2016 Brazilian GP: Hamilton wins in the rain, Verstappen works magic

Lewis Hamilton won the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position and led the race from the first lap to the last. His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg finished second. The afternoon, however, belonged to Max Verstappen of Red Bull: after a late tyre change he had dropped well down the order, and he fought his way back up to third in the closing laps.

It rained heavily at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace. The race was red-flagged twice and lasted more than three hours. It was Hamilton's first win in Brazil. For the title fight, the result meant the decision would only come at the finale.

Heavy rain set in on Sunday. The first casualty came before the start: Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas on the way to the grid and crashed. He had been due to start from seventh and is listed in the results as withdrawn.

With the track extremely wet, the field started behind the Safety Car. Every car was on Pirelli's wet tyres. The race only got going properly after seven laps. Hamilton pulled away immediately, while Verstappen passed Kimi Räikkönen of Ferrari through the Senna S for third.

Sebastian Vettel spun early in the race. After his stop on lap 10 he was down in 18th.

On lap 12, Marcus Ericsson had a heavy crash in his Sauber at the final corner. He had been running on intermediates, and the Safety Car had to come out again. Several teams used the Safety Car period to switch to intermediates, Red Bull among them. Verstappen rejoined in fourth as the leading driver on those tyres. Daniel Ricciardo entered the closed pit lane during this phase and was handed a five-second penalty for it.

Barely had the race resumed on lap 20 when Räikkönen lost control on the start/finish straight. His Ferrari spun across the track and hit the wall. Race Control stopped the race with a red flag, and the teams used the stoppage to fit fresh wet tyres.

After around 35 minutes, the race resumed behind the Safety Car. Conditions remained so poor, though, that it was halted for a second time on lap 29. Shortly before, Nico Hülkenberg had picked up a puncture from debris and dropped from fourth to 15th. After a further break of around 25 minutes, the race was restarted.

When the Safety Car peeled into the pits at the end of lap 31, Verstappen immediately went round the outside of Rosberg into second. A little later, on lap 38 or 39, his Red Bull snapped sideways in the final sector. Verstappen caught the car and stayed ahead of Rosberg.

At the end of lap 43 he switched to intermediates and rejoined in fifth. Then the rain intensified again, and Red Bull had to bring him back in for wet tyres on lap 54. That left him well down the field. What followed was the standout phase of the race: on fresh wets, Verstappen was clearly faster than anyone else. He overtook Vettel at Turn 12 and also passed Carlos Sainz. Two laps from the end, he went round the outside of Sergio Pérez at Turn 10 to claim third.

On lap 67 he set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:25.305. Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery summed up the day by saying the race had shown that “great driving is possible even in these extreme conditions”.

For home hero Felipe Massa of Williams, this was meant to be his last home Grand Prix. He crashed at the pit entry on lap 47, which was officially recorded as a collision. The Safety Car came out, wiping out Hamilton's lead of around 25 seconds over Rosberg. Massa walked back carrying the Brazilian flag. Several pit crews lined up to applaud him, as did the fans in the grandstands. *Context:* Massa did in fact later return to Williams for the 2017 season.

The retirements at a glance:

• Romain Grosjean (Haas): crash on the way to the grid, did not start
• Marcus Ericsson (Sauber): crash on lap 12
• Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari): crash on lap 20, followed by the first red flag
• Jolyon Palmer (Renault): out after 20 laps with collision damage; we were unable to reliably confirm how it happened. Link: Jolyon Palmer
• Felipe Massa (Williams): crash on lap 47
• Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas): out after 60 laps, according to Wikipedia due to an electrical failure

Ricciardo served his penalty during a pit stop. He eventually finished eighth, two places down on his grid position. The switching between intermediates and wet tyres had cost him several extra stops.

The big winner in the midfield was Felipe Nasr. At his home race he went from 21st on the grid to ninth, gaining 12 places, more than any other driver. His two points were Sauber's first of the season. That lifted Sauber past Manor Marussia in the constructors' standings, putting the team tenth by 2 points to 1.

Others also made up plenty of ground. Sainz brought his Toro Rosso home sixth from 15th on the grid. Esteban Ocon started 22nd after a penalty and took the chequered flag in twelfth for Manor. Pérez ran on course for a podium for Force India for a long time and ultimately finished fourth, with teammate Hülkenberg seventh. Vettel recovered from his spin to fifth. Fernando Alonso took the final point for McLaren in tenth.

The biggest loser was Räikkönen. He had started from third on the grid and retired without scoring. As a result, he slipped behind Verstappen to sixth in the drivers' standings.

Rosberg had arrived in Brazil with a 19-point lead. After Hamilton's win, he still led the championship standings on 367 points, 12 ahead of Hamilton (355). That meant the title would only be decided at the final race, the Abu Dhabi GP. Rosberg was in the stronger position: even if Hamilton won there, third place would be enough for him to take the title.

Behind them, Ricciardo was locked into third on 246 points. Vettel, on 197 points, sat just ahead of Verstappen, who moved up to fifth with 192 points.

Mercedes had already wrapped up the constructors' championship. After the race, the team had 722 points, well clear of Red Bull (446) and Ferrari (375).

Looking back on the season, this race stands for two things above all: Hamilton kept himself in the title fight with a flawless win. And in the Interlagos rain, Verstappen showed just how good he already was at 19. You can find all the results and data from the race on our race page.