Rosberg secures fifth win of the season in Brazil to set up title showdown in Abu Dhabi

(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)

Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team's Nico Rosberg secured his fifth win of the season in Brazil to set up a title showdown in Abu Dhabi in two weeks time between himself and title rival Lewis Hamilton. 

Lewis Hamilton finished the race in second place and takes a 17 point advantage in the championship to the season finale in Abu Dhabi in two weeks time. The result gave Mercedes their 11th 1-2 finish of the season and their fifteenth win of the season. Speaking following the race Nico Rosberg stated:

'That was a fantastic weekend and I felt very comfortable over the whole three days. I had to learn from Austin, which was a big disappointment, and I think I achieved that. I was able to control the pace a bit better and didn’t let Lewis come too close. He drove really well and was always right there pushing me. When he spun I had a bit of time to relax and was able to save some life in the tyres for the end of the stint. 

That worked out perfectly and it was a great day with another one-two for the team. I was also happy for Felipe to be on the podium with us at his home race. The Brazilian people have been so great to us throughout this the whole weekend so it was also a good day for them. Now we have a great finale to look forward to in Abu Dhabi. I’m still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself.'

Following his sixth podium in a row Lewis Hamilton stated:

'Naturally, you’ll always be disappointed when you make a mistake and I did that today. But honestly, I felt great out there. The car was strong, my pace was good, I didn’t give up, kept pushing and made up the time so that’s what’s most important to me. 

Generally, when I’m told to push it means the team is bringing me in that lap so that’s what I did. In the end, they left me out for another lap which caught me by surprise. By the time I came round to do the second lap my rear tyres were gone from where I’d been pushing so hard. Even so, it was my mistake locking up the rears and ultimately that cost me the win. Nico drove a great race – defending well and not making any mistakes. 

But it’s clear I had the pace. It’s not a big deal, though. That’s motor racing. Obviously, I lost some points which is disappointing. But it’s a great team result with a record-breaking one-two finish and I really enjoyed the race. The car is just fantastic – the best I’ve ever driven – so a big thank you to the team for all their hard work. I’ll be pushing just as hard in Abu Dhabi and hopefully we’ll get to have another great race like we saw today. '

The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team have secured more wins in a season then Red Bull Racing did during the championship winning seasons and have now equaled McLaren's 1988 record of 15 victories in a season and are on course to beat that record at the season finale in Abu Dhabi in two weeks time. Speaking following the race Mercedes Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff stated:

'I’m so proud of the team and what we have achieved today. What you see at the track on a race weekend is just the tip of the iceberg and there are so many hard working, intelligent, good people who contributed to the success of the car and of this season. If I could, I would want to mention the names of everybody. Although you see a couple of public faces, the results are only possible because the team is strong and sticks together. 

Numbers like 11 one-two finishes, 15 wins and 30 podiums in a season make me incredibly proud of my colleagues and humble at what we have achieved together. Today’s race was a pure battle between Nico and Lewis, with no quarter asked or given. The deciding moment probably came when Lewis spun on lap 28. 

That gave Nico some breathing room and, although Lewis seemed to have the better speed today, Nico was able to absorb the pressure from then all the way to the flag. It was a fantastic performance from both of them and sets up the prospect of a thrilling finale in Abu Dhabi. No matter which way that race goes, either driver would be a very worthy World Champion at the end of a fantastic season.'

Mercedes Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe stated:

'We have been saying all week that Brazilian Grands Prix are usually full of drama and this one was no exception. Although the weather didn’t play a disruptive role, we saw a brilliant all-out battle between our two drivers that exemplified the incredible level of competition we have seen between them all season. Prior to the race, it was clear that tyre endurance would play a key role, after the teams had unanimously decided to bring a softer selection to this event than 

Pirelli had initially recommended. When conditions proved so hot and track temperatures so high, we thought that making a three-stop strategy would actually be quite tight, so we were pleased to find the tyres actually behaved better than our predictions had suggested. It is an incredible achievement to score our 11th one-two finish of the season and to write a line in the history books of the sport. 1988 was my first season in Formula One and that year saw records set that I thought would never be broken. It is hard now to get my head round the fact that we have set a new benchmark. 

