For the last five seasons, the spectators of the Autodromo Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo have had the privilege of witnessing the Formula One champion being crowned. Fernando Alonso kicked off the tradition in 2005, repeating the feat one year later, before Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button all sewed up their respective title-winning campaigns on the hallowed strip of tarmac that is situated just a stone's throw from the birthplace of Ayrton Senna. Leading the championship by 11 points heading into the race, Alonso had the opportunity to extend that streak, but only if he finished sufficiently ahead of the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. He failed, and now the title's going down to the wire.
It was clear from the outset that Red Bull would once more be the pacesetters, but surprisingly neither Webber nor Vettel were successful in capturing pole. Instead, that honour fell to a shock star of qualifying – Nico Hulkenberg. The 2009 GP2 champion took full advantage of the drying track in Q3 and posted a time over a second clear of his compatriot Vettel. Webber lined up in 3rd, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alonso and the sister Williams car of Rubens Barrichello. The Grove-based squad thus took their first pole position in five years, at the very venue their last victory was posted by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.
Predictably though, Hulkenberg's lead was short-lived. Almost immediately, Vettel got a superior getaway and slid his Red Bull RB6 straight up the inside of the first corner to take a commanding lead, with Webber following soon after as the Williams pilot ran wide at turn 4. However, 'Hulk' did give more of a headache to Alonso who passed Hamilton mid-way round the second lap following a gaffe from the Brit. It wasn't until lap 7 that the Spaniard finally found a way through, but by then the writing was on the wall – he would have to settle for 3rd barring disaster ahead.
Hamilton meanwhile seemed even more frustrated by Hulkenberg, after several failed attempts into Turn 1. In the end, it wasn't actually until the German pitted on lap 15 that Hamilton finally found himself in 4th place, by now a long way adrift of Alonso, let alone the Red Bulls. Hulkenberg in fact pitted in a reaction to championship outsider Jenson Button, who pitted on lap 11 from 10th place having started one place lower. Whilst he rejoined the field in 18th place, he soon dispensed with local hero Felipe Massa (who had opted for a similar strategy) in light of the McLaren's apparent preference for the hard tyre. The outgoing champion thus stole further positions from Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Robert Kubica and Hulkenberg, ending up behind his McLaren teammate Hamilton after all the stops panned out. However a botched pit-stop and the subsequent need for an unscheduled stop prevented Massa from making similar gains.
So after the flurry of pit activity, Vettel led from Webber by a fairly comfortable margin of 3 seconds, with Alonso some 15 seconds further back in 3rd by the half-way point (the first three having all pitted without losing any positions). Kobayashi briefly held 4th having opted to not pit after starting on hard tyres, but soon fell foul to the McLarens of Hamilton and Button, both at turn 1. Nico Rosberg, who had also leapt up several positions with superior pace during the pit-stops, also demoted the Japanese driver a further position. Sutil held 8th after following an identical strategy to Kobayashi, ahead of Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Kubica and Nick Heidfeld after Barrichello's appalling luck at his home circuit continued when he sustained a puncture as a result of contact with Jaime Alguersauri.
The race seemed to have settled when Vitantonio Liuzzi provided some excitement by burying his Force India in the barriers at turn 2 on lap 51, becoming the only retirement of the entire race. This brought out the Safety Car, but because the leaders had by this stage begun to lap the midfield runners they found themselves several cars apart from each other. Suffering from tyre wear, Hamilton opted to pit, losing just one place to Button who came in the following lap to undo the swap. Rosberg followed suit, and as the last car on the lead lap he didn't lose any places either, even when his Mercedes pit crew had to bring him in again after mistakenly sending him out with his teammate Schumacher's allocated tyres.
As the Safety Car pulled in at the end of lap 55, we were racing once more with Vettel leading the way from Webber and Alonso, still with lapped traffic between them. There was however plenty of activity in the midfield, with Kobayashi making good use of his fresh rubber having pitted 3 laps prior to the appearance of the Safety Car. He dispatched Sebastien Buemi and later the other Toro Rosso of Alguersauri to reach 10th place. Rosberg also used the advantage of his newer tyres to take back 6th from Schumacher, as did Sutil to demote Buemi a further place.
However there was simply no stopping Vettel from romping to his 4th victory of the year, after the Red Bull elected to not deploy team orders that may have allowed Webber to win the race instead. Alonso's third position was subsequently enough to give him a cushion of 8 points over the Australian heading into the decider at Abu Dhabi. Hamilton's 4th place all but eliminated him from the running, now lying 24 points behind with only 25 left on offer, whilst Button's 5th place did indeed extinguish what miniscule hopes he had of retaining his world champion status. Rosberg and Schumacher were next after a solid day for Mercedes, with Hulkenberg, Kubica and Kobayashi rounding out the points scorers.
And so, after 18 races and more twists and turns than the Interlagos race track itself, the championship is ultimately going to boil down to a confrontation between Alonso, Webber and Vettel under the lights of the spectacular Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull may have sown up the constructors' championship with their latest one-two finish, but no-one can be certain of who will emerge victorious in the drivers'. One thing is for sure, though: whoever wins will thoroughly deserve it. Game on boys.
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