The 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix was conducted in a giant puddle of water, which didn’t prevent another 1-2 Mercedes finish but did help Max Verstappen claim third place in the race taking advantage of everybody else wanting the race to end.
Lewis Hamilton won easily over a cruising Nico Rosberg who was one of those wanting the race to end so he could preserve his comfortable season points standings lead over Hamilton while Verstappen took the rainy opportunity to drive his way into third place past other drivers not interested in pushing the envelope for meaningless points. Nevertheless, AutoSportsNation recognizes the effort and awards Verstappen second-place points behind the winner Hamilton while giving the final point to Rosberg, who has already clinched the 2016 ASN title.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award almost went to Verstappen again as he spun himself out but caught it just in time to stay in the race and create havoc later, so instead it has to go to Renault’s Jolyon Palmer as he rear-ended Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat in the rainy conditions.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award goes to Palmer’s Renault teammate Kevin Magnussen for saying just that [or a close approximation of it – “Just leave me alone, OK?”] to his pit when they tried to talk to him while he was attempting to negotiate the track in the rainy conditions.
The Lewis Hamilton Doofus Award goes to Haas driver Esteban Gutierrez for the hissy fit he threw upon entering the paddock after his car suffered technical issues and left the race.
The 2016 ASN Formula One Driver Standings [after Brazilian Grand Prix]
1] Nico Rosberg – 37 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 28
3] Sebastian Vettel – 16
4] Max Verstappen – nine
5] Daniel Ricciardo – seven
6] Kimi Raikkonen – six
7] Fernando Alonso – four
8] Sergio Perez – three
9] Jenson Button/Carlos Sainz, Jr. – two
11] Valtteri Bottas/Romain Grosjean/Nico Hulkenberg/Daniil Kvyat/Stoffel Vandoorne – one
The 2016 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award [after Brazilian Grand Prix]
1] Verstappen – four
2] Hamilton/Rosberg – three
4] Kvyat/Palmer – two
6] Alonso/Bottas/Hulkenberg/Raikkonen/Vettel/Wehrlein – one
The 2016 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award [after Brazilian Grand Prix]
1] Raikkonen – four
2] Hamilton/Vettel – three
4] Ricciardo/Verstappen – two
6] Alonso/Button/Kvyat/Magnussen/Rosberg/Wehrlein – one
The 2016 Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award [after Brazilian Grand Prix]
1] Hamilton – five
2] Bernie Ecclestone – three
3] F1 stewards – two
4] Brazilian kidnappers/Ferrari pit [Raikkonen]/Force India pit [Perez]/Gutierrez/Malaysia/Mercedes/Red Bull pit [Ricciardo]/Renault pit [Palmer]/Singapore/Verstappen – one