That is a real tribute to the achievements of the team. Congratulations to everybody in Stuttgart, Brixworth and Brackley on reaching this milestone.'

It was a fantastic race for Williams Martini Racing Team's Felipe Massa who finished his home race on the podium in third place recovering from a five second stop and go which was handed down to the Brazilian as a result of speeding in the pit-lane. Speaking following the race the Brazilian stated:

'It was not an easy race but what a fantastic result for me, for my family, and for the team to finish on the podium in front of my home fans. The energy from the crowd was amazing and really pushed me forward. 

The car had strong and consistent pace today and this allowed me to stay in third despite issues in my two pitstops. In the first stop I incurred a stop-and-go penalty after speeding in the pit lane after I hit the limiter twice by mistake, and in the second I stopped in the wrong box. 

We’re not normally next to McLaren and in the light their overalls looked the same colour as ours so this caught me out. In the end these issues were not enough to take away my podium because we had a good aggressive strategy and a really good car. '

Williams Martini Racing's Head of Performance Engineering Rob Smedley stated:

'That was probably the most hectic race we have had all year and was very difficult to manage from the pit wall with everything that was going on. We had a lot of issues; both cars had debris stuck in them and we had to remove these at different pit stops, Valtteri lost time in his first stop as he had an issue with his belts that we needed to check, and Felipe lost time in his second stop through a penalty and stopping in the wrong box. 

Nevertheless we have secured some good points in spite of these challenges, extending our lead over fourth in the Championship and Felipe put in a very mature drive to finish on the podium in front of his home fans. The car is quick and this race had proved that - we now need to make sure that in Abu Dhabi we fully maximise the points that we should be attaining with this car.'

McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button did a brilliant job battling with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to finish the race in fourth place after starting the race in fifth place. Button finished the race just ahead of reigning world champion Infiniti Red Bull Racing Sebastian Vettel who finished the race in 6th place Speaking following the race Vettel said:

'I had a good launch at the start and then into Turn 4… maybe I don’t have the best memories of Turn 4 here from two years ago, I didn’t know how aggressive Kevin (Magnussen) was going to be going into it and I left a bit too much space. 

I went a bit wide and lost two positions as I couldn’t get on the power out of the corner. Then I had to fight hard to get the positions back during the race which we did, especially with strategy. I hoped to get maybe one more position to finish fourth, but in the end it was a good result for us here.'

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who had a fantastic battle with team mate Kimi Raikkonen with the pair finishing the race in 6th and 7th place respectively.

The Sahara Force India Formula One Team's Nico Hulkenberg finished the race in eighth place just ahead of McLaren's Kevin Magnussen. Speaking following the race the German stated:

'It was quite a cool race and very satisfying to finish in eighth. With a three-stop race you are always pushing, but my race was not too complicated and I was on my own for a large part of the afternoon. I also had a few nice battles and it was good fun. 

The car felt a bit better today compared to earlier in the weekend so I was more comfortable and really able to push. The team made the right calls on the strategy and we maximised our performance with the tyres in these very hot conditions. I finished just behind the two Ferraris and maybe with one or two more laps I could have finished sixth instead of eighth, but that’s racing.'

Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten for the Williams Martini Racing Team who have now extended their advantage over Ferrari in the Constructors championship to 44 points in the race for third place in the championship with just the season finale in Abu Dhabi to come in two weeks time, Speaking following the race the Finn stated:

'It was a race full of different problems for me and in the end it just wasn’t my day. I had an issue with my belts at the beginning that we resolved at the first pit stop but this lost me a lot of time and I also lost time in the second stop. 

