Brazilian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton wins at Interlagos after surviving two red flags
Nico Rosberg remains favourite but world Champion keeps his hopes of a third successive title alive in Sao Paulo
YOU get the feeling that whatever Lewis Hamilton tries, this is just simply not going to be his year.
Despite driving at his brilliant best to win the Brazilian Grand Prix for the first time in his career, his title looks destined to be crossing the Mercedes garage floor to Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton, reigned supreme in the rain-hit incident packed race that saw TWO red flags and FIVE safety cars deployed.
It was the 52nd victory of his F1 career and moves him to second in the all-time winners' list behind Michael Schumacher.
But the looming figure of Rosberg stood next to him on the podium in second place means the German can win the title with a top-three finish in Abu Dhabi, irrespective of where Hamilton finishes.
Hamilton's third win in a row cannot stop the tide. The damage was done early in the season with woeful reliability problems ensuring that it goes down to the final race.
Nevertheless, the Brit has promised to give it his best shot in the desert.
He said: ";I am hunting and all I can do is do what I can. I am going to give it my all in Abu Dhabi.
"I need to keep on doing. It is going to be hard to beat Nico but it does not mean I cannot win the race.
"I am going to take this energy and speed and try to push as hard as I can to win that race."
Rosberg was given a huge helping hand thanks to a Red Bull strategy blunder to pit the swashbuckling Max Verstappen for intermediate tyres.
The sensational Dutch driver made a string of sensational overtakes that livened up this race but after overtaking Kimi Raikkonen and Rosberg, was inexplicably called in for fresh rubber.
The gambled backfired and a subsequent stop dropped him down to 15th place -- incredibly he battled back to third.
Hamilton was also left furious after race bosses put the brakes on his charge to the chequered flag on two occasions.
At one point, the Brit had a stonking lead that was almost 26 second over his rival but that was wiped out when the retiring Felipe Massa crashed out, forcing out the safety car.
Then there was Race Director Charlie Whiting's inexplicable call to stop the race, despite a number of drivers, including Hamilton, calling for him to allow them to race.
Hamilton vented his frustration over the team's radio towards Whiting -- who was blasted by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the last race.
At the second red flag, Hamilton groaned: "The track is fine! It is not even that wet now. This is not extreme wet conditions this is normal."
The spectators at Interlagos also greeted Whiting's decision with jeers.
As it happened, Whiting's decision made no difference to Hamilton, thought it could have forced Rosberg into making a mistake that would have put him out of the race.
No wonder then that the German was content with second place that leaves him with a 12 point lead in the championship with one to go.
He added: "It did not go my way. Lewis did a great job but I can live with second. I was hoping for a win for second is OK."
Hamilton's win was good but the real star was Verstappen. The 19-year-old was belittled by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff last week after he contacted his father, Jos, to warn him about his son meddling in the title race.
Yet he answered the criticism perfectly with a thrilling performance, including one of the saves of the season, impressing Verstappen senior in the process.
Jos Verstappen said: "I must say he surprised me today. I've seen many races he did, and today it was incredible.
"He did himself a big pleasure today. They didn't have the right strategy, unlucky with weather, but it was good for Formula One."
DRIVER OF THE DAY: Max Verstappen stole the show with an amazing drive.
MOVE OF THR RACE: Verstappen pulled off a blinder on Kimi Raikkonen at turn one on lap eight.
MILKFLOAT: Jenson Button had a miserable afternoon in his McLaren.
MISTAKE OF THE RACE: Romain Grosjean never even made it to the grid after crashing out on the formation lap.
TIMELINE
Lap 14 Marcus Ericsson has a big smash in his Sauber and the safety car is deployed
Lap 20 Kimi Raikkonen has a huge smash and the race is red flagged.
Lap 29 Drivers are left furious as Charlie Whiting stops the race with another red flag.
Lap 44 Verstappen is called in for intermediate tyres -- a costly decision from Red Bull.
Lap 48 Felipe Massa has a smash and the safety car is deployed. It wipes out Hamilton's lead.
Lap 69 Verstappen passes Sergio Perez to take an impressive third place.