Motorsport: Brendon Hartley forced to retire in Brazilian Grand Prix

Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley adjusts his helmet siting in his car in the pit lane. Photo / AP

For the second straight Formula One race Kiwi driver Brendon Hartley has failed to see the chequered flag.

Hartley has been forced to retire from the Brazilian Grand Prix with another power unit failure in his Toro Rosso.

The 28-year-old, who started 18th after taking a grid penalty for a power unit change, was 17th when he was ordered to the lane and told to park his car. He had taken his stop earlier and was battling for a spot as high as 12th on strategy.

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Hartley began the race at the back of the grid and momentarily moved up to 12th after a collision on lap one saw three drivers crash out.

It is the second successive race where the New Zealander has been let down by the Renault-powered Toro Rosso while all three race weekends he has featured in have been littered with engine issues.

The Toro Rosso team will switch to Honda power next season.

The season-ending race in Abu Dhabi takes place in a fortnight.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel jumped Valtteri Bottas off the start and led the majority of the race to take a consolation win and all but seal second place in the championship standings. Bottas held on for second to keep his slim chance of second in the standings alive.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who won the title in Mexico City a fortnight ago, started from pit lane and drove a superb race to make his way up to fourth by the end. He tried desperately to pass Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari on the final lap but couldn't quite make it happen.

A hectic first lap saw the safety car deployed after Romain Grosjean lost control in his Haas and took out Esteban Ocon while Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne were forced out in a separate battle that also involved Daniel Ricciardo.

Felipe Massa, in his final race at home in Brazil, came out on top in a late race battle for seventh with McLaren's Fernando Alonso and the Force India of Sergio Perez.