The conditions were very challenging as tyre wear was high and all cars were experiencing graining. As a team we have managed to come away with some decent points and I’m happy for Felipe as the crowd reaction after he got out of the car was very special. These sort of days happen in Formula One and we need to regroup and make sure that Abu Dhabi is a problem free race for us.'

Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat was left disappointed as the Russian finished the race just outside the points in eleventh place just ahead of the Lotus F1 Team's Pastor Maldonado. Speaking following the race the Venezuelan stated:

'It was a tough race. We had to switch from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy due to high tyre wear which meant our race was compromised. My start wasn’t great but we managed to be a lot more competitive towards the end of the race and were aiming for points. I tried my best and was hoping to overtake Valtteri Bottas but it wasn’t possible in the end. We’ll be pushing hard in Abu Dhabi, that’s for sure.'

The Lotus F1 Team will be hoping that they will be able to finish the season on a high following a difficult year in 2014 as the final race in Abu Dhabi si worth double points. Speaking following the race deputy team principal Frederico Gastaldi stated:

'Today we expected a better result on track, especially after some of the evidence to suggest we could have a reasonably decent race. Neither driver experienced a perfect day. 

Pastor struggled at the start, but then fought back to make up a lot of places. Romain was able to run high up the order early-on but we had to change strategy which penalised him, but not as much as his engine failure. Now our focus is Abu Dhabi and the double points available there.'

The Enstone outfits Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane stated:

'Today’s race didn’t go the way we wanted it. Pastor didn’t get a good start off the line and Romain’s car was unable to make it to the chequered flag. 

We were hoping to capitalise on better tyre life than our rivals, and although we were able stretch more durable performance from the medium compound than some, it was insufficient to secure fewer pit stops for us which meant no advantage. We have one race remaining in 2014 where we will push to gain some final points from this season, then our focus is 100% on 2015.'

Jean Eric Vergne finished the race in 13th place just ahead of the Sauber F1 Team's Esteban Gutierrez who finished the race just ahead of the Sahara Force India F1 Team's Sergio Perez. Commenting following the race Gutierrez commented by saying:

'We fought all the way through the race, and it was looking good until half distance. When I tried to fight with a car in front of me I lost a lot of grip and the tyres quickly started to overheat. It was very difficult to cope with the tyre grip. There is one more race, and we have to keep pushing in order to accomplish our objective to score points.'

Speaking following the race the Perez said:

'It was a difficult race and things didn’t really go my way all weekend. With the track time we lost on Friday and the grid penalty yesterday, we always knew it was going to be hard to recover the lost ground. 

I tried my best to fight through in the race, but I lost a lot of track position following the five-second penalty and for most of the afternoon I was stuck in traffic. 

I couldn’t make any progress and the cars around us were on a similar strategy. So it has been a disappointing weekend and I just hope we can have a better result in Abu Dhabi.'

Speaking following the race Sahara Force India team principal and managing director Dr Vijay Mallya commented saying:

'It was an interesting race for us and I think we were involved in a lot of the overtaking action! Nico produced a very good performance, making the most of an alternative strategy and bringing home some valuable points. The only regret is that, had the race been a couple of laps longer, he could have probably finished a couple of positions higher. 

Checo always had his work cut out after taking the grid drop: he had a great start and was looking like he would make up quite a few places, but in the end the five-second pit-stop penalty undid all the good work he had done in the first part of the race. Today's results mean we will need a special result in Abu Dhabi, but we will not stop fighting as the maths does not rule us out. 

Formula One can be unpredictable and we're ready to take the championship battle for fifth down to the wire.'

The Sauber F1 Team's Adrian Sutil finished the race in 16th place and speaking afterwards the German stated:

'It was an uneventful race for me. I had to start from the pit lane due to a problem with the cooling configuration. It is a pity, as we quite often have problems. As a driver you give your best in qualifying, but then you have to start the race from the last position. In addition, there was an incident during my first pit stop, which cost me some time. It is frustrating, but we did our best today.'

