Team by team analysis of Brazilian Grand Prix

Published 11/16/2015, 1:24 AM EST

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via Reuters

REUTERS – Team by team analysis of Sunday’s Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix (listed in current championship order):

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MERCEDES (Nico Rosberg 1, Lewis Hamilton 2)

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Rosberg’s fifth win of the season, 13th of his career and second in a row in Brazil. Mercedes have 11 one-twos from 18 races. Rosberg has secured second place in the championship for the second year. He has also been on pole for five races in a row. Mercedes and Hamilton had already secured both titles. Hamilton set the fastest lap. The win was Mercedes’ 44th. Both drivers made three stops.

FERRARI (Sebastian Vettel 3, Kimi Raikkonen 4)

Vettel shared the podium with the two Mercedes drivers for the ninth time this year. He now has 79 career podium finishes, and 13 for the season — more than any other Ferrari driver in their first season with the team. Vettel switched from two to a more aggressive three stops. Raikkonen stayed on two stops and suffered higher tyre degradation.

WILLIAMS (Valtteri Bottas 5, Felipe Massa excluded)

Williams made sure of third place overall for the second year in a row. Bottas had a three place grid penalty but recovered them quickly at the start and made a two-stop strategy work. Massa was excluded from his home race for having an overheated tyre before the start.

RED BULL (Daniil Kvyat 7, Daniel Ricciardo 11)

Kvyat lost out to Hulkenberg at the first pitstop. Ricciardo started 19th after a 10 place penalty due to the decision to use the latest specification Renault engine. He made an early pitstop but tyre wear then forced him to make three stops.

FORCE INDIA (Nico Hulkenberg 6, Sergio Perez 12)

Force India made sure of fifth overall in the championship, the team’s highest ever placing. Hulkenberg did two stops. Perez felt he had got his setup wrong.

LOTUS (Romain Grosjean 8, Pastor Maldonado 10)

Grosjean started 14th, Maldonado 15th. The Venezuelan was handed a five second penalty for tangling with Sauber’s Ericsson while trying to pass. Both moved up a place after Massa’s exclusion. Lotus pulled nine points clear of Toro Rosso.

TORO ROSSO (Max Verstappen 9, Carlos Sainz retired)

Sainz’s car had engine problems before the start and went to the pitlane. He then stopped on the first lap, his seventh retirement of the season for technical reasons. Verstappen stood out with the overtaking moves of the race and can be sure of ending the season as rookie of the year.

SAUBER (Felipe Nasr 13, Marcus Ericsson 16)

Nasr made his home debut and had battles with both the Lotus drivers, as did Ericsson.

MCLAREN (Jenson Button 14, Fernando Alonso 15)

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Both cars finished after another woeful weekend for the former champions, struggling with the Honda power unit. The team tried new front wings which seemed to be an improvement. McLaren will need at least 10 points from the final race to overhaul Sauber, a tally they have managed only once this year.

MARUSSIA (Will Stevens 17, Alexander Rossi 18)

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Rossi’s last race of the season, with Roberto Merhi returning for the final round in Abu Dhabi.

(Compiled by Alan Baldwin, editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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