Brazilian Grand Prix 2016: Winners and Losers from Interlagos Race
Lewis Hamilton claimed his ninth victory of the 2016 Formula One season in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
After setting pole position on Saturday, the British driver was dominant at the front of a chaotic race, with his third consecutive win cutting Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg's championship lead to 12 points ahead of the final-race title decider.
Joining Hamilton on the podium were Rosberg, who performed another damage-limitation exercise, and Max Verstappen, whose rapid recovery from 16th to third earned him the Driver of the Day award.
With a look at a possible strategy error by Red Bull, incident-packed races for Ferrari and Haas and some impressive performances by two of the most underrated drivers in F1, here are the main winners and losers from Brazil.
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
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For all the pre-race talk that Rosberg would be feeling the strain—knowing victory would be good enough to secure his first world championship—Hamilton wasn't exactly pressure-free at the Brazilian GP.
Sure, he was reasonably comfortable throughout practice and qualifying, when he claimed an 11th pole position of the season after outpacing his team-mate in all three segments.
But as the rain arrived at Interlagos, a circuit where he had never won in nine previous appearances, he knew one moment of aquaplaning, one snatched brake or one half-spin could end his two-year reign.
He never let it show, though.
In conditions designed to give the leaders a headache, Hamilton was flawless, not even making the slightest hint of a mistake and dealing with the variables in a calm, composed fashion.
Whenever the safety car appeared, wiping away the lead he had established, he simply built it back up again.
Whenever the red flag waved, creating a time window for impatience and overthinking, he simply walked away from his W07, returned when Race Control said so and eased back into his rhythm, his bubble.
So when the 71 laps finally did come to an end, Hamilton was not reflecting on a tense afternoon of fearing anything could go wrong at any moment, but one of the easiest victories of his career, as he told the post-race FIA press conference.
Hamilton's ninth victory of 2016 means he has overtaken Alain Prost to become the second-most successful driver in F1 history in terms of grand prix wins (52), with the three-time world champion winning at more circuits than any other driver (24).
And what's more, he is now just 12 points behind Rosberg ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.
He won't relinquish his grip on the title without one last fight.
Winner: Nico Rosberg
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Oh, to be a fly on the wall when Rosberg opened the curtains on Sunday morning to find Sao Paulo under dark, rainy skies.
On his potential day of destiny, F1's ultimate fair-weather driver—who has never won a grand prix in the wet—would have been dreading driving in the conditions in which he struggled so pitifully at Monaco and Silverstone earlier this season.
It felt like the weather gods had set the world championship leader up for the biggest of falls but, like his team-mate, Rosberg managed his race in a surprisingly assured manner, highlighting just how far he has come in 2016.
Unlike Hamilton, Rosberg did experience a couple of edgy moments during the race, being overtaken by Verstappen and almost aquaplaning into a spin on the exit of the final corner, where the championship no doubt flashed before his eyes.
Yet rather than panicking in the same way he did in Malaysia, where he assaulted Kimi Raikkonen as he desperately tried to recover through the field, Rosberg remained in control and ultimately finished a comfortable second.
Prior to the race, Rosberg's main aim—far from securing the title at Interlagos—would have been to ensure he left Brazil still in the lead of the world championship.
And with a 12-point advantage, he will do whatever he has to do to finish the job in Abu Dhabi (if you know what we mean).
Winner: Max Verstappen
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You could see it from the very beginning.
As his rivals trundled behind the safety car at the start, doing everything in their power to keep their cars pointing in the right direction, Verstappen was already here, there and everywhere, taking different lines through almost every corner.
Not only to assess the conditions and rehearse his overtaking manoeuvres, you see, but to smell blood, to intimidate the driver ahead.
And, essentially, to tell them: "I'm coming through."
That is the attitude the boy wonder has carried throughout his short F1 career, and it was especially clear at Interlagos, where, in pure driving terms, he was the only one capable of matching Hamilton.
His moves on Raikkonen at Turn 1 on the first real racing lap and around the outside of Rosberg at Turn 3—the latest entry for the unofficial Overtake of the Year award—were the signs of a driver completely comfortable with the treacherous conditions.
Indeed, Verstappen even managed to spin with style on the main straight, where he somehow avoided the wall with the immense car control we so rarely see because he is so often at one with the car.
