Lewis Hamilton won convincingly at the rain affected Brazilian Grand Prix in a victory that he himself claimed to be the easiest of the year despite  heavy downpours which left the Interlargos circuit looking like a river in places. If Hamilton said the race was easy then it certainly didn’t look that way. The race started under the safety car for the first 8 laps due to the heavy rain and slippery track surface. The conditions were so tricky that Romain Grosjean crashed on his outlap. It wan’t easy for the Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson who crashed on lap 13 near to the pit lane entry. And to underline the tricky conditions Raikkonen crashed heavily into the pit lane wall on lap 20 when exiting the last corner. The Ferrari driver touched a white painted line as he turned into the main straight, lost traction and spun into the right hand wall before ricocheting into the pitwall opposite. It was pure luck he didn’t collect anyone else, the race was duly red flagged and stopped for 50 minutes to allow for the rain to ease. When the race restarted Hamilton yet again built up a lead over his team mate who had to contend with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Despite having a superior car Rosberg couldn’t fend off the superior skill of Verstappen as the rain put his red Bull on equal footing with the far superior Mercedes. Verstappen kept the Mercedes at bay and built up a comfortable gap with his superior wet weather driving skills but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Hamilton. Then Verstappen lost the back end of his Red Bull as he exited the final corner and very nearly went head on in to the barriers, somehow he manged to avoid contact. Rosberg sensed an opportunity to retake second but Verstappen still had enough distance and momentum to narrowly defend second from down the main straight and into the first corner. Rosberg needed to put in a champions elect drive and to be honest he didn’t, he did just what he needed to do, stay out of trouble and collect points. Play the percentage game. To underline just how tricky the race conditions were Felipe Massa crashed his Williams on lap 48 which  resulted in yet another safety car period. Up to that point Hamilton was literally sailing to an easy win. When the safety car period was over Hamilton began the task of building up a lead, and he did so with little trouble seemingly at ease with the conditions. Versatappen had been second at one point but dropped down the order after betting the conditions would dry out and therefore switched from full wet tyres to intermediates on lap 43. The gamble didn’t pay off and Verstappen dropped down the order. After Massa’s crash Red Bull switched him back to full wets and 14th position was the reward. But on fresher tyres Verstappen charged through the order like a warrior and eventually clawed his way back to third place, in the process providing the bulk of the swashbuckling action. At the front Hamilton looked untroubled throughout the changeable and chaotic conditions a result which nets his ninth victory of the season and his 52nd win. Hamilton also reduces the points gap in the drivers championship to 9 points. He needs to win the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi and for Rosberg to finish fourth or lower to claim his fourth title. The odds still favour Rosberg.