The field for the F1 2014 championship is still open as
Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg romped home to claim a dramatic Grand
Prix win in Brazil on November 09, 2014.
Thus, Nico’s teammate Lewis Hamilton has still to fight on to claim his
season’s title. Nico Rosberg has kept his Formula One title hopes alive after
his superb performance.
With the Brazil win, Rosberg is now just 17 points behind
Hamilton, with 50 up for grabs in the title decider in Abu Dhabi in a
fortnight. Do remember, it’s a double
point victory at Abu Dhabi as per the new norms of F1. Thus, if Rosberg wins
there, Hamilton would have to finish second in order to clinch the title.
As the race began, Rosberg who was in pole position,
maintained his lead throughout despite Hamilton snapping at his heels. Rosberg withstood
every attempt by Hamilton to overtake him and finally avenged his defeat of the
previous Austin race in the US.
Felipe Massa of Williams-Mercedes fought hard to finish
third and got his first podium of the year.
Jenson Button of McLaren-Mercedes came in fourth, followed
by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing-Renault, Fernando Alonso and Kimi
Raikkonen of Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg of Sahara Force India and Kevin Magnussen
of McLaren-Mercedes, all making it to the first ten positions in the race.
Hulkenberg’s teammate Sergio Perez was only able to get a 15th
position in the race.
Massa was the first of the frontrunners to take off his
starting soft tyres on lap six and rejoined in P16. It was a troubled visit to
pit lane, however, as he was immediately handed a five-second stop and a
penalty for speeding in the pit lane. His switch to medium tyres led to a rush of
pit lane activity, with the bulk of the field pitting for the prime tyre. Those
who refrained from changing included Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Force India’s
Nico Hulkenberg, Lotus’ Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Adrian Sutil.
Hulkenberg was the first of the medium tyre starters to pit
on lap 17 and two laps later Kvyat ventured into the pit lane.
Vettel’s teammate ran into trouble on lap 39. Dainel
Ricciardo slowed and radioed that he had a brake issue. He pitted on lap 40 and
retired. Romain Grosjean of Lotus-Renault too had to pull to a halt as smoke
engulfed his Lotus on Lap 64.
But for the home crowd of Sao Paulo their favourite was
Massa who took the final podium place in the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix Race