Lewis today took his 52nd career victory - his first at the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace and ninth of the 2016 season so far. Nico completed a seventh Silver Arrows 1-2 of the season in P2.
Nico (367) leads the Drivers' Championship by 12 points from Lewis (355) in P2. Mercedes AMG Petronas (722) lead Red Bull (446) by 276 points in the Constructors' Championship
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: To come away with such a result in a race like that is really quite something. You simply can't expect a 1-2 in such conditions. It's a rare achievement and the whole team is to be congratulated for that. I'm very happy with the result. When you consider the circumstances, it's maybe the best result of the season. It was a faultless drive from Lewis, with easily the best pace of the field, while Nico showed his strength to stand firm in P2. A word for Max too, who was very impressive today. It was the Verstappen show out there - really unbelievable driving and great entertainment. Also, for Charlie and the Stewards. It's very difficult in these conditions and, overall, they probably made the right calls. I probably wouldn't have stopped the race the last time around because the conditions hadn't changed. But if you have to sit up there, put your neck on the line and take responsibility for the drivers' safety, you might see it from a different perspective. Now, we have a showdown in Abu Dhabi - just as Bernie would have ordered it. Our job is simple - give both drivers the cars they need to fight to the flag on track.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): Absolutely mind-blowing. To get a 1-2 from a day like that is really incredible. Most of the credit for that must go to the drivers, who kept their heads in very difficult conditions. It was great to see such a thrilling race in the end too for the crowd at this iconic circuit. Such difficult weather makes it tough to run a safe race and their dedication must be applauded. In the end we had a lot of exciting racing, so I'm happy for them. From a technical point of view, to us it was clearly a full wet race all afternoon. Twice, others gambled on the intermediate tyre - but we resisted that temptation as the data simply didn't support it and neither did the drivers. On both the initial start and the two re-starts, that proved to be absolutely the right call. Credit to the team and the drivers for making those choices, which won the race for us today. Congratulations to Lewis on becoming the second most winning driver in Formula One history. We now take the Championship finale to the final race in Abu Dhabi, which is a perfect outcome for the sport.
Maurizio Arrivabene: Maybe we could have achieved more, both yesterday and today, but no room for complaining now. Kimi's accident was a shame, while Seb had a great comeback after spinning off track. Now let's focus onto Abu Dhabi: it's the last race of the season but, as we always say, we're not giving up till the end.
Valtteri Bottas finished 11th and Felipe Massa retired from the Brazilian Grand Prix. The start was delayed due to heavy rain and a series of safety car periods and two red flags, on laps 21 and 28, broke the race into several segments.
Both drivers lost track position when the first red flag penalised their early switch to intermediate tyres. Valtteri contested the points placings for much of the race, and made up two places on the final lap.
Felipe was making good progress in the treacherous conditions until he crashed out of his last home grand prix on lap 47, prompting emotional scenes as he was cheered by fans and greeted by teams as he walked back down the pitlane
Valtteri remains eighth and Felipe 11th in the Drivers' Championship. The team stays fifth in the Constructors' Championship
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We knew we needed to do something different to get in the points. We hoped the rain would ease off enough to cause the extreme wet tyre to wear, so that our early decision to switch to the intermediates would give us the advantage. Unfortunately, with all the safety cars and red flag periods, it allowed everyone to keep changing their wet tyres for fresh ones, so we never saw the benefit. We did our best in difficult conditions but the safety cars and stoppages didn't help us. It was a shame that Felipe had to end his race the way he did, as it would have been great for him to get a good result. You could see that he was absolutely filled with emotion, as he has been all weekend, and this final home race for him, in front of his fans and surrounded by friends and family must be something very special for him. It's been an emotional rollercoaster. Credit must also go to Max Verstappen, who was in a class of his own today and was incredible to watch. He may have even won the race had it gone on a few laps longer. Thank you as well to all the fans who stayed to watch despite all the delays.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "An extraordinary motor racing day in testing conditions for the drivers and of course the officials. Having got ourselves into a good position at the start of the race, at the restart Max made an unbelievable pass on Rosberg round the outside of turn 3 which set up his afternoon of audacious driving and passing moves. It was a race that continuously teetered on the Intermediate being the better tyre and after the delay due to the conditions it did look like the better tyre. When Daniel fitted the tyre he started setting purple sectors and we therefore took the gamble to put Max on to the Inter. The rain then marginally increased and we had to make a difficult decision to pit both of our cars, dropping them down the order but giving them fresh extreme tyres. Thereafter, the last 15 laps were something special to witness as Max made his way back through the field to achieve a quite remarkable podium. With Daniel finishing in eighth place that secures our second place in the Constructors' Championship which is a quite a feat.
