The 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2014) was a Formula One motor race held on 9 November at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo. It was the 18th and penultimate round of the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 42nd Brazilian Grand Prix as part of the series. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the 71-lap race from pole position. His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second and local Williams driver Felipe Massa was third. It was Rosberg's fifth victory of the season and the eighth of his career.
Going into the race, Hamilton led the World Drivers' Championship from Rosberg while their team Mercedes had already won the World Constructors' Championship at the . Rosberg won the pole position by setting the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained the lead until his first pit stop at the end of lap seven. Nico Hülkenberg led after Hamilton's lap eight pit stop and held it until Rosberg overtook him six laps later. Hamilton returned to the lead when Rosberg made a second pit stop 12 laps later but a spin at turn four during the extra lap he was on the track lost him the position. On blistered front tyres, Hamilton remained close by Rosberg by the time of the third cycle of pit stops but Rosberg held off his teammate to win the race.
The result allowed Rosberg to lower Hamilton's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 17 championship points while Daniel Ricciardo secured third place despite retiring with a suspension issue. Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso each gained one position to move into fourth and fifth places. Mercedes increased their unassailable lead in the World Constructors' Championship to 278 championship points over Red Bull Racing with one race left in the season.
Background
The 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix was the 18th of the 19 rounds in the 2014 Formula One World Championship and the 42nd running of the event as part of the series. It was held on 9 November at the 15-turn Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo. As they were at the the week before, Formula One's commercial rights owner Bernie Ecclestone granted Caterham and Marussia dispensation to miss the race due to their ongoing financial struggles coupled with the high cost of travel to the western hemisphere and the one-week gap between the United States and Brazilian Grand Prix. The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race: one was on the straight linking turns three and four and the second was on the straight linking the final and first corners. The event's official name was the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2014.
Before the race, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton led the World Drivers' Championship with 316 championship points, 24 ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg in second and Daniel Ricciardo third. Valtteri Bottas was fourth with 155 championship points, six ahead of Sebastian Vettel in fifth. While the Drivers' Championship had not been won, Mercedes taken the World Constructors' Championship at the . Red Bull ensured they would finish second, while Williams with 238 championship points were third, Ferrari with 196 were fourth and McLaren fifth. With the introduction of double points for the season-ending , the Drivers' Championship could not be won in Brazil as Hamilton winning and Rosberg scoring no championship points would keep Rosberg in mathematical contention by being 49 championship points behind Hamilton.
In mid-2014, the track was resurfaced in an effort to reduce its bumpiness and the pit lane was re-profiled with the entry brought forward off the racing line at the Arquibancadas corner and a chicane added to the pit lane to further slow cars following a series of accidents in national races. The pit lane exit was moved further away from the track to allow for a run-off area to the left of turn two. In addition, in response to Jules Bianchi's crash in the , procedures relating to the location of a tractor crane at the Senna "S" chicane were altered. Pirelli originally nominated the orange-banded Hard and white-banded Medium tyres, as it had done since 2012. However, following the Russian Grand Prix one month prior, many drivers criticised the low level of grip and wear shown on the new tarmac of the Sochi Autodrom. Since the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was completely repaved, there was concern that the hard compound would be "very dangerous". Along with unanimous agreement from all 11 teams, Pirelli ultimately decided to bring the Medium and yellow-banded Soft tyres to Brazil.
During practice, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) re-tested its Virtual Safety Car system, which was proposed for the season to better deal with race track emergencies, following the incident suffered by Bianchi in the Japanese Grand Prix. Changes made to this system, relative to the version first tested in the United States, satisfied the drivers. There were driver changes for the first practice session. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) racer Daniel Juncadella replaced Sergio Pérez at Force India for the third time in 2014, while GP2 Series competitor Felipe Nasr used Bottas's car, and the Formula Three European Championship third-place finisher Max Verstappen drove Jean-Éric Vergne's Toro Rosso car.
Practice There were three practice sessions—two 90-minute sessions on Friday and another one-hour session on Saturday—preceding Sunday's race. Rosberg was fastest in the first session, which took place in dry and warm weather, with a lap of 1:12.764 two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Hamilton in second. Daniil Kvyat, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Verstappen, Pastor Maldonado, Kimi Räikkönen, Kevin Magnussen and Ricciardo occupied positions three to ten. During the session, where drivers struggled with grip on the resurfaced track, Juncadella was under mental strain because of his competing in DTM with Mercedes-Benz and spun at turn six. He lost control of his car's rear, hitting the turn eight barrier, damaging his car's nose cone and suspension, and stopping the session. Force India replaced several engine hydraulic components following a heat soak and Pérez missed the second session. Jenson Button was unable to participate when he stopped at the pit lane entry with an energy recovery system failure. Esteban Gutiérrez was also not able to record a lap because of engine electrical issues.
