F1 Brazilian GP Thread - Contains Spoilers -

[Fernando]

The Autódromo José Carlos Pace is one of the oldest and best-loved tracks on the Formula 1 calendar. It was built in 1938 on marshland deemed unsuitable for housing, and it first welcomed the World Championship in 1973.

The track is named after Brazilian F1 driver Carlos Pace, who won his home grand prix in 1975, but it’s better known as Interlagos after the suburb of São Paulo in which it’s located. It’s an undulating anti-clockwise layout and it’s been the permanent home of the Brazilian Grand Prix since 1990.

The circuit has several characteristics that set it apart from other F1 circuits, most notably its bumps and its altitude. The track was resurfaced prior to last year’s race, making it smoother, but the unstable marshland on which it’s built creates fresh bumps on an annual basis, particularly in Sector Two.

Altitude is another factor that the teams have to consider. The track is situated 800m (2,625 feet) above sea level and the thinner air has a bearing on all areas of car performance, particularly aerodynamics and cooling. Power unit losses are minimal, due to the turbo and the ERS.

As was the case last year, Pirelli will take their Soft (Option) and Medium (Prime) tyre compounds to the race. It’s the ninth time that this combination has been used this season and, should the weather conditions prove favourable, fast lap times are expected.

McLaren has an enviable record at the Brazilian Grand Prix, having won the race 12 times and taken 11 pole positions. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have good memories of the track, having clinched all of their world titles there (in 2005, ’06 and ’09 respectively).


Start time 1400 (local) / 1600 (GMT)
Race distance 71 laps (full world championship points awarded after 75 per cent distance/53 laps)
2014 winner Nico Rosberg 71 laps in 1:30m02.555
2014 pole position Nico Rosberg 1m10.023 221.532km/h (137.654mph)
2014 fastest lap Lewis Hamilton lap 62 1m13.555 210.895km/h (131.044mph)
Chances of a Safety Car Statistically, there’s a 70 per cent chance of the Safety Car appearing and it’s something the engineers factor into their race strategies
Don’t put the kettle on… on laps 7, 26 and 50. The top six finishers completed the race on three-stop strategies last year and with the same tyre compounds being used this season, it’s fair to assume two or three stops once again
Weather forecast Warm and wet. There’s been a lot of rain in recent weeks in São Paulo and the weather conditions look similarly unpredictable over the race weekend

Fuel consumption 1.5kg per lap, which is on the low side
Full throttle 60 per cent
Brake wear Medium. There are only six braking events around the lap, of which only two are heavy
Gear changes 42 per lap/2982 per race
Did you know? For five consecutive years, from 2005 to 2009 inclusive, the World Championship was decided at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

[Guest]

Hamilton fastest in FP1, then Rosberg quickest in FP2. Wouldn't surprise me to see Rosberg win this weekend & even if Abu Dhabi. Hamilton's head, is unsurprisingly elsewhere, since he won the world championship.

[Guest]

After coming second in Mexico, Hamilton spent some time partying.  He says he was tired after the partying and this was the reason why he crashed his limited edition Pagani Zonda into a stationary car. The crash occurred 3.30am Tuesday morning in Monaco.  "It was a result of heavy partying and not much rest for 10 days," Hamilton said.  "I am a bit run down ... and [have] not [been] getting a lot of sleep." "... that week after Mexico and the party we drank a lot and I was really feeling it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/34806219

Last season Hamilton had to fight for the championship up and including the last race.  This time he won with three races to go.  If he relaxes and allows Rosberg to win the last three races (including Mexico already gone) then that might give Rosberg the boost, the belief and the habit of beating Lewis ... who now after matching his hero Ayrton Senna and beginning to enjoy a jet setting celebrity lifestyle ... may not quite have the energy or commitment to win a fourth title next year.

[GSC]

Prior to Quali:



Maldonado has been truly thumped

[Guest]

haha alonso on a deck chair just watching from the same spot he broke down in practice. comical & embarrassing the honda situation

[Guest]

Rosberg pole, Hamilton second & Vettel 3rd

[Fernando]

Well this is as close as Mclaren ever gunna get this year.

