Sao Paulo, Brazil - Lewis Hamilton wanted so much to win this race on Ayrton Senna's home circuit, but for the second year running it was his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg who denied him that particular dream.
“It was a great weekend for me,” Rosberg said. “Everything is relative with what happened back in Paris, but still I am very, very happy. Lewis put on a good challenge but I was able to hold him. I was just controlling the pace, being careful not to overdo it and not having too much tyre degradation.
“I've been working hard. Lewis had the upper hand for most of the season, but at the moment it is going well and I want to try for the win in Abu Dhabi.”
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Hamilton was philosophical, but clearly frustrated.
“I had the pace but you cannot overtake here. I was behind Nico and running in traffic for some time, and all over him for a bit, and it killed my tyres.
“I think our strategy was good. I had anticipated that the tyres would go longer, and it turned out they didn't. I love this track but unfortunately it's so difficult to overtake on; you get within a second and you lose downforce and no way can you get closer. I was trying to see another kind of strategy, but at the end the three stop was probably better.
“I'm here to race and when you have to do the same order that's already set from the beginning, it's relatively boring. I couldn't get close enough to put on a great race.”
So should the rules be changed to avoid such reliance on front-wing performance, which is upset by turbulent air when you follow another car?
“It doesn't matter what we say because it won't happen,” Hamilton suggested. “The big bosses make the decisions, and whether or not they are the right ones. At some races you are able to follow, like Austin, otherwise there are some places where it's just not possible. I think that being able to race is what the fans want to see.”
The Independent