And then came his recovery in the latter stages, when—after Red Bull reversed their decision to fit the No. 33 car with intermediate tyres—Verstappen surged from 16th to third with a series of brave passes at a stage of the race when others, on much older rubber, were locked in limp-home mode.
It is true that we have often seen the dark side of Verstappen in 2016, but this offered a timely reminder of why he is the brightest, most exciting young talent in sport.
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Loser: Red Bull
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To beat Mercedes, you have to try something different.
That has been the refrain repeated by Red Bull throughout 2016, leading to a number of quirky strategic decisions along the way.
It is why, for instance, Verstappen started on the supersoft tyres in Belgium while those around him opted for the softs. It is why Daniel Ricciardo employed the same tactics in the United States.
And, presumably, it is why the team twice experimented with the intermediates with both cars in Brazil, despite the track conditions clearly calling for extreme-wet tyres.
It is almost as though Mercedes' astronomical success over the last three seasons has created an aura so formidable that their rivals are lured into a trap of overcomplicating matters in their attempts to beat them.
So rather than trusting a driver of the calibre of Verstappen, with the finest chassis on the grid at his disposal, to hunt down and beat the Silver Arrows in equal conditions, Red Bull took an unnecessary gamble, pitting for intermediates just as the rain intensified.
Of course, Verstappen limited the damage by changing back to wets and recovering to third, ensuring the post-race discussions surrounded his overtaking prowess and not an unusual strategy mistake.
But perhaps this, like Monaco, was a win that got away.
Loser: Ferrari
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Since the summer break, Raikkonen has performed at a higher level than at any stage since he rejoined Ferrari at the beginning of 2014, but he is yet to claim the podium finish that would validate his return to form.
A neat reflection of his increased comfort came after qualifying, when—having finished third, beaten only by the all-conquering Mercedes drivers—he told an FIA press conference how his lap was, in actual fact, "pretty average."
Given Ferrari's habit of making strong starts in 2016, the 2007 world champion may have fancied his chances of taking the lead on the opening lap, but the safety-car start left him stuck in survival mode.
That was clear on the first racing lap of the grand prix, when Verstappen stole third from him at Turn 1, although Raikkonen regained the place when the Red Bull driver made his first stop for intermediates on Lap 13.
That was where he stayed until the first safety-car restart, when he lost control on the main straight and smashed into the outside wall before rebounding across the track in the same, terrifying way he did at Silverstone 2014.
By that point, Sebastian Vettel had already had an uncomfortable adventure of his own having spun on the exit of the final corner on Lap 10.
And, on the evidence of the onboard footage of the No. 5 car, Vettel was fortunate not to have any more scares, with the four-time world champion fighting his own car almost as much as those around him en route to fifth place.
Vettel's killjoy, anti-racing stance was also there for all to see when he shoved Fernando Alonso off track and then complained over pit-to-car radio when Verstappen pulled off a similar stunt against him.
The chaos that comes with a wet Brazilian GP represented Ferrari's last chance to avoid a second winless season in three, but the Prancing Horse had the familiar feelings of disappointment after the chequered flag.
Loser: Haas
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Most drivers regard a wet Brazilian GP as an opportunity to record a surprise result and score solid points, but Romain Grosjean has never been comfortable in the rain at Interlagos.
On his first visit to the track in 2009, he spun on the exit of Turn 5 in practice, receiving a face full of mud as his Renault bounced across the grass.
When he returned three years later, his race lasted just five laps before he lost control of his Lotus and found himself being spat into the barriers.
So when he equalled his best grid position of the season with seventh place in qualifying, it was safe to assume—given Sunday's weather forecast—he would soon be brought back down to earth with a bump.
Yet few could have predicted the bump Grosjean received on the reconnaissance lap, when he aquaplaned into the outside wall while climbing the hill toward the main straight, destroying his front-left suspension.
That incident will surely rank as the most embarrassing moment of the Frenchman's eventful racing career, with Grosjean later telling the team's official website how he went "from hero to zero in less than 24 hours."
But at least Grosjean, with top-six finishes in the opening two races of this season, has achieved hero status in 2016, which cannot be said for team-mate Esteban Gutierrez, who remains stuck on zero points.
