Red Bull reign supreme in Brazil

Sebastian Vettel won Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull Racing’s one-two at Interlagos clinched them the Constructors’ World Championship while the drivers’ title remains up for grabs and will go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

Nico Hulkenberg took a decent start from pole position but couldn’t hold off the challenge from Sebastian Vettel and came out of the first corner in 2nd place. He was soon attacked and dispatched by Mark Webber, and the Red Bull pair completed the opening lap leading the race.

Behind them, a mistake from Lewis Hamilton allowed Alonso. Up in fourth place, the Spaniard then found himself stuck behind Hulkenberg’s Williams. As he was losing time behind the German, the Red Bulls pulled away from their pursuers.

Alonso eventually found a way through on lap 7, leaving Hulkenberg at the hands of Hamilton. The Championship leader then tried to close the 11-seconds gap to the race leader. He couldn’t quite match the pace of the Red Bulls but managed to stabilize the gap to 13 seconds.

Jenson Button and Felipe Massa were the first to pit, as early as laps 12 and 13, to take on the harder tyres. The Brazilian came back a lap later with a suspected loose right-front wheel. His mechanics fitted him with a different set of tyres and he rejoined the race in 23rd position.

Fourth-places Hamilton pitted on lap 21 and rejoined just ahead of his teammate Button. Once his tyres were up in temperature, the McLaren driver set a series of fastest lap to close the gap on Kamui Kobayashi.

Alonso came in the pits at the end of lap 24. Race leader Vettel stopped in the following lap and rejoined in 2nd place. His teammate Webber briefly led before pitting. Vettel got back into the lead and immediately set a new fastest lap. Both Red Bull drivers then resumed their dominance at the front.

Further down the order, a train of cars was forming behind Sutil’s Force India. Schumacher was all over his rear wheels while Hulkenberg came under intense pressure from Robert Kubica. A few places behind them, Rubens Barrichello made contact with Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso at Turn One, on lap 35, and had to complete the lap at a moderate pace with a front-left puncture.

The Williams driver pitted and took a gamble with a set of super-soft tyres.

Halfway through the race, Vettel was leading Webber by 3.1 seconds. Alonso was third, 18 seconds adrift. Hamilton was fourth with Button fifth. Kobayashi (P6) and Sutil (P8) were yet to stop.

Traffic became a slight issue for the leader on lap 42 and allowed Webber to close the gap to under two seconds. Vettel soon found himself closing on a train of eight cars. He had started to lap them when Liuzzi crashed out of P18 at Turn 2. The Safety Car was deployed on lap 52.

Many drivers took the opportunity to pit for a fresh set of tyres. The Safety Car came in at the end of lap 55. Vettel safely managed the restart while his pursuers had to clear a number of lapped cars. The German set a new fastest lap and had a lead of 2.9 seconds at the start of lap 57.

Massa and Buemi had a coming together on lap 60. The Brazilian ran off and then rejoined the race. Both of them were able to continue with no apparent damage on their cars.

As Vettel was controlling the race at the front, Alonso tried to close the gap on Webber while Hamilton made the most of his soft tyres and set the fastest lap of the race. With five laps remaining, Vettel had a four-second lead over Webber. The Australian, in turn, had a 2.4 second-gap over Alonso.

Vettel went on to win the race in front of his teammate Mark Webber. Alonso was third. Hamilton was fourth with Button fifth.

Rosberg, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Kubica and Kobayashi scored points.