Rosberg bests Hamilton in Brazil to tighten Championship race — Game on for finale Abu Dhabi; Hometown favorite Massa grabs last step on podium
In one of the most entertaining races of the year and in unexpectedly dry conditions, Mercedes’ contender Nico Rosberg showed renewed determination to go from Pole to the top step, holding off teammate and Championship leader Lewis Hamilton and trimming the Englishman’s points lead to 17. With only one Grand Prix left on the 2014 calendar at Abu Dhabi two weeks hence and that one paying double Championship points, Rosberg proved he was truly game for the fight to the bitter end. The sensitive German had seemed thoroughly psyched out ever since the collision at Spa-Francorchamps, where he knocked Hamilton out of the race and was chastised by the team, subsequently performing less like a terrier than a whipped dog. But he dominated this race weekend in Sao Paolo. He led every practice session, bested Hamilton for the Pole in the dying moments of Q3 and then went on to win the race with Hamilton hot on hot heels when it was all-to-easy to picture him wilting under the pressure. In fact it was Hamilton who seemed to crack a bit with a lurid slide on Lap 29 that cooked his tires and lost him valuable track position. With the winner due to receive a whopping 50 points for the last race of the year and the Mercedes chassis reigning supreme, there is all to play for at Yas Marina. Now Rosberg has a better-than-even chance to do what very few prognosticators would have predicted before he broke Hamilton’s remarkable 5-race win streak this Sunday: beat the hard-charging Englishman at his own game and capture his first Drivers’ Championship.
As they have so often in the last quarter of the season, Williams played best of the rest if nowhere near actual spoiler. Native Brazilian Felipe Massa equaled his Qualifying position to take the last step on the podium and come home 3rd to the delight of the partisan crown. Massa overcame a 5-second stop & hold penalty for speeding in the pits to best McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had a splendid effort in what may be his penultimate Formula 1 contest, by over seven seconds. Massa’s Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas had a ragged race that include a prolonged and costly pit stop to readjust his safety belts and had to struggle to finish 10th but it was still a good points-scoring day for the resurgent Williams team. They currently sit 3rd in the lucrative Constructors’ Championship, 44 points ahead of Ferrari. Button’s teammate Kevin Magnussen was P9 for McLaren.
Outgoing Red Bull pilot Sebastian Vettel had a strong if bittersweet drive at the site of his remarkable 2012 title-clincher to take P5, though teammate Daniel Ricciardo saw his finishing streak snapped with suspension failure on Lap 40. Ferrari had a decent effort at Interlagos, seeming to finally get to grips with their season-long issue of lack of front end grip. But they were still down on power to the Mercedes-engined teams and outgoing stalwart Fernando Alonso could do no better than P6, though he once again showed his superiority by overtaking Kimi Raikkonen, who came home P7. Nico Hulkenberg was back on form after several subpar races in the second half of the season and drove a superlative tire management race, taking a valuable 8th place finish for the underdog Force India team after Qualifying 12th.
Top 10 finishers here:
Complete results available at Formula1.com.
Today’s race showed how truly thrilling Formula 1 can be when the season is coming down to the wire and the contenders must drive flawlessly to keep their championship dreams alive. Join me in a fortnight for the race weekend at the beautifully illuminated day-to-night race at Yas Marina circuit when a champion will be crowned!