Nico Rosberg recorded
back to back victories for the first time since May with his victory in Brazil.
The result secured second place in the Driver's Championship and continued his
recent resurgence. Lewis Hamilton finished second and is still to win in
Brazil, even though he put Rosberg under several periods of pressure. Behind
the dominant Mercedes pair, the Ferraris were a distant third and fourth, with
Sebastian Vettel leading Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel couldn't do anything to get
close to the Mercedes, meaning his debut season at Ferrari will see him finish
third in the Drivers Championship with Abu Dhabi still to come.
As has been
custom this season, the Brazilian Grand Prix didn't deliver much in excitement,
despite its history of delivering an unpredictable and exciting race. It
started off well, with the Mercedes coming very close to contact at turn one. The
incident was almost identical to that of the U.S grand prix, except it was
Rosberg who made sure Hamilton wasn't going around the outside of him. This
allowed Rosberg to open up a small lead during the first stint. Reliability
issues looked like they were creeping for Romberg, who was looking very
cautious on the brakes for several laps after the first round of pit stops,
thus allowing Hamilton to move within DRS range - but eventually dropping back.
Hamilton came back at Rosberg during the third stint, but frustration was
starting to get to Hamilton as he couldn't get passed Rosberg. Interlagos' tight
confines and narrow straights make overtaking extremely difficult, and
Hamilton's frustration spilled over onto the team radio as he requested a
different strategy from Rosberg in an attempt to get past. However, Mercedes
stuck to their long held policy of keeping their drivers on the same number of
stops. And with Mercedes not budging, both drivers stopped three times and
Hamilton finished 7.7 seconds being Rosberg. Rosberg's recent good form is
hopefully putting him in a good position going into 2016.
Behind the
Mercedes and Ferrari's, Valtteri Bottas finished in fifth, but couldn't get
close enough to close with his fellow countryman for the third time in four
races. His fifth place was enough to secure third place for Williams in the
Constructors Championship for the second year running. Meanwhile, having seen
Force India team-mate Sergio Perez take the plaudits in recent races, Nico
Hulkenberg returned to form to take a fine sixth, and secure his team fifth
place in the standings - the best finish in their history. Daniil Kvyat was
seventh for Red Bull with Romain Grosjean, Max Verstappen and Pastor Maldonado
rounding off the points positions.
Massa Excluded From Home Race
The local
hero, Felipe Massa, was disqualified from the Brazilian GP after his tyres were
found to breach their temperature limits before the race. Massa had originally
finished 8th, after what had been a tough weekend for the Brazilian, who seemed
to have some set up issue. He was disqualified after the race for exceeding the
revised parameters to ensure tyre safety, which were introduced at the Italian
GP following Sebastian Vettel's tyre failure in Belgium. The issue was flagged
up after almost half an hour had passed in the race. An FIA technical report
into the incident reported that on the grid, the tread temperature and minimum
starting pressure on Massa's car was checked after the "5 minute"
signal was given. The report went on to say that the temperature measured on
the tread of the right hand side rear tyre of Massa's car was 137c, which is
27c above the maximum tread temperature of 110c. The corresponding tyre
pressure at 137c was 20.6 psi, 0.1 psi above the minimum starting pressure.
Although
this is a violation of the regulations, something stands out about this incident. At the Italian GP in September, both Mercedes cars were found to be under the minimums et by Pirelli. However, after three hours of deliberations
by the race stewards, Hamilton's victory stood. How is the incident in Brazil
any different, apart from the very different outcomes? Is it because its
Williams and not Mercedes? Or is it because it was Felipe Massa and not Lewis
Hamilton? Whatever the reason for the different outcome one thing is clear, there
needs to be more consistency in applying these rules.
Has Hamilton Went On Holiday?
After Lewis
Hamilton was beaten to pole position and race victory for the second race in a
row by Nico Romberg, questions have already crept in about Hamilton's
commitment now that he has captured his third World Championship. Rosberg has
also secured his fifth consecutive pole position as well, something that
Hamilton hasn't seemed too concerned by. Although his calmness over Rosberg's
qualifying performances suggests he has switched off for the season, his racing
determination counters that argument. This determination was underlined by his
request to move onto a different strategy to his team mate, just so he could
get past him and beat him.
Something
that hasn't escaped my attention is Hamilton's life outside the track since
winning the title, and the effect it has had. His arrival to Brazil was delayed
by a day because of a fever, which Hamilton has admitted was brought on by a
hectic schedule since winning his third title three weeks ago, and a minor car
accident in Monaco. A lot has been made about his off track antics since
winning the championship. Let's be honest, if you had just won your third F1
World Championship, emulating your hero, you'd probably party hard as well. His
minor accident was apparently a result of his fever and general exhaustion.
In Abu Dhabi,
Hamilton can match his career best haul of 11 wins from last season, whilst
another podium finish would tie the all-time record of 17 podium finishes in a
season held jointly by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. These personal
records will hopefully show that Hamilton is still giving it his all, and that
he will want to equal these records. I don't think that Hamilton has switched
off for the season, I think that Nico Rosberg has realised that he needs to
start now if he is to put in a serious bid to get the World Championship out of
his team mate’s hands next year.
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