Rosberg beats Hamilton in Brazil

It was always going down to the wire in Abu Dhabi, but Nico Rosberg showed he is more than up for the fight with a brilliant win in Brazil. The expected rain didn't turn up but if anything that would have taken away from a fantastically tense Grand Prix where Lewis Hamilton hounded his team mate all the way to the flag, losing out by under a second.

Rosberg truly deserved his victory, he was quickest in every single session, and although it looked like he tensed up during the race, he remained under control to hold off a fierce challenge from the ever present Hamilton.

With the front row locked out by the Mercedes cars, they both got away well and led the early laps fairly comfortably. The soft tyre was blistering quickly and all those who started on them started pitting after only five laps. 

Rosberg and Hamilton maintained their positions, but got ever closer to each other as they fought their way through the traffic of those who started on the medium compound and were able to go longer in the first stint.

It was the second stops that very nearly swung the race Hamilton's way. Rosberg stopped on lap 26 and immediately Hamilton set a banzai fastest lap that brought him into contention for the win. He went for a second lap, but the grip was gone, turn four, the car snapped and Lewis went sliding into a half spin, the potential win was gone.

The team actually apologised to him for making him do one more lap, but it is arguable whether he'd have exited ahead of Rosberg but it would have been extremely close. As it was Hamilton came out seven seconds back, but closed and closed. Every lap the number 44 Mercedes became more threatening to Rosberg's lead, but he didn't put a wheel out of line.

Through the third stops and into the final 10 laps, Hamilton was there filling the mirrors of Rosberg, but this time there was to be no pass despite Hamilton always having the DRS. Rosberg withstood all the pressure and the win was his, probably his best win of the year by a long way.

So it's to Abu Dhabi and double points. Thank goodness in a way that Hamilton didn't win as if we were in a normal situation he'd have won the title. Even better that Rosberg didn't retire at the same time as then the gap would have been 49 points, almost two normal wins ahead, the outrage would have been immense.

As it is now, for the title to be unaffected by double points for Hamilton to win he need only finish second or win. For Rosberg to win without doubles points affecting the result he needs to win and have Hamilton finish seventh or lower. In reality because of double points for Rosberg to win, he only needs Hamilton to finish third or lower.

I only hope mechanical failures don't come into it and we get an unaffected double points win in the finale. You have to expect the two Mercedes cars to once again head the field in Abu Dhabi, so lets see them race and may the best driver win. Today Rosberg showed he can live with Hamilton, but it's going to be a tough result if Lewis is to lose this title now.

Felipe Massa gave his home race crowd a great result for Williams with third place despite doing as much as he could do squander the opportunity. He got a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and then tried to have his tyres changed in the McLaren pit box. He still showed strong pace throughout and deserved his podium. 

His team mate Valtteri Bottas finished up 10th after starting fourth and suffered an unfortunate result, nothing seemed to work right for him once his second pit stop meant he had to have his seat belts tightened and then at the next stop debris cleared from his wings after Nico Hulkenberg politely squeezed him off track and turn one.

Jenson Button was my star of the race. Left hanging by McLaren about a drive for next year, he produced a brilliant drive, chasing after the Williams cars in the opening stints in a McLaren which although improved is still a way off their pace. He held off challenges behind and just looked like a man who should be continuing in Formula 1 next year. 

I thought he might have grabbed a podium after Massa's penalty but strangely he seemed even further behind, still fourth was a fine result, while his team mate Kevin Magnussen was embroiled in battles that eventually dropped him to ninth after starting sixth. Both drivers deserve another season at McLaren but with the looming presence of Fernando Alonso that's highly unlikely. Having said that, the rumours of third cars for Ferrari and Red Bull might well shake up just who goes where again. If I were Ferrari I'd be grabbing Button immediately.

Sebastian Vettel was the lead Red Bull all weekend finishing fifth after utilising the undercut at the second pit stops and then chasing Button down to fight for fou.rth. It was a decent display after a tough first lap when he ran wide at turn four, but fought back brilliant. Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull retired early on with a suspension failure while running behind, but with Ricciardo I think you begin to sense he's always going to make an attack at some point, so it's sad we didn't see that.

Sixth and Seventh was Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso could have been in the hunt for fourth and fifth and might have expected a call from the team for Kimi to let him through, but as he's supposedly leaving that call was not forthcoming.

Kimi held him off brilliantly on over 30 lap old tyres as he was the only one to make a two stop strategy just about work. Alonso was always going to get through but it was nice to see Kimi show he's still got his fighting skills, and it was a great effort when a three stop strategy was probably the way forward.

Hulkenberg took eighth with a very fine drive after starting 12th. He went the opposite way on tyre strategy running medium three times before ending on the soft compound. A very good drive after some quieter races in the middle of the season.

Formula 1 was still discussing the future of how money is split while despite Marussia closing its door there are still rumours it could be bought. I don't want to see third cars for the top teams as fun as that may sound. As many other people have pointed out, running third cars will squeeze the back of the grid still further from top results, leaving them with less money. We'll end up with just a few makes maybe one day even just one manufacturer.

Formula 1 is about many teams competing to design their own cars, make them and get the best engineers, mechanics and drivers to race them to push each other to the limit. This formula should not be messed with. Bernie Ecclestone says $900million goes to the teams and the lower teams should spend their money more wisely. Well maybe he should split the money in a fairly way and not give so much to himself, FOM and CVC, the owners of Formula 1 and concentrate more on funding a sustainable sport with teams competing on an even level.

That argument will continue for a while yet, but what we should all concentrate on now is a thrilling title showdown in Abu Dhabi one which hopefully will result in a world champion unaffected by double points. 

#ForzaJules

all photo's taken from autosport.com