Nico Rosberg took his fifth win of the season and secured second place in the drivers' championship, following a tense race-long battle with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Even though Rosberg and Hamilton did not go wheel-to-wheel again after a scrap into the first corner, Hamilton kept the pressure on his team-mate for most of the race as they adopted near identical three-stop strategies. Hamilton's best chance came in the second stint as he got within 0.5s of Rosberg and hounded him through the opening sector of the lap, but with overtaking opportunities few and far between at Interlagos, he was unable to find the extra two car lengths he needed to make a move under braking. Hamilton eventually settled for second place after backing off in the closing stages and dropping 7.7s off his team-mate.
Sebastian Vettel finished third for Ferrari a further 6.4s down the road, with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in a lonely fourth place on a two-stop strategy. Valtteri Bottas made a strong start from seventh on the grid to claim fifth into the first corner, which he held onto until the chequered flag, while Nico Hulkenberg outdrove his Force India all weekend to take a well-deserved sixth place ahead of Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull.
Felipe Massa faces a post-race investigation after his tyres were found to be above the regulation tread temperature on the grid, meaning he could lose his eighth place finish ahead of Romain Grosjean and Max Verstappen in ninth and tenth.
At the start, Rosberg and Hamilton made similar getaways, with Rosberg crossing to the inside at Turn 1 and forcing Hamilton to take the outside line. Although the pair got close, the racing remained fair and Rosberg emerged through the Senna Esses with a decent advantage over Hamilton as Vettel followed in third.
After initially planning for a two-stop strategy, higher-than-expected tyre degradation levels after the first pit stop saw the top three all swap on to a three-stop. Hamilton had closed on Rosberg in the second stint and spent several laps within DRS range of his team-mate but unable to make a move stick. He got closest on lap 24, but despite adapting his line through Turn 1 to try to manufacture an opportunity at Turn 4, he still couldn't get close enough to get his car's nose alongside. Moments later he came on the radio complaining "It's impossible to attack on this track".
With the two Mercedes drivers so closely matched in equal machinery, that was undoubtedly the case at the front, but further down the field a number of drivers were able to make passing moves. Max Verstappen once again stood out above his older peers, with a fantastic move on lap 33 on Sergio Perez that forced the Force India driver wide and also allowed Romain Grosjean to move up a place. Verstappen and Grosjean continued to provide entertainment throughout the race, but their efforts were only rewarded with the last two points-paying positions on offer.
Hamilton closed on Rosberg again in the final stint, but it was largely due to traffic as the pair lapped cars well into the top ten around the short circuit. Once Rosberg was back in clear air he extended his lead over his team-mate again and at that point Hamilton backed off to settle for second. That allowed Vettel to close in, but the gap of 6.4s flattered to deceive given the pace the Mercedes pair were capable of earlier in the race. Every driver up to Raikkonen was lapped by the end of the race, underlining the dominance of the top two teams in a race without a safety car over a short lap distance.
The final round of the championship will take place in two weeks' time with only pride left to play for between the two Mercedes drivers.