Grand Prix 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So it all comes down to the final race. The prancing horse versus the charging bull. The passionate Catalan versus the efficient German. Red versus Blue. Enough of the clichés, Vettel has a 13 point lead over Alonso going in to the race between the lakes so only has to finish in front of the Spaniard to claim his third title in a row. All the pressure will be on Ferrari and Alonso to give the Spaniard his third title and they probably need something to go wrong at Red Bull to stand any chance of winning, if their pace in the USA was anything to go by.

After his victory in the USA Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to leave McLaren on a high note. Lotus, surely, would love a second victory in 2012 but as fast as the car is it can't compete with the top 3 teams. Felipe Massa is starting to regain some of his old form and will, without doubt, be required to ride shotgun to Alonso. Mark Webber will be looking to win again at Interlagos but I doubt Vettel will suffer similar "brake" problems as he had last year.

The constructors championship is all sown up with Red Bull champions again. McLaren could steal 2nd place from Ferrari but a stronger performance from Jenson Button is needed in Brazil. Last year he was 3rd, two McLaren men in the top 4 could win them a few extra millions from FOM.

The final factor to build in is the weather. Brazil is notorious for changeable weather conditions and a sprinkling of rain could turn things Alonso's way. So tune next Sunday for the final event of 2012, but before then feel free to express your opinions below and don't forget to check out the circuit write up.

http://cliptheapex.com/pages/autodromo-jose-carlos-pace-interlagos/

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Lovely qualifying session today , thoroughly enjoyable and nice to see q3 finally been exciting .

Lewis and Jenson finally give Mclaren a very good chance of a 1-2 this season . Lets hope both can cross the start/finish line in the same positions and give Mclaren 2nd place in the WCC .

I'm not too fussed who wins the title tomorrow, I'm already looking forward to 2013 already and that tomorrows race will be a classic .

 

[Lewywo4]

It would be a damning indictment of McLaren's balls dropping season.

Especially when you take in consideration Lewis dropping out of both Singapore and Abu Dahbi, while comfortably leading, and the possibility of a win at Barcelona.

 

[Quintessentially]

That was a very harsh penalty for Maldonado and unusual to be called into the Webridge between qualifying sessions.

Webber had a decent start last week but I guess normal service will resume with Vettel behind.

 

[gethinceri]

It was during the session, not between sessions, and the rules allow for that to happen. Drivers have been called in before during a session, Maldo would have had less time to get a quicker run in had he pulled over for the weighbridge. Hard lines as my Dad would say.

 

[Mephistopheles]

That was a very harsh penalty for Maldonado

Why was it? He broke the rules he paid the price, end of....

 

[Quintessentially]

End of what? It's worth looking at circumstances and calling a driver into the Weybridge during quali is very unusual and doesn't happen very often. Looking at Sky's replay of the steward flashing the light, it is highly possible Maldonado did not see it. That was a bad attempt to get a driver to pull in when he's already coming up a blind crest and cruising at 100kph.

 

[tooncheese]

Webber in Austin missed the light, but the team dragged the car to the weighbridge thus avoiding a penalty.

 

[Quintessentially]

Webber was given a reprimand like Maldonado. Pastor only has a ten place grid drop for totting up. The whole thing is farcical.

 

[tooncheese]

Quintessentially, Pastor was given a third reprimand, and so under rules that have been in place for a over a year incurred a ten place grid penalty.

 

[Il_leone]

all we have to do is wait for Ferrari to switch Massa,

So now Alonso is on the clean side of the grid

 

[Quintessentially]

@ Tooncheese - Yes I know this hence"totting up". Whether he deserved a reprimand is the obvious question here.

 

[Brogan]

The stewards have no choice but to give a reprimand (at least) for missing an official weighbridge call.

A penalty is required under the rules and that is the least harsh penalty they can give.

 

[Il_leone]

the old rule for missing weighbridge was first of all
1) Disqualification

2) Then it was changed to back of the grid


3) Vettel might be happy he has not got Maldonado behind him who can cause an accident

 

[chreden]

French TV for me this time as I'm in Paris. Abused the free 3G to watch (well, read Autosport live) qualifying on my Kindle. I gather it was pretty good - will have to find out when I get back.

 

[Mephistopheles]

All drivers know where the weighbridge is, all drivers know where the guy stands to call them into the weighbridge and all drivers know they can be called into the weighbridge at any time, so there is no excuse for missing it, even if someone runs over the foot of the guy that holds the red light and points, as Brundle found out when he was disqualified for the same offence at Monaco..

There are no excuses, and that is why I said end of Quintessentially

 

[mnmracer]

With Romain and Pastor near the back of the grid, at least we shouldn't have to worry about the championship being decided one way or another after T1.

 

[Quintessentially]

Of course no excuses according to your interpretation. If the rules were applied with your blanket approach, who knows maybe we can actually have some consistency in stewarding decisions. But then there's reality and it is possible to miss the light hence the reason the stewards have accepted the mitigating circumstances and issued reprimands, rather than immediately disqualifying both Webber and Maldonado or throwing them to the back of the grid. Also teams running cars underweight was a much bigger issue back then that it is now.

 

[Slyboogy]

Working from 3pm-9pm so will miss the race live!

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

On the Maldonado thing, I agree that the reprimand and subsequent penalty were inevitable, but I do think it was very unfair on Pastor to be called in when he was. There was hardly any time left in the session and he was coming in after a poor run for a quick tyre change and one last effort. Going to the weighbridge at that moment would surely have ended his chances there and then. Was there really any need to call him in with hardly any time left? Can't they be a bit more sophisticated about when they call people in, or can't there at least be a halt to calling drivers in with, say, less than three minutes left in a session?

And regarding Webber's incident at Austin; with the weighbridge being at the beginning of the pit lane and the Red Bull having the first garage it was of course very easy for them to pull Mark's car back a few yards, with no other garage in the way. That would have been impossible for Williams to contemplate yesterday, from half way down the pit lane.

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

RACE DAY IS HERE Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!