[Guest]

[Jermaine2015]

After coming second in Mexico, Hamilton spent some time partying.  He says he was tired after the partying and this was the reason why he crashed his limited edition Pagani Zonda into a stationary car. The crash occurred 3.30am Tuesday morning in Monaco.  "It was a result of heavy partying and not much rest for 10 days," Hamilton said.  "I am a bit run down ... and [have] not [been] getting a lot of sleep." "... that week after Mexico and the party we drank a lot and I was really feeling it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/34806219

Last season Hamilton had to fight for the championship up and including the last race.  This time he won with three races to go.  If he relaxes and allows Rosberg to win the last three races (including Mexico already gone) then that might give Rosberg the boost, the belief and the habit of beating Lewis ... who now after matching his hero Ayrton Senna and beginning to enjoy a jet setting celebrity lifestyle ... may not quite have the energy or commitment to win a fourth title next year.

If Hamilton's motivation is dimmed after achieving a third world championship, then a certain German driving a red car(which is claimed to be getting closer to the silver car in time for 2016) would beat Rosberg. Rosberg isn't capable of winning a championship.

[Guest]

Hamilton's in party mode, it's like a football side winning the league with a month to go. Mentally & physically draining, driving to a high standard over many months, that has basically annihilated Rosberg. \You can forgive him for taking his foot off the gas, he was stupid crashing in Monaco, but that's Lewis, nobody is perfect. Do find it funny this media driven notion, that Rosberg winning these last (meaningless) races, will somehow give him the edge going into next season. Delusional, in attempt to make the season look or appear more exciting for next year, when in reality, if Vettel isn't in the mix, we will have a repeat of this year in 2016

[Guest]

Hamilton's in party mode, it's like a football side winning the league with a month to go. Mentally & physically draining, driving to a high standard over many months, that has basically annihilated Rosberg. \You can forgive him for taking his foot off the gas, he was stupid crashing in Monaco, but that's Lewis, nobody is perfect. Do find it funny this media driven notion, that Rosberg winning these last (meaningless) races, will somehow give him the edge going into next season. Delusional, in attempt to make the season look or appear more exciting for next year, when in reality, if Vettel isn't in the mix, we will have a repeat of this year in 2016

Rosberg is very good, he outperformed a returning Michael Schumacher. He is not far off Hamilton and is still improving. Hamilton I believe has to keep improving (with the car set up etc) to stay ahead of Rosberg. But we shall find out next year - I just raised a concern. Eddie Jordan, who is a fairly astute observer, has every confidence in Rosberg, and believes he is not far off Lewis. Of course there will also be Vettel next year - and it is amazing how he has outperformed Raikkonen.

[GSC]

Someone divebomb somebody.

Please

[GSC]

In shocking news, Maldonado gets 5 seconds from the Stewards.

Verstappen always good for a divebomb or two.

[GSC]

In the most dramatic moment of the race so far, its revealed Massa's tyre blankets were 27 degrees too hot pre race.

[GSC]

Verstappen trying to overtake Maldonado.

Safety Car driver has the engine started

[GSC]

Hamilton gives up, Rosberg wins (barring his engine exploding)

[GSC]

Rosberg wins from Hamilton, Vettel 3rd.

I wouldn't stay up for the highlights if you missed that.

[GSC]

Brundle does the podium interviews, goes backstage at the end and says "I hate you" believing his mic is off.

[Guest]

Boring stuff, the Interlagos track has always been reliant upon rain, to spice it up. Hamilton was never going to overtake in equal machinery, do love Verstappen though, needs a better drive ASAP.

Who did Brundle direct it too?

[GSC]

No idea, was behind the stage.

Watch it back on iplayer. Think someone else responds don't be like that or something.

[Guest]

I saw the start and once Rosberg was first out of the first corner, I knew it was game over.  Pitstops.  Nasra tyres fading and being overtaken.  That was about it. Fortunately only watched snippets in between doing something else.

[Fernando]

Massa excluded from Results - Williams to appeal

Maldonado gets 10th for the moment.

[Mad for Chelsea]

well GSC's comments were much more entertaining than the race itself. I actually fell asleep at some point, woke up again, and of course nothing had happened - well I think there'd been some pitstops or something.

People might call it sour grapes, but Hamilton's post-race comments where he said overtaking is impossible here without a huge performance advantage are spot on.

