Rosberg fastest in Brazil final practice ahead of qualifying

It’s the third straight race that Rosberg has been the runner-up behind Hamilton.

“I felt quite comfortable in qualifying as I’ve have done all through the weekend to be honest”, he quipped.

Hamilton is often a master of the inclement conditions while Rosberg has struggled in recent times.

I personally would like to see Nico Rosberg work hard and make it, but that won’t be easy against a highly skilled teammate like Lewis Hamilton. “I was hoping for the win but second is OK”, Rosberg said. Hamilton, fighting to retain his crown, is also aiming for a hat-trick of consecutive wins having won both the United States and Mexican races last month. “When it rains that’s usually a good day for me, and today was tricky for everyone”. “I am happy with the same auto I beat Nico, and Nico is driving at his best right and he had nothing on me [in the race]”.

Later, there was heartbreak for Brazil’s Felipe Massa in his final home grand prix as he crashed in his Williams.

“I was generally just chilling up front”, said Hamilton, whose 52nd career win put him second on the all-time list behind seven-times champion Michael Schumacher (91) but ahead of Alain Prost.

If Hamilton wins the race on Sunday, the drivers’ title will be decided in the final race of the season in two weeks in Abu Dhabi.

“I am hunting and all I can do is do what I am doing right now”, Hamilton said. He said: “A win was maybe not possible but second was”.

Between lap 29, when the race resumed following Raikkonen’s crash and lap 49, when Felipe Massa hit the wall to bring his final race in Brazil to a premature end, Hamilton had streaked 23 seconds clear of the sister Silver Arrows.

The race also saw Red Bull driver Max Verstappen producing produced arguably the most stunning performance of the as he recovered from falling back to 16th after a late tyre change to claim third place.

The appalling conditions led to a number of crashes with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen sliding off at high speed and lucky to avoid a more serious incident.

The Red Bull teammates soon pitted for intermediates, while the Mercedes teammates remained out on track on the same wets on which they started the race.

The safety auto was back out when Brazilian Felipe Massa in a Williams – on his last home race before retirement – span and crashed out on lap 49 near the pit lane entry.