The Sauber F1 Team's Head of Track Engineering Giampaolo Dall'Ara stated:

'Our biggest problem today was that our expectations in terms of weather were wrong. We had prepared our cars for a cooler day, which was the forecast. However, the temperatures were significantly higher than predicted. This made our day pretty difficult. On Adrian’s car we had to change the cooling configuration, and, as a result, he started from the pit lane. 

For Esteban we decided to start him from his grid position and use a slightly more conservative approach on the performance side. His pace was good in the beginning and put him in a position to fight for a point, but shortly before the end his lap times were temporarily slower. We can’t see anything on the data, so we have to look at it with the driver to understand what happened. 

We were really looking forward to scoring the final point. Adrian had a difficult Sunday, being forced to start from the pit lane. He also lost five seconds at the first pit stop.'

The Swiss based outfit's team principal Monisha Keltenborn said:

'Today’s result is very disappointing. Esteban had a promising starting position and a good chance to score a point, which could unfortunately not be achieved. Adrian’s opportunities were reduced after he had to start the race from the pit lane, and lost some time during his first pit stop.'

It was a disappointing race for the Lotus F1 Team's Romain Grosjean as the Frenchman retired from the race with a handful of laps remaining. Speaking following the race the Frenchman said:

'The start of the race was good and we were able to run high up in the field quite quickly. We had to switch from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy half way through the race however and that came with some challenges. 

A lot of work was done to improve the car’s performance this weekend so it’s hard not to be able to finish. We’ll be looking into what happened and make sure we’re ready to make the most of the double points on offer for the next race.'

Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo was forced to retire from the race with left front suspension failure which meant for the first time in 15 race's the Australian failed to score points. Speaking following the race the Australian stated:

'When I went into Turn One, the car went to the right and I knew there was a problem. I came into the pits and the team told me it was suspension failure and we retired. It had been a bit of a boring race, we were close to everyone but not close enough to have many fights; 

I would have liked to have had a bit more fun, but it didn’t really happen. It’s a shame, but I had a pretty good run until now, so I can’t be too greedy. It would be good to finish on the podium at the final race of the season.'

Infiniti Red Bull Racing have now secured second place in the championship and commenting following the race team principal Christian Horner stated:

'A difficult afternoon. Sebastian unfortunately lost some time on the first lap, but thereafter he recovered very well through good strategy and pit work to get back up to fifth, which I think was the maximum at this circuit. With Daniel, unfortunately we had a front suspension issue, he thought it might be a front brake, but in the end it turned out to be the front suspension that had failed so we need to investigate what happened. 

Despite all that, we managed to secure second in the Constructors’ Championship which, considering where we started the season, is a huge credit to the entire team for the fight back that we put up this year. We now look forward to the last race in Abu Dhabi.'

Drivers Championship standings

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 334 points

2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 317

3 Daniel Ricciardo Infiniti Red Bull Racing 214

4 Sebastian Vettel Infiniti Red Bull Racing 159

5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 157

6 Valtteri Bottas Williams Martini Racing Team 156

7 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 106

8 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing Team 98

9 Nico Hulkenberg Sahara Force India Formula One Team 80

10 Kevin Magnussen McLaren Mercedes 55

11 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 53

12 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India Formula One Team 47

13 Jean Eric Vergne Scuderia Toro Rosso 22

14 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 8

15 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 8

16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus F1 Team 2

17 Jules Bianchi Marussia F1 Team 2

Constructors Championship Standings 

1 Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team 651 2014 Champions

2 Infiniti Red Bull Racing 373

3 Williams Martini Racing Team 254

4 Ferrari 210

5 McLaren Mercedes 161

6 Sahara Force India Formula One Team 127

7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 30

8 Lotus F1 Team 10

9 Marussia F1 Team 2

© Ben Johnston 2014