After retiring with electrical problems after 60 laps, Gutierrez released all the frustration that has built up across this year, with television pictures showing the Mexican throwing his gloves across the garage before having an altercation with team principal Guenther Steiner.
It was another display of the petulance that has seen Gutierrez dropped by Haas for 2017 and, with any luck, will see him frozen out of the sport once and for all.
Winner: Felipe Nasr
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Did we witness a changing of the guard in Brazilian motorsport at Interlagos?
The buildup to this year's Brazilian GP almost completely revolved around Felipe Massa, making his last appearance on home soil before hanging up his helmet at the end of 2016.
Twice a winner at his local track, the Williams driver was denied a happy ending when he became the final victim of the hillclimb toward the start-finish straight, aquaplaning and crashing out on the spot.
And as Massa made his way back to the pits with a Brazilian flag draped over his shoulders and tears in his eyes—throwing himself into the arms of anyone stood in his way—the other Brazilian driver on the grid was running solidly in the points.
As team principal Monisha Kaltenborn recently told the team's official website, the C35 car's fundamental lack of pace has forced Sauber to experiment with adventurous strategies in the closing weeks of 2016, with the team desperate to avoid a second scoreless season in three.
Marcus Ericsson came close to the top 10 in the United States and Mexico, but it was Felipe Nasr who offered salvation for Sauber in his home race.
While several midfield runners switched to the intermediates in the early stages, Nasr remained faithful to the extreme-wets throughout the race, making his only tyre changes during the red-flag stoppages.
That allowed him to run as high as sixth at one stage before faster cars demoted him to ninth, securing the two points that will almost certainly ensure Sauber will beat Manor to the crucial 10th place in the constructors' championship at the end of a season of survival.
"In the end it was just an incredible feeling when I saw the fans in the grandstands cheering for me after the chequered flag. There is no better feeling than scoring these two important points on home soil," Nasr later told the team's official website.
Massa may be gone, but Brazil already has a new F1 superstar in "the other Felipe."
Winner: Carlos Sainz Jr.
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As previously noted, Carlos Sainz Jr. had been waiting for a race like this for a long, long time.
His wet-weather skills had been evident since his time in the junior categories and—after topping a treacherously wet practice session at Suzuka last year—it was simply a matter of time until his touch and feel for a racing car in greasy conditions translated into an actual grand prix.
With Toro Rosso's 2015-specification Ferrari engines exposed at a power-sensitive track, Sainz performed poorly on Saturday, qualifying 0.2 seconds behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat in 15th—quite a significant margin at such a short circuit.
Yet the rain of race day disguised the team's lack of straight-line speed and provided Sainz with a platform to show what he can do.
As he told the team's official website, his good judgement of the conditions—urging the pit wall to keep him on extreme-wets rather than switching to intermediates—shaped his afternoon, allowing him to make his two tyre changes under red-flag conditions.
Like Nasr, that gave Sainz a significant advantage over his fellow midfield runners, with the Spaniard equalling his career-best finish of sixth.
Winner: Force India
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In September, Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams told Autosport (h/t Eurosport) how a single podium finish could be enough to decide the fight for fourth in the constructors' standings between her team and Force India.
Sergio Perez just missed out on securing a third top-three finish of 2016 in Brazil after being overtaken by Verstappen on the penultimate lap, but his fourth place—coupled with Nico Hulkenberg's recovery to P7—has effectively extinguished Williams' challenge at long last.
Force India's strong double-points finish was all the more impressive given that Williams began the weekend as the strongest of the two teams, with Valtteri Bottas classified no lower than seventh in the three practice sessions.
Come qualifying, however, Perez and Hulkenberg were back on form, dumping Bottas and Massa out of Q2.
As he told the team's official website, Hulkenberg—an Interlagos expert, having claimed pole for the 2010 race and challenged for victory in 2012—felt a first podium finish was within reach at one stage, only for a puncture to drop him down the order almost immediately after the first red-flag restart.
Perez, meanwhile, was among those who made his only tyre changes during the red-flag stoppages, which proved crucial on a day Massa crashed out and Bottas finished a distant 11th.
Having extended their advantage over Williams from nine to 27 points in a single afternoon, Force India can already start celebrating their best-ever finish in the championship.
Timing and tyre data sourced from the official F1 website, the FOM television feed and Pirelli's official race report.
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