Brazilian Grand Prix: Hamilton wins as Verstappen stars in the wet

Lewis Hamilton won his first Brazilian Grand Prix in spectacular fashion, totally outdriving (demolishing?) Mercedes teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg in a wet and treacherous, marathon of a race in which Red Bull's Max Verstappen starred with one of the gutsiest drives in memory.

Hamilton won a race that was interrupted several times with yellow flag periods and red flag stoppages, but he was never challenged in conditions that separate the 'men from the boys' and the biggest of them was the reigning Formula 1 world champion.

Hamilton said on the podium, "Not too bad. I want to say a big thank you to the fans, that was a long race. I appreciate all the support and they are so welcoming to us. I was generally just chilling up front, when it rains it is usually a good day for me."

"A big thank you to my team, we are creating history. It is just incredible and I am so proud to be part of it. No mistakes, no dramas, no spins, it was interesting to hear how many spins there were behind me," added Hamilton who reduced the points deficit from 19 to 12 with only one race remaining in the title battle.

Although Rosberg was no match for Hamilton, to his credit he did what he had to do in the situation and heads to Abu Dhabi for the season finale needing to follow his teammate across the finish line to win his first F1 world title.

Rosberg said, "It didn't go my way, Lewis did a great job. It was very difficult conditions but I can live with second place."

Third place went to Verstappen, who delivered one of the most stunning performances witnessed in Formula 1 in decades and will go down as one of those drives that we will always remember - as awe inspiring as that brief but great Gilles Villeneuve vs Rene Arnoux tussle all those years ago at Dijon or that memorable Ayrton Senna win at Donington in 1993.

His drive had everything: a dozen or more clinical overtakes including an audacious ambush of Kimi Raikkonen at the start, a jaw-dropping save when his car whipped sideways up the Subida dos Boxes and tremendous pace in the wet conditions, exploring racing lines no one would dare go near. Pure genius.

Third was the Dutch teenager's reward for his greatest drive (so far) but could have been so much more had Red Bull not erred in their strategy calculations. There are simply not enough superlatives to describe his race and driving in the most trying conditions, but surely it must go down among the best drives of all time.

Verstappen commented, "It was an incredible race, with red flags difficult conditions, especially on the main straight."

As for the save-of-saves, he explained, "Maybe I clipped the kerb, locked all four wheels and managed to keep it out of the rail. After that I was 15th, 14th, I don't know where I was and had some great overtakes to get on to the podium."

Sergio Perez reaffirmed his mastery of wet and tricky conditions by driving a strong race to take, fourth place for Force India and a valuable haul of points in the constructors' tussle with Williams. At one point a podium even seemed possible, but a supercharged Verstappen ended that dream for the Mexican.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the sister car.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel survived a spin, in the early stages of the race, to fight back and claim fifth. He too was looking good for a podium late in the race, but was no match for Verstappen who overtook the German on the exit of Turn 12.

Vettel complained on the radio that the Red Bull driver forced him off track, but the replays show that there was at least a car width of track for the Ferrari to use, but went on to the grass instead.

Also doing his shares no harm on the day was young Carlos Sainz who finished sixth for Toro Rosso. The Spaniard stayed out of trouble, showing great pace in the wet.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was wishing for rain, but when it came true he looked out of sorts and by no means a match for his younger teammate Verstappen. The Australian was also victim of a bad strategy call. But unlike his teammate, who he led in the final stint, could only manage eighth.

After starting his home race second to last ion the grid, Felipe Nasr delivered Sauber's first points of the season with a strong showing to take ninth place.

Fernando Alonso, finished tenth, claiming the final point of the race for McLaren.

It was a sad end to Felipe Massa's final grand prix at Interlagos, ending in the barriers on at the Subida dos Boxes as he lost control after touching the white line on the inside of the turn..

His walk back to the pits with the Brazilian flag was packed with emotion and poignancy, with a touch of class from the Mercedes crew which formed a guard of honour as he trooped past their pit garage.

Massa summed his final grand prix in his home town, "It is so difficult to explain the feeling, this is such a special place for me. God knows what to do. Just stopping in that place, the feeling from the people was so special."

"I just say 'thank you' to everyone. It is an honour to be part of this world and it is difficult to explain the feeling. It was not the right result, but I will never forget this day, all of these people will be in my heart for the rest of my life," added the two times winner of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

There was drama even before the start as Romain Grosjean crashed out on his lap to grid. The Haas driver lost control on the standing water at the final corner and spun backwards into the wall damaging the rear and front of his car.