"We'd like to dedicate this race to the memory of a very valued member of our team, Mark Simpson, who we unfortunately lost after a difficult illness earlier in the week. 'Simo' as he was known to us, was an important part of our team and I'm sure he would have enjoyed what we saw from Red Bull Racing today."
Sahara Force India scored 18 points in today's Brazilian Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to fourth place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in seventh.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "What an exciting race! To come away with 18 points from such a challenging race is a fantastic reward for an excellent job by the entire team. Both drivers didn't put a wheel wrong and the decisions from the pit wall were spot on. Sergio came within a whisker of another podium and thoroughly deserved fourth place. For Nico to recover from the puncture to finish seventh showed his class once again and made us all wonder what might have been because he was running in fourth when the puncture struck. With such difficult track conditions, just getting both cars to the finish is a victory and to have both in the points takes us a good step closer to achieving fourth place in the constructors' championship."
Renault Sport Formula One Team team-mates Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen raced in tricky wet weather conditions for today's Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil. Kevin took the chequered flag in fourteenth's position after a race that was punctuated by safety car periods and red flags due to poor track conditions and race incidents. Jolyon made contact with Daniil Kvyat on lap 20 just before another red flag period during which the team inspected his car and decided to retire him due to suspension damage.
Kevin started the race from P18 with a new set of Pirelli's full wet tyres. He stopped on lap 7 for a new set of intermediate tyres, fitted new wets during the first red flag on lap 20, used wets during the second red flag on lap 28 and pitted on lap 41 for a new set of intermediate tyres.
Jolyon started the race in P16 on new wet tyres. He stopped on lap 9 for a new set of intermediate tyres and on lap 17 for a new set of wet tyres.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "It was a tough afternoon for the team and a tricky race in wet weather conditions for everyone. The biggest issue we encountered was the performance of our car with the full wet tyres. We weren't able to perform over long stints with these sets of tyres and had to switch to intermediate tyres whenever it was possible but in the end it wasn't enough for us to get into the points with Kevin. Unfortunately Jolyon sustained front suspension damage when he hit Kvyat and we had to retire him. We are now looking forward to the ultimate race of the season in Abu Dhabi where I hope we can have a race in better conditions."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "Taking into consideration our pace from yesterday's qualifying session, I must say that we were very lucky and the rain really helped us today. Carlos drove a good race - to finish P6 and take home 8 points here in Sao Paulo is a great result! Daniil on the other hand was involved in an incident with Palmer, where he destroyed the front part of his diffuser. This had a big impact aerodynamically - he lost more than 20 points of downforce to be precise - and therefore he couldn't do more. The team did a good job throughout the whole weekend and this will certainly give us a boost to face the last round of this Championship in Abu Dhabi."
An exciting Brazilian Grand Prix led to an exceptional race for the Sauber F1 Team: the wet race in Interlagos favoured Felipe Nasr - the Brazilian finished in P9 after starting from P21, while handling the difficult track conditions very well. Several safety car phases and two red flags did not confuse the Brazilian on his way to score his first points on home soil. Marcus Ericsson was quite unlucky, as he lost his Sauber C35-Ferrari and hit the barriers on lap 12. After scoring its first points, the Sauber F1 Team is now tenth in the constructors' championship (2 points).
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "First of all, I want to thank the whole team at the track, as well as at the headquarters in Hinwil. Despite the difficult circumstances, the team has always worked very hard and believed in its skills with a strong belief - therefore, these points are well deserved. We knew that it would have been possible to score points in wet conditions, even from the back of the field - Felipe made it possible with an exceptional performance here in Interlagos. Ninth position at his home race in front of his fans gives everyone in the team a lot of joy. Marcus was unlucky in these difficult track conditions and retired. Now we will focus on the season finale in Abu Dhabi, where we will again fight for tenth position in the constructors' championship."
