Hamilton wins Brazilian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton produced a masterful performance to win a wet, chaotic, crash-strewn Brazilian Grand Prix and take the title fight to the final race.

Hamilton cut the deficit on championship leader Rosberg to 12 points with his third win running and his first in Brazil on Sunday.

Hamilton, who lost a chunk of points earlier in the season to reliability issues, needs to outscore Rosberg by 13 points, meaning his best chance of winning the title would be securing victory with Rosberg fourth or lower.

In the process, the Brit also ended Rosberg’s hopes of a hat-trick of Brazilian wins after the 31-year-old German had won from pole in 2014 and 2015. He said: “A win was maybe not possible but second was”. The results are showing that.

“Now I look forward to Abu Dhabi, where I have good memories from previous year”.

“We are racing. They don’t owe me any favours and they don’t owe Nico any favours”, said the Briton.

“We’re creating history in this team”.

After a 35-minute break the race resumed from lap 21 under a safety auto but the red flag came out again seven laps later because of the persistent rain.

“I am and will be proud of myself if I continue to perform as I am”, he added.

Hamilton’s win was his first victory in Brazil in 10 attempts, but he won when victory was of utmost importance and in conditions that Senna, buried just a few miles from Interlagos at the Morumbi cemetery, would also have relished.

Felipe Massa getting some love from the crowd, the Brazilian retiring at the end of the year, and this will be his last race on home soil. “It’s a lucky weekend”, he explained.

At the next restart on lap 20 of 71, Raikkonen aquaplaned on the main straight and slammed into the wall, prompting an nearly immediate red flag. “Probably one of the easier ones. It was pretty straightforward”. “Silverstone 2008 was way harder than this”. He told the Sky commentator Martin Brundle from the podium: “I was genuinely chilling up front. It’s on a track that I’ve struggled at so I’m really happy to be up on top”. It was tricky for everyone. There were definitely opportunities for aquaplaning, which everyone did. “No mistakes, no dramas, no spins, it was interesting to hear how many spins there were behind me”.