Brazilian F1 Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Nico Rosberg led from start to finish to win the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix 2015 on Sunday, beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the top spot on the podium. The result means Rosberg is now guaranteed to finish the 2015 season in second place in the standings, ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Rosberg rode the perfect race, holding Hamilton back at the start and quickly building a lead. Hamilton came close to his team-mate on several occasions but never had a chance to pass him.

The win is Rosberg's second in a row, and once again, the German was almost flawless. Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda made it clear who his team's best driver is right now, via the Formula 1's official Twitter account:

Rosberg knew he didn't give Hamilton many chances during the races:

Vettel completed the podium, while Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth place. Here's a look at the results:

The current drivers' standings:

Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	363
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	297
3	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	266
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing-Mercedes	136
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	135
6	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing-Mercedes	121
7	Daniil Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull-Renault	94
8	Daniel Riccardo	Infiniti Red Bull-Renault	84
9	Sergio Perez	Sahara Force India-Mercedes	68
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Sahara Force India-Mercedes	52
11	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault	48
12	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Mercedes	47
13	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	27
14	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes	26
15	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Renault	18
16	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	16
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	11
18	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	9
19	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia-Ferrari	0
20	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia-Ferrari	0

Carlos Sainz seemingly can't catch a break lately, and things weren't any different on Sunday. His car suffered a mechanical on the way to the grid, and while the Toro Rosso staff eventually got it working again, it meant the Spaniard would be forced to start from the pit lane.

Badger GP noted it was hardly a surprise given the bad luck Sainz has already suffered:

The two Mercedes cars had a solid start but almost touched heading into the first corner, before Rosberg held his line and took the lead. The top four saw no changes through the first two corners, making for a clean start.

Meanwhile, Sainz managed to make it out of the pit lane only to have his car lock its rear axle four corners into the race, ending his afternoon. The yellow flags immediately came out as well, but to the surprise of freelance sports journalist Jonathan Legard, there was no Virtual Safety Car:

As reported by BBC Sport's Chris Osborne, Sainz explained what happened:

"

I think I went to do the first practice start and the engine suddenly turned itself off. I started from the pit lane and when I left the pits the engine suddenly lost power. It is like the go-karting days when you brake and it locks up completely. Hopefully I won't get a penalty for Abu Dhabi. In a rookie season it is difficult to take as you want to do well and finish races.

"

Daniel Ricciardo, who had to start near the back, took advantage and made an early pit stop, electing to go with the medium tyres and a long stint out on the track.

At the front, Rosberg started putting some distance between himself and Hamilton, while the Ferraris sat just behind the two Mercedes cars.

Hamilton was given a chance when his team-mate's pit stop took longer than expected and Rosberg also had to hold for Vettel. But when it was Hamilton's turn to make his first stop, the Mercedes crew took even longer, and by the time he got back on track, he sat 1.7 seconds behind Rosberg.

Per BBC F1, the gap looked even bigger when Hamilton emerged from the pit lane:

The world champion started taking more chances in an effort to close the distance between himself and Rosberg, and while he quickly got himself within a second of his team-mate, the aggressive cornering had an effect on his tyres. Per Formula 1's official Twitter account, he soon realised he had a problem on his hands:

While the two Mercedes continued their battle at the front, there was little action of note further back. Vettel and Raikkonen comfortably held down the third and fourth spot ahead of Valtteri Bottas, and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top six.

All eyes were on the battle at the front, and Mercedes took to Twitter to let fans know they had no intention of playing favourites:

Max Verstappen stole the show with a superb pass on Sergio Perez, closing the gap and using his momentum to swing out of Turn 2, while Pastor Maldonado made headlines for an entirely different reason, making contact with Marcus Ericsson in the same turn.

Lotus' social media team hasn't lost its sense of humour:

The punishment was a five-second penalty.

Hamilton kept losing time on Rosberg, but with 24 laps remaining, the Brit suddenly found some momentum, clocking the fastest lap time of the race. Vettel did even better a few laps later, but by that time, he was already too far back to put any real pressure on the two Mercedes cars.

Rosberg's lead faded fast, but he got some help from some of the slower cars who were being caught and slowed down Hamilton as he tried to pass them. Another gem from Lotus:

Hamilton locked up badly trying to pass Romain Grosjean, bringing the gap back to 1.4 seconds. Over the course of the next few laps, the gap continued to grow, as Rosberg continued his perfect race.

With five laps to go, Nigel Mansell thought Mercedes made up their mind on the final positions:

Per Sky Sports, Hamilton told the crew his tyres were finished and gave up on trying to catch his team-mate, turning his attention toward Vettel, who was miles behind at this point. 

Meanwhile, Rosberg was celebrating, via Formula 1's official Twitter account:

Vettel drove an impressive pace, evidenced by the huge lead he built over Raikkonen, and the former world champion completed the podium. Bottas cruised to a fifth-placed finish, while in the background, Verstappen managed to overtake Maldonado late for the final championship point.

The 2015 Formula 1 season will reach its conclusion in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Nov. 29.

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