It is too little, too late at this point in the 2015 F1 season, but Nico Rosberg's second consecutive victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace at Sao Paulo on Sunday meant that the German was once again able to get the better of his drivers' championship winning Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton again, rather than the other way around.
Rosberg survived moments of pressure put on him by the chasing Hamilton who was unable to pass the German or get ahead of him with the use of tyre strategy over the course of the 71 lap race around the 4.309km circuit with dramatic elevation changes and fast, flowing corners on an anti-clockwise layout. The Briton ultimately settled for second place behind Rosberg as the factory Mercedes squad completed their eleventh 1-2 finish of the season.
Behind them, their closest competitors throughout the year took the next two finishing spots with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen being the only other drivers besides the Mercedes duo to finish the race on the lead lap.
Ferrari made up for their dismal outing in the previous round in Mexico where both drivers retired, making it the first time since the 2006 season that not a single scarlet car was classified as a finisher. The Mexican retirement did, however, hurt Vettel's slim chances of stealing second place in the drivers' championship from Rosberg, which were well and truly scuppered by the latter taking his 13th F1 career win.
Williams-Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was the best of the rest in fifth place ahead of Force India-Mercedes' Nico Hulkenberg, whose sixth place finish secured fifth place in the constructors' championship for the team that is rumoured to being re-branded as a works Aston Martin entry.
Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull-Renault, Felipe Massa of Williams-Mercedes, Romain Grosjean of Lotus-Mercedes and arguably one of the highlights of the race on account of his daring overtaking manoeuvres, Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso-Renault rounded out the top ten.
Three stops were the order of the day for the podium finishers with only Vettel opting for the soft compound tyre (which was the option tyre) after his opening stint while Rosberg and Hamilton used just the medium compounds.
Vettel had hoped for the soft tyres on his second stop to allow him to close on the Mercedes duo, put the pair ultimately had too much pace for him to live with even though the Ferrari driver did keep them on their toes enough to push throughout the race.
The 2015 F1 season concludes at the next round in Abu Dhabi on the 27 to 29 November weekend.
2015 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix - Race Results (Top 10)
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 71 laps
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +7.756
- Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +14.244
- Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +47.543
- Valtteri Bottas (Williams-Mercedes) +1 lap
- Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) +1 lap
- Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull-Renault) +1 lap
- Felipe Massa (Williams-Mercedes) +1 lap
- Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Mercedes) +1 lap
- Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso-Renault) +1 lap
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