The drivers' championship will go to the wire in Abu Dhabi on November 23 after Nico Rosberg reduced Lewis Hamilton's lead to 17 points at Interlagos. A whopping 50 points, double the usual tally, will be available for the winner at the last race of the season.

Mercedes set a new record with their 11th one-two of the season with Rosberg finishing about 1.4 seconds ahead of his teammate.

The Englishman had won the last five races on the trot coming into this one, but the German was determined to keep alive his hopes of winning the overall title, coming fastest in all of the practice runs and in qualifying.

Twenty-nine-year-old Rosberg didn't look in doubt, speeding ahead early on and opening up a two-second lead by the middle of the race. The gap increased as high as six seconds because of a mistake by Hamilton before his second pit-stop.

Hamilton completed several faster laps and got as close as 0.6 seconds, but Rosberg pulled clear to win the race and picked up his first victory since July.

Still Hamilton can clinch his second Formula 1 title, if he manages to come in second two weeks from now.

Felipe Massa of Williams finished third in the race, while Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel finished fourth and fifth respectively.

rd/sm (AFP, AP, Reuters)