Fernando Alonso salvaged a single world championship point after a truly chaotic race in Brazil.
The grand prix was dominated by the weather, with a consistent, light rain prompting a start behind the Safety Car for the first seven laps. Thereafter, the race was: run behind the Safety Car (following Marcus Ericsson's accident), restarted and red-flagged (following Kimi Raikkonen's heavy crash on the start/finish straight), restarted, and red-flagged for a second time as the rain worsened, run behind the Safety Car once more after Felipe Massa spun and crashed.
It was at the final restart, on lap 55, that Fernando dropped out of the top 10 after spinning at Turn 13. His combat drive from the back of the field was stunning, netting 10th position on the penultimate lap.
Jenson struggled in the conditions, still unhappy with the balance of his car following yesterday's qualifying sessions. Regardless of whichever tyre he chose, he couldn't get the rear-end to work, and finished 16th.
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "For McLaren-Honda, this was largely a race to forget. For Formula 1 as a sport, it's a race from which we can learn in order to improve the show for future wet-weather races.
"Unfortunately for us, neither driver was truly able to seize the moment - Fernando drove bravely to run inside the top 10 for much of the race, then a lap-56 spin at Turn 13 dropped him to the back of the field. His comeback drive to 10th - passing seven cars in 15 laps - was brilliant, and displayed all his speed, bravery and commitment.
"Jenson was unable to rid himself of the handling imbalancehe encountered yesterday, and struggled to find any rear grip in the tricky conditions. We will go away and examine what went wrong for him."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "The rain that continued to fall throughout the day forced the Brazilian GP to be the toughest survival race of the year so far. Fernando unfortunately spun after the restart of the last safety car period, and dropped to nearly the back of the grid, but after a stunning charge, finished 10th to claim the final championship point of the race.
"As with yesterday, Jenson continued to struggle with the balance of his car, and with the poor track conditions, could not improve on this during his race.
"Putting the results aside, I am in awe of the courage and the driving techniques of all the drivers on the grid today. It was a nail-biting race."
What to say? There are hardly words. We've been holding onto that precious Austrian point for 10 races. Then on the 11 th - disaster! Rain brings excitement and opportunity, but it also brings risk. Today, we were all out of luck as the lone Sauber won the day. Our boys Pascal and Esteban performed admirably in 'the worst race conditions of their careers' to bring both cars home without incident. We fought the good fight and will do the same in Abu Dhabi in two weeks' time.
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "We were pretty apprehensive in Austin and Mexico, with Sauber hovering on the cusp of a point in both races, but we knew coming into this race that Interlagos carried a much greater risk. With conditions like we've seen today, it was always going to come down to luck. At one point things had fallen in our favour and we were looking at our first double points finish. Nasr was still ahead on track but we could have achieved more points if things had continued like that. But the race was evolving with every lap, every safety car and both red flags and in the end, things went Sauber's way, not ours. Esteban put up a great fight to try to pull things back and actually both of our drivers did an incredible job in conditions that really tested even seasoned world champions. We're down, but not defeated. The whole team is disappointed to say the least, but there is one race remaining and we have to keep pushing all the way to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi."
The Brazilian Grand Prix Sunday at the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace in the Interlagos district of São Paulo got off to an inauspicious start for Haas F1 Team. In wet and dreary conditions, Romain Grosjean's day quickly became even drearier when he spun his Haas VF-16 on the reconnaissance lap en route to the grid.
Grosjean backed into the barrier on the run up to the start/finish line and his car suffered substantial left-side damage. With the crew unable to make repairs, Grosjean's day was over before it even began. He was set to start seventh, equaling his best start of the year (Japan), before misfortune struck.
This left Esteban Gutierrez, who started 12th, as Haas F1 Team's lone representative in the penultimate round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Gutierrez and the rest of his Formula One counterparts began the race on the Pirelli Cinturato Blue full wet tire. The first seven laps were run behind the safety car before race control turned the drivers loose on the 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn circuit.
Prior to the safety car pulling off the track, some teams made the aggressive and dicey decision to outfit their drivers with the Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tire as rain continued to fall. Haas F1 Team took a more conservative approach with Gutierrez, waiting until lap 14 to make the switch to intermediates.
