Rosberg, Hamilton pick identical tyres for title showdown

World champion Lewis Hamilton won a rain-hit race on the Interlagos circuit for his first win in Brazil ahead of Mercedes team-mate Rosberg to keep his title hopes alive.

Rosberg will be crowned world champion for the first time if the German finishes on the podium at the Abu Dhabi finale, even if Hamilton takes his fourth race victory in a row and 10th for the season.

Hamilton is now 12 points behind championship leader Nico Rosberg.

“When it rains, it’s usually a good day for me … it was a very easy race, generally”.

He led the entire race with only minor issue happening when water started trickling through his helmet visor as the first phase of the race was underway. “No mistakes, no dramas, no spins, it was interesting to hear how many spins there were behind me”.

Behind him, there was some chaos in a crash-filled thriller that was twice stopped and re-started, with 5 safety auto frames and lengthy delays after cars aquaplaned off the track.

“It was an exciting qualifying, very close”, the 31-year-old German said. Lewis did a great job and it was very hard out there.

Rosberg has concerns about Verstappen being a couple of places behind on the grid: “I don’t think about individual drivers being around me in that sense”.

As it resumed, Verstappen pulled off a sensational pass around the outside of Rosberg at Turn 3 to take second.

‘I’m hunting, ‘ he said.

From there it went to the flag, although with several Safety Car intermissions.

Haas driver Romain Grosjean finished seventh while Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez along with Fernando Alonso occupied the last three spots.

Williams’ driver Felipe Massa, in his final race in his home country, crashed out in lap 48 and was given a guard of honour by Mercedes and Ferrari engineers as he walked back through the pitlane.

As a result, the race started behind the Safety Car.

“I am looking forward and trying to get Lewis into turn one that is the plan”.

The race, which started behind the safety vehicle after a 10- minute delay, was stopped for the first time after 20 of 71 scheduled laps when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen had a big crash on the pit straight after losing control.