The past weekend the penultimate stage of the «Formula 1» happened. The fate of the «Silver Arrow» pilots is not clear yet. This time Nico Rosberg was the winner, leaving behind Hamilton, Felipe Massa managed to confuse boxes during pit stop, but he was on the podium at his home race.
In Brazil, the teams expected rain but the weather surprised everyone. Last season, Sebastian Vettel was the winner at this track.
This time everything was different. Marussia and Caterham were absent, and Brazil was not the final stage, as it was last year.
The length of «Interlagos» is 4309 m it has 15 turns. Nico Rosberg was in good shape and during qualify was able to drive faster than his team-mate with the time 1:10,023, «I am confident and optimistic. I must affect the confidence of Lewis and I hope that today I managed to do it. I need to hold him behind tomorrow. »
From the second row Williams pilots started, then were Button (McLaren) and Vettel (Red Bull).
The race. Rosberg was leading. Daniil Kvyat was breaking forward and overtook four competitors.
On the fifth lap drivers started to change tires. Everything went smoothly, with no major incidents.
On the 19th lap, it was possible to see that mechanics had a problem with the Sutil’s rear right wheel. And the race was not easy for him, he started from the pit lane, and his car, as you may know, is not very fast.
After eight laps Murphy's Law worked again. Mechanics kept Bottas longer in the pit because of seatbelts.
So Rosberg was leading and this annoyed Hamilton. During 28th lap Lewis pushed the gas… and went off the track for 6 seconds.
Daniel Ricardo (Red Bull), was unlucky this time. On the 40th lap the lever in the front suspension of his car broken down.
Pilots became more aggressive. Hulkenberg from Force India decided to overtake Bottas, pushing it off the road. Valtteri visited the pits to change tires, and mechanics again had a delay.
Meanwhile, Alonso competed Magnussen from McLaren for the sixth position. Rosberg still was leading, although Hamilton has reduced the gap to 2 seconds.
Funny pit stop contest continued meanwhile. This time Felipe Massa decided to make a visit to the McLaren mechanics. Then he drove up to the guys from Williams: «Generally, our boxes are not located next to the McLaren boxes, but the color of their suits seemed to me like the ones used by our mechanics so I turned there.» Felipe was lucky because he did not lose position returning to the track the third.
The gap between Rosberg and Hamilton already had a few tenths. Lewis was chasing Nico.
On the 66th lap the Lotus of Romain Grosjean puffed and marshals had a run with fire extinguishers.
The race was won by Nico Rosberg: «I had better control and I didn’t let Lewis get close to me. He was great and constantly put pressure on me. After his mistake I got a reserve and I could keep tires which helped me at the end of the second part. We made everything good, the team again won double it was a great day again. I am also happy for Felipe, who rose to the podium on home track. »
Lewis Hamilton was not very happy: «Nico had a great race he defended well and without mistakes. Nevertheless, it is obvious that I had better speed, though now it does not matter now. »
Felipe Massa was the third, he was acclaimed by crowd of fans, it's his home track, «Race was not very easy but to get to the podium in front of my fans is a fantastic result for me, my family and the team. The energy of the audience was amazing; it really helped me to drive better „.
Kvyat finished 11th: «It was a tough race, but when you start from the 17th position finish the 11th place was the best possible result fro today. I really did my best, but unfortunately, the cars with Mercedes engines are much faster on the straights, so it was impossible to achieve more. »
By the way the Red Bull Racing Team takes a second place in the Constructors' Cup, despite coming off one of its pilots. Nico Rosberg gets FIA Cup for the major number of pole positions this season.
The final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi is coming. Perhaps the missing cars will return to the starting grid and close the season with dignity.
