Sebastian Vettel took victory in the Brazilian GP after leading from start to finish after passing Nico Hulkenberg into the first turn.
With Mark Webber finishing second, the Red Bull team secured the constructors’ championship with one race remaining.
Fernando Alonso maintained his lead in the drivers championship, albeit with a much smaller gap to Webber and Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton came in fourth, a disappointing result after showing great promise in qualifying. Both McLaren’s struggled with their tyres. Button finished fifth.
Despite securing pole position, Nico Hulkenberg could only manage eighth, behind the two Mercedes cars.
Race Report
Sebastian Vettel immediately took the lead of the race into turn one as he jumped the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg.
The Williams driver was visibly slower than the cars behind him and had to defend from Mark Webber until the inevitable happened and the Australian passed into turn three.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso passed Lewis Hamilton who complained of poor grip levels. The Spaniard then went onto pass Hulkenberg on lap 10.
Jenson Button was the first man to stop for fresh tyres on lap 12, immediately followed by Felipe Massa. The Brazilian had to stop again on the following lap after complaining of vibrations from the front-right tyre.
A flood of cars entered the pits, sparked by Button’s stop. Hulkenberg being one, therefore releasing Hamilton into some clean air. The Brit built up a good gap, enabling him to pit and come out ahead of Nico and his team-mate, Jenson.
Lap 25 saw Alonso make his first stop for hard tyres, re-joining well ahead of the yet-to-stop Rosberg in third.
Rubens Barrichello suffered some bad luck in front of his home crowd after suffering a puncture when he made very light contact with a Toro Rosso. That dropped the Brazilian down into 18th.
Kamui Kobayashi played the waiting game which looked to be paying off until the mid-part of the race. His pace dropped off which let Rosberg pass with ease, dropping the Japanese drive into seventh.
Lap 51, the action kicked off again as Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed, causing a safety car period for five laps.
It was a battle of the lapped cars on the restart as Button, Hamilton, Rosberg and Schumacher had to weave their way through the pack whilst they themselves were fighting for position.
Nick Heidfeld was penalised by the stewards with a drive-through penalty for ‘ignoring blue flags’ – a little unfair given the circumstances.
In the end, Red Bull secured a 1-2 and with that, the constructors’ championship.
Brazilian Race Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | J. Button | McLaren | +15.5 |
| 1. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | |
| 4. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +14.6 |
| 9. | R. Kubica | Renault | +1 lap |
| 6. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +35.3 |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +4.2 |
| 24. | V. Liuzzi | Force India | +22 laps |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +6.8 |
| 15. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +1 lap |
| 7. | M Schumacher | Mercedes | +43.4 |
| 8. | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | +1 lap |
| 12. | A. Sutil | Force India | +1 lap |
| 16. | V. Petrov | Renault | +1 lap |
| 13. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | +1 lap |
| 17. | N. Heidfeld | Sauber | +1 lap |
| 10. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +1 lap |
| 11. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | +1 lap |
| 20. | T. Glock | Virgin | +2 laps |
| 19. | J. Trulli | Lotus | +2 laps |
| 23. | L. di Grassi | Virgin | +9 laps |
| 18. | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | +2 lap |
| 21. | B. Senna | Hispania | +2 laps |
| 14. | R. Barrichello | Williams | +1 lap |
| 22. | C. Klien | Hispania | +6 laps |
Fastest Lap: L. Hamilton – 1:13.852 (lap 66)
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