Brazilian GP 2015: Rosberg keeps Hamilton at bay in Interlagos

Nico Rosberg won the 2015 Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished second, giving Mercedes a one-two. Sebastian Vettel took third for Ferrari. Rosberg held the lead at the start and only gave it up briefly during the pit stops. Over 71 laps at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Hamilton found no way past his team-mate. According to the FIA, Rosberg crossed the line 7.7 seconds ahead of him.

According to grandprix.com, it was Rosberg's fifth consecutive pole position. He got away cleanly ahead of Hamilton at the start, while Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen held on to third and fourth behind them. Apart from the pit stops, that order at the front stayed the same all the way to the flag.

The lead changes tell you how the race went: Hamilton was only in front on laps 13–14, 33–34 and 48–49. On each occasion, Rosberg had pitted for fresh tyres one lap earlier than him. On track, Hamilton repeatedly closed in – to within 0.6 seconds after the first stop, according to the FIA. But Rosberg responded every time and pulled back out of the DRS window. Hamilton later complained that the DRS zone was “unfortunately not long enough”. Over the radio he asked his team to put him on a different strategy: “I'm faster, but I can't get close enough,” grandprix.com quoted him as saying. The team stuck to its plan.

In the closing stages, Hamilton suffered a heavy lock-up, according to the FIA, and reported possible damage to the floor. That brought the chase to an end.

A two-stop race was actually feasible. But because, according to Hamilton, the tyres would not have lasted long enough, Mercedes opted for three stops, grandprix.com reported. Rosberg pitted on laps 13, 33 and 48, with Hamilton coming in one lap later each time, on laps 14, 34 and 49. Whoever stopped first had priority – and that was the race leader. At one point Hamilton tried to look after his tyres and extend his stint. According to formula1.com, however, that plan did not pay off. He did at least claim the fastest lap of the race.

Ferrari also put Vettel on a three-stop strategy (laps 13, 32 and 47). On the soft tyres, he tried to put pressure on the Mercedes. According to the FIA, Vettel was at times up to a second quicker than the Silver Arrows on fresh softs, but it did not last long. Räikkönen made it through on just two stops (laps 12 and 46). However, he never got involved in the fight for the podium.

Valtteri Bottas had qualified fourth. According to grandprix.com, however, he received a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag in second free practice. From seventh on the grid, the Williams driver moved up to fifth early on and brought that position home on a two-stop strategy.

Nico Hülkenberg lost places at the start because of wheelspin, according to grandprix.com. An early first stop on lap 9, though, got him past Daniil Kvyat via the undercut. He eventually finished sixth for Force India, with Kvyat seventh in the Red Bull.

The most entertaining driver to watch was Max Verstappen. In the Toro Rosso, he passed both Sergio Pérez and Felipe Nasr around the outside, according to formula1.com, and fought a close battle with Romain Grosjean. He ended up ninth. His team-mate Carlos Sainz, by contrast, had a day to forget: his engine cut out on the way to the starting grid, so he had to take a pit lane start. On the first lap the engine failed again and Sainz was forced to retire.

At the first corner, Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus F1 pushed Marcus Ericsson into a spin. Ericsson's Sauber briefly went airborne. According to formula1.com, Maldonado was handed a five-second penalty for the incident.

For home driver Felipe Massa, the blow only came after the chequered flag. He had crossed the line in eighth but was excluded from the results. After the five-minute signal on the grid, the FIA had measured his right-rear tyre at 137 degrees – 27 degrees above the 110 degrees permitted by Pirelli. Williams questioned the measurement and announced an appeal.

The disqualification moved Grosjean up to eighth, Verstappen to ninth and Maldonado to tenth. That meant Maldonado picked up a point after all.

• Rosberg: According to the FIA, it was his 13th Grand Prix win and his second consecutive victory in Brazil. According to formula1.com, it was his fifth win of the season.
• Daniel Ricciardo: An engine change meant he started only 19th, and with eight places gained he made up the most ground. Finishing eleventh, however, he missed out on points, and according to formula1.com he was disappointed accordingly.
• Grosjean: He started 14th and finished eighth on a three-stop strategy, six places better than his grid position.
• Fernando Alonso: After yet another engine change, he racked up 25 grid penalty places, according to formula1.com, and started last. With McLaren he could only finish 15th, with Jenson Button 14th.
• Losers: Sainz with his engine failure and Massa with his disqualification in front of his home crowd.

At Manor Marussia, Will Stevens came out on top in 17th ahead of Alexander Rossi. According to formula1.com, it was Rossi's last outing of the year for the time being.

Hamilton had already been crowned world champion before the race. The fight for second place was still open, and Rosberg settled it with his win: on 297 points, he went into the finale 31 points clear of Vettel (266) – a gap Vettel could no longer close. Hamilton was on 363 points. The battle for fourth, on the other hand, remained tight: Bottas (136) was just one point ahead of Räikkönen (135). Hülkenberg moved up to tenth. You can find the full 2015 championship standings on our overview page.

In the constructors' standings, Mercedes had long since been crowned champions with 660 points, followed by Ferrari (401) and Williams (253). Force India (120) held a 44-point lead over Lotus (76) and, according to formula1.com, had fifth place secured – the best result in the team's history.

Context: According to grandprix.com, it was Mercedes' 15th win in the 18th race of the season. Brazil confirmed Rosberg's strong end-of-season form: five consecutive pole positions and two wins in a row. The finale, the Abu Dhabi GP, was still to come.