Lap 14 was also the beginning of a second safety car period, this time for the crashed Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The safety car hit pit road at the end of lap 19, and as the field came to the green to start lap 20, Kimi Räikkönen promptly spun on the straight parallel to the pit lane. His Ferrari was heavily damaged as it impacted the inside wall, and it was enough for race control to display the red flag on lap 21.
Gutierrez was 17th at the time and he stayed there once the red flag was lifted. Even though cars circled the track, there was no racing. They were led by the safety car for seven laps before race control displayed the red flag again, as persistent rain made the track unsuitable for racing.
This red-flag stoppage lasted for 27 minutes before another restart behind the safety car on lap 29. Green-flag racing finally commenced three laps later, whereupon Gutierrez was entrenched in a midfield battle, climbing to as high as 12th by lap 40. Unfortunately, Gutierrez's charge toward the top-10 was thwarted with a series of electrical issues, culminating in his retirement to the garage after 60 laps. The DNF (Did Not Finish) left Gutierrez 17th in the final rundown.
Outlasting the elements to win the Brazilian Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton. It was the Mercedes driver's 52nd career Formula One victory, surpassing the tally of legend Alain Prost to put him second on Formula One's all-time win list. Only Michael Schumacher, with 91 victories, has more wins than Hamilton. It was also Hamilton's ninth win of the season and his third in a row, but first at the Autódromo Jose Carlos Pace. Hamilton's margin of victory was an impressive 11.455 seconds over his Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. The victory cut Rosberg's advantage over Hamilton from 19 points to 12 points with only one race remaining.
Twenty rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team remains eighth in the constructor standings with 29 points. Seventh-place Toro Rosso extended its margin over the American squad to 34 points as Carlos Sainz Jr. finished sixth to pick up eight points. Haas F1 Team maintained its 21-point advantage over ninth-place Renault as they failed to finish in the points.
Formula One takes a weekend off before returning to action for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Nov. 27 at Yas Marina Circuit.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a disastrous race for us, but not a disastrous weekend. Up to today's race, our weekend was a good one. But today Romain crashed out on the lap to the grid, so we lost one car even before the start. The conditions were tough out there and they played a role in his exit. Esteban had been driving a very good race, but then we had issues with electronics. At one point his MGU-K didn't work, and then he had to retire his car when his MGU-H didn't work anymore because of electronic problems. We're pretty happy to be getting out of here and moving on to the next one."
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won a wet and interrupted Brazilian Grand Prix using the Cinturato Blue full wet tyre only, following two days of largely dry running at Interlagos.
Because of the heavy rain, the race started behind the safety car, with all the drivers using Pirelli's Cinturato Blue full wet tyres as per the regulations. Another early safety car was used by some teams, including Red Bull, as an opportunity to change onto intermediates - with Max Verstappen rejoining the race in fourth place as the highest-placed intermediate runner.
Following an accident for Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, there was a lengthy red flag period after lap 20, with the race starting behind the safety car once more. The safety car led for only seven laps before another red flag came out, with a second re-start behind the safety car. Only a few laps later, some drivers switched onto the intermediate tyre as the rain continued to fall, with the crossover point established after Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo started to set purple sector times. However, heavier rain then meant that the full wet was the tyre to finish the race.
As the race began in wet conditions, there was no longer any obligation to use any of the slick tyres, with drivers running only the full wet and intermediate throughout the entirety of the interrupted race.
Paul Hembery: "We were treated to a fantastic spectacle in very tricky conditions, with some drivers using both the wet and intermediate tyres to pull off some great overtaking moves, with wheel to wheel racing. Most of all, we're delighted that the fans finally got to see a full race distance, despite the delays. It was a complicated but long race that delivered some scintillating drives, for example from Max Verstappen and Felipe Nasr, in his home race, as well as Fernando Alonso who fought back in the closing stages - all showing that great driving is possible even in these extreme conditions."
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Lewis Hamilton actually won the race without making a racing pit stop but he did change tyres twice, going from full wets to another set of wets under both red flag stoppages. Planned strategy was not really a factor today: instead it was all about reacting to changing circumstances and giving drivers the best possible chance to get to the finish.
