Brazil win leaves Hamilton in ‘awkward’ position

Despite Hamilton’s late-season surge, Rosberg can still claim the championship with third place or better at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi on November 27. Britain’s Guardian newspaper said there was little to choose statistically between Hamilton and Rosberg this season – both now have nine wins, while Hamilton has 11 poles to Rosberg’s eight.

“Obviously I have to continue what I’m doing”. “I am happy that in the same auto I am beating Nico and he is driving at his best right now”.

“I had a bit of a moment when I spun at one point but luckily this wasn’t at high speed, so I was able to catch the vehicle again”. It was pretty straightforward.

“Right now, I’m going to live in the moment”. “Of course this is a race I’ve been dreaming of winning since I was very, very young”.

“This experience is so surreal and won’t kick in until later after all the years of trying to win this grand prix and all the emotions that go with it”. A vehicle passes by a warning signal during heavy rainfall at the race during the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016.

Despite making an unbelievable comeback back to the podium, the Dutchman still finished behind Rosberg after having the edge on him during the early stages of the Brazilian Grand Prix. “I am just really thankful that these guys have given me such a great opportunity and I have capitalised on it”.

“Of course, it didn’t go my way today with the win, but Lewis just did a great job”, he said. “It worked out fine”.

The race started behind the safety vehicle after a 10-min delay, with Frenchman Romain Grosjean crashing his Haas on the way to the grid, and was twice red-flagged due to accidents and the treacherous conditions.

The Stevenage-born racer’s triumph was the 52nd of his career, which saw him overtake Alain Prost’s tally of 51 to make him the second most successful race victor of all time.

He now has victories on 24 different tracks and a career tally of 52 to surpass Alain Prost and put him behind only the 91 of Michael Schumacher.

It nearly happened in Brazil on Sunday with Max Verstappen overtaking Rosberg for second place behind Hamilton only for Red Bull to then make the wrong tyre choice and put the Dutch teenager on intermediates that needed changing again for wets.