton would have been leading by 0,3s).
All that was left for Hamilton was either a fumble by the Mercedes crew at the third and final stop or a tiny mistake by Rosberg. Neither happened, Rosberg showing impressive grit under huge pressure. He did all he could possibly do, reducing Hamilton’s championship lead to 17 points with one race to go.
The usual capacity crowd, basking in the traditional Brazilian heat, was thrilled to see Felipe Massa take third after two incidents that could have robbed the local man of only his second podium of the season. Having qualified third, Massa looked to have thrown away his positional advantage when he received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane lane at this first stop.
With the penalty duly added (as permitted) to the second stop, Massa then made a silly error when he drove into the McLaren pit rather then the Williams pit for his third stop.
Fortunately the garages are next door to each other and little time was lost – which was more than could be said for the other Williams of Valtteri Bottas (fourth on the grid) who made a bad start and was then stationary for several seconds during one pit stop when his seat harness was adjusted for reasons the Finn would not divulge when questioned later.
On a weekend when Jenson Button’s future as a F1 driver remained in doubt, the McLaren driver produced a classy performance to finish fourth after a couple of epic moves when overtaking both Ferrari drivers.
Button won his championship at Interlagos in 2009, Hamilton claiming his the year before. This time Hamilton has to wait a fortnight until Abu Dhabi. If he finishes first or second at Yas Marina, he will be champion for a second time, regardless of the contentious double points being awarded.
Rosberg can do no more than win and hope for the best. Much as he did on Sunday, in fact.