In the second session, Rosberg recorded the day's fastest time of 1:12.123; teammate Hamilton, Räikkönen, Ricciardo, Bottas, Massa, Alonso, Kvyat, Vettel and Magnussen followed in the top ten. The session was disrupted three times: Vergne stopped on track at turn four when his engine suddenly lost power after 11 minutes. The second stoppage was caused by Alonso's engine catching fire and him stopping on the straight between turns three and four. He vacated his Ferrari to get a fire extinguisher to stop the blaze before marshals could reach his car. Gutiérrez caused the final stoppage when his car stopped with an energy recovery system failure with 13 minutes left. The final session was held in dry but overcast weather and saw Rosberg complete a free practice sweep with a lap of 1:10.446 on soft compound tyres. Hamilton was second-fastest and spun under braking for the Senna S chicane. Hamilton was later delayed by a Lotus car while on a fast lap. The Williams duo of Massa and Bottas were third and fourth; Ricciardo, Button, Räikkönen, Alonso, Magnussen and Kvyat completed the top ten.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for 18 minutes, eliminating cars that finished the session 15th or below. The 107% rule was in effect, requiring drivers to reach a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify. The second part lasted 15 minutes, eliminating cars in 11th to 14th. The final 12-minute session determined pole position to tenth. Cars who progressed to the final session were not allowed to change tyres for the race's start, using the tyres with which they set their quickest lap times in the second session. Rosberg was fastest in all three sessions, taking his tenth pole position of the season, and the 14th of his career, with a time of 1:10.023, breaking Rubens Barrichello's 2004 pole lap record by six-tenths of a second. He won the first FIA Pole Trophy as Hamilton could not overtake his poles total with one race left. He was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton who lost time entering turn ten too fast, causing him to lose control of the rear of his car. Massa qualified third; traffic slowed his final timed lap and he locked his tyres at the Senna S chicane. Fuel pressure problems shut down Massa's engine. Bottas in fourth aborted his final lap after locking his tyres three times.
Button and Vettel took fifth and sixth. Button's fastest timed lap was his first but he failed to improve on his second. It allowed Vettel to challenge him but was 0.080 seconds slower than Button on his second timed lap. Magnussen in seventh did not feel the soft tyres helped him and was unable to go faster. The Ferrari duo of Alonso and Räikkönen were eighth and tenth; Ricciardo separated them, believing minor pre-qualifying fine-tuning adjustments to his car affected its balance. Gutiérrez, considered as "one of the standout performers" of qualifying, was the fastest driver not to qualify for the final session. Nico Hülkenberg had difficulty finding a rhythm and took 12th, ahead of Adrian Sutil's slower Sauber car. Kvyat qualified 14th after electing not to record a lap in the second session and was demoted ten places on the grid for carrying over an engine penalty from the United States Grand Prix. Hence, Romain Grosjean inherited the position, after Lotus made overnight adjustments to his car. Vergne had difficulty in driving and an incorrect set-up left him in 15th. Pérez originally took 16th but a seven-place grid penalty was applied after he was deemed to have caused an avoidable accident with Sutil in the United States and Maldonado inherited the place.
Qualifying classification The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold. Driver Constructor 1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:10.347 1:10.303 1:10.023 1 2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.457 1:10.712 1:10.056 2 3 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:10.602 1:10.343 1:10.247 3 4 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:10.832 1:10.421 1:10.305 4 5 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.097 1:11.127 1:10.930 5 6 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:11.880 1:11.129 1:10.938 6 7 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.134 1:11.211 1:10.969 7 8 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:11.558 1:11.215 1:10.977 8 9 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:11.593 1:11.208 1:11.075 9 10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:11.193 1:11.188 1:11.099 10 11 21 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:11.520 1:11.591N/A 11 12 27 Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:11.848 1:11.976N/A 12 13 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1:11.943 1:12.099N/A 13 14 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1:11.423No TimeN/A 17 15 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:12.037N/AN/A 14 16 25 Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1:12.040N/A N/A 15 17 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:12.076N/AN/A 18 18 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1:12.233N/AN/A 16 107% time: 1:15.271 Sources: Notes: – Daniil Kvyat received a seven-place grid penalty to complete the ten-place penalty that he received at the previous race. – Sergio Pérez received a seven-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable accident in the previous race.
Race