With the conditions treacherous the race start was delayed and then it got underway under the safety car.

The course car stayed on track for seven laps and when racing began Verstappen was the first to attack. As Hamilton held the lead from Rosberg, The Dutch teenager passed Ferrari’s Raikkonen through the Senna S and stole P3.

Elsewhere a number of drivers pitted for intermediate tyres but that decision soon looked premature as first Vettel spun dramatically but recovered while on full wets and then Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson lost control at the final turn and crashed heavily.

His car came to rest at the pit entry, just as Verstappen elected to pit for inters. The Red Bull man had to take evasive action to avoid the stricken Sauber but he made his pit stop cleanly.

His team-mate Ricciardo was following and by the time the Australian went committed to turning towards the pit lane, race control had close the pit lane. The Red Bull driver was caught out and after pitting he was put under investigation.

The Safety Car was deployed for Ericsson’s smash and the field again queued up behind the course car until lap 20.

But as soon as it pulled off track there was more drama. Raikkonen lost control on the main straight and the Finn hit walls on both sides of track before coming to a halt. As the field avoided him in the spray, the SC was deployed again before the red flags quickly came out.

The field pulled into the pit lane and it then became a waiting game as the conditions continued to make racing impossible. Eventually Race Control signaled that the race would re-start at 15:21 local time.

That re-start last just eight laps, all taken under the safety car, but as the conditions deteriorated again the decision was taken to once again suspend the action on lap 29. During the short spell on track, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg picked up a puncture due to debris on the track and pitted for a new set of wet tyres. That dropped him from P4 to P15.

The red flag period lasted just over 25 minutes but at 16:02 local time the race resumed once more, again under the safety car.

When the safety car left the track at the end of lap 31, Verstappen was once again the man on the move, passing Rosberg for P2 with a superb move around the outside at Turn 3.

Behind him team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was also striding forward and he passed Carlos Sainz for P5 through the Senna S.

Verstappen was pushing to catch Hamilton but his race almost ended on lap 39 when he spun on the main straight. The Dutch driver saved the spin expertly though and managed to resume and defend against the hard-charging Rosberg.

As the race developed both Red Bulls opted to move to intermediate tyres. The stops dropped Verstappen back to P5 and Ricciardo to P10. Further back Vettel was making good progress and by lap 45 he was up to sixth position behind Verstappen.

At the front Hamilton was looking comfortable ahead of Rosberg, Force India’s Perez and Toro Rosso’s Sainz.

However, the race changed again on lap 47 when Felipe Massa, racing the final Brazilian Grand Prix of his career, crashed out at the final corner.

He came to a halt at the pit entry and began a long walk back to the Williams garage, applauded all the way by his home fans and then, as he walked down the pit lane, by the Mercedes and Ferrari pit crews.

During this SC phase Ricciardo, with one eye to the weather, pitted for full wet tyres. Verstappen though stayed out, even though he was increasingly concerned that he could not make any headway on the inter. The Dutchman pitted for full wets then with the hope of fighting his way back through the field from P16.

The safety car left the track at the end of lap 55 with Hamilton leading from Rosberg, Perez, Sainz and Vettel.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso spun just as the safety car departed and that meant that behind Vettel, Nasr held sixth ahead of Hulkenberg, Ocon, Kvyat and Ricciardo.

On fresher wet tyres the Red Bulls began to scythe through the pack with Verstappen climbing to P6 by lap 65, behind Vettel. Ricciardo meanwhile was up to P8.

The Dutchman tried a move on Vettel on the run to Turn 4 on lap 56 but the Ferrari driver defended superbly but the German could not resist when Verstappen used his greater pace to pass at Turn 12. He then made short work of Sainz, who had enjoyed an excellent race to this point, to take P4.

Verstappen’s final jaw-dropping move was to pass Sergio Perez around the outside at Turn 10 to reclaim a podium finish just two laps from home.

Ahead Hamilton held on to his lead until the flag, winning the Brazilian Grand Prix for the first time with 12 seconds in hand over Rosberg. Verstappen took an incredible third place ahead of Perez, Vettel, Sainz and Hulkenberg. Ricciardo was eighth ahead of Nasr, who scored two crucial points for Sauber, and Alonso took the final point.

With Hamilton winning, Rosberg now leads the title fight by just 12 points and the championship battle goes to the wire in Abut Dhabi in two weeks’ time.