Even as a Hamilton fan, have to admit that this whole season has been a complete meh really, mostly dull races and fairly clear where the title was headed from race 1. Austin was great of course, but that was more due to the weather than anything else. On the whole, F1 is dull: it's too difficult for cars to follow in the dirty air behind another one for any length of time without destroying their tyres, overtaking is almost solely limited to gimmicks. Teams are incredibly conservative in their strategies (why won't Mercedes split strategies occasionally for instance?). Meh.

[Guest]

Comments were spot on. I've never been a fan of Interlagos. Hamilton was clearly faster & if that had been China or Canada, whereby the track lends itself to overtaking, then I think Lewis probably would have got the job done.

More worrying though is that the regulations for 2017 are not going to improve much. All the pundits & many respected F1 personnel, stating that they are going in the complete wrong direction with the low, wide wings, instead of the high, thin wings, that make following much easier. Clueless.

I hope Vettel is in the mix next year, it's a must now.

[dyrewolfe]

In general agreement with most of the posts here.

I wouldn't read too much into Rosberg's apparent resurgence. Hamilton's preparation for the race was obviously hampered, what with his little shunt, his mum's birthday celebrations etc. You also can't help but think he will have lost his edge a little, with both titles wrapped up.

Rosberg is undoubtedly a very good driver...its just that Hamilton is better (when it counts). IIRC Nico has had more bad luck with retirements this season, but not by much and often Lewis has simply out-driven him.

Unless Ferrari and/or Williams can up their game, next season will be pretty much a re-run of this year.

Yet another eminently forgettable race, with the top 6 or so pretty much holding station all race, apart from swaps during pit-stops. As usual, most of the action was going on in the midfield...which at least made the race watchable.

Do I remember correctly something Eddie Jordan said about Ferrari having first dibs on Verstappen when his TR contract runs out? Max has been an absolute revelation this season and despite his age, I can't see him staying a mid-grid driver too much longer.

More worrying though is that the regulations for 2017 are not going to improve much. All the pundits & many respected F1 personnel, stating that they are going in the complete wrong direction with the low, wide wings, instead of the high, thin wings, that make following much easier. Clueless.

You're right in the sense that they're doing a half-arsed job (as usual).

Low wide wings in themselves aren't the problem...they cetainly weren't 20-30 years ago.

The problem is the design regs as a whole are completely broken and people are trying to fix one element at a time.

The main problem with wings (and the current aero regs in general) is that they allow so many elements (fins, winglets etc.) which create much more turbulence than plain, straight wings. There probably ought to be rules on floor and rear-end design too - though I don't know how much they contribute to this problem.

There needs to be a major relaxation of the regs as a whole to give designers much more freedom to find ways to generate speed, without being restricted to a very narrow number of development areas (essentially just tweaking the aero elements).

Allowing tyres that give more than a few laps of maximum grip would help too...Incidentally, reduced turbulence would help this too, since the following car wouldn't be buffeted so much (smoother drive = reduced tyre wear).

[Guest]

Rosberg is definitely at the moment outperforming Lewis - Lewis and others have said that there were some new changes to the tyre temperature and pressure about five races ago and this has coincided with Rosberg getting pole positions and having an advantage over Hamilton in the race except for a few hiccups. Similar to Rosberg having the advantage when they had the software help on starting the race - when they switched back to a more manual start Hamilton had the edge in starting.

[Guest]

I wouldn't read too much into Rosberg's apparent resurgence

If he grabs pole in Abu Dhabi, that's six straight poles & if he wins, that's three consecutive race wins, for Rosberg. You can see why the media are over-hyping this resurgence, it's the only remotely interesting story, in what is a boring period in F1. Surprised the tyre pressure changes have turned the tables between the two, I think it might of unsettled Lewis, but I think his downturn in form, is more likely linked to just mentally checking out of this season, having secured the primary aim of winning the championship.

[Guest]

Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, will end its long-standing partnership with the McLaren Formula 1 team, to move to rival Red Bull Racing. The downward spiral continues.

[Fernando]

BBC bosses plan to give up the broadcasting rights to some of Britain's favourite sporting events in the hope of making £35million in savings.

Live coverage of snooker, darts and Formula 1 could follow the likes of the Open Championship golf in becoming the latest casualties of savage cuts to the corporation's sport budget.

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