Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday night after cutting the lead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished second, to 12 points. Hamilton completed the rain-hit race in 3:01.01.335 with Rosberg +11.455 seconds behind the Brit. The title will now be decided in the final race at Abu Dhabi on November 27.
Rosberg will win the championship if he finishes third, even if Hamilton wins the race. This was Hamilton’s 52nd career win, making him the second most successful race winner of all time ahead of Alain Prost (51). Michael Schumacher is the first with 91 race wins.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished third. The 19-year-old put on a spectacular show, which saw him start as far back as 13th during the course of the race.
The rain-hit race began ten minutes late, was stopped twice by red flags and featured five safety car periods amid continuous downpour. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a crash that ended his Brazil trip without crossing the finishing line. Local boy Felipe Massa also crashed in lap 48. This was his last race in Brazil as a Formula One driver.
Britain’s Jolyon Palmer, after a crash with Daniil Kvyat, told The Guardian, “From where I was, the visibility was impossible, you just can’t see anything. It is bad but it is just the standing water. Kimi [Raikkonen] lost it on full wets in a straight line.”
There were several other drivers including Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean who lost control of their cars and could not finish the race because of accidents.
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