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/

 

[sushifiesta]

racecub I meant the Vettel/Kobayashi incident.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Props to the officials this race at least. They didn't use a safety at the start and didn't use one when Grosjean went out, and I even agreed with their use of it later on when there actually was quite a lot of debris. Keep it up FIA!

 

[racecub]

@sushifiesta oh sorry I thought you meant the pic Petrov one that Vortex mentioned.

 

[Josh]

Fake Charlie Whiting ‏@charlie_whiting
There you have it. @MBrundleF1 confirms he's spoken to Lead FIA Steward Garry Connelly and it was a red/yellow signal Vettel saw. #F1

 

[FB]

MB's just commented that the FIA have confirmed it was a warning for a slippery track not a no overtaking warning,

 

[Brogan]

That clears that up then, thankfully

 

[Porceliamone]

TV footage clearly shows an overtake under yellow, regardless of whether Kob was going into the pits or not. Something needs to be clarified. Pff.

 

[Josh]

Porceliamone there's a difference between a flashing yellow light and a non-flashing yellow light. Flashing yellow light means no overtaking and a non-flashing yellow light means slippery track (and overtaking is allowed). In this case it was a non-flashing yellow light.

 

[Dario Resta]

Wombcat Webber I did not. However Schumacher in a Mercedes and Ricciardo and Vergne in Toro Rossos was just bullshit. Particularly the TRs because they only did it because of the Red Bull connection not because their friends or anything. How two teams can be connected in such a way staggers me, it's completely unfair to the competition. That is unless they start buying multiple teams...

In fairness to Schumacher, he was never going to keep Vettel behind him. Vettel had closed 9 seconds in a few laps. why would Schumacher risk taking out the new 3 time WDC in his last race? Look what happened with the Hulk & Hamilton.

 

[Porceliamone]

Porceliamone there's a difference between a flashing yellow light and a non-flashing yellow light. Flashing yellow light means no overtaking and a non-flashing yellow light means slippery track (and overtaking is allowed). In this case it was a non-flashing yellow light.

If so, then there's the clarification! Thanks.

 

[Lewywo4]

MB's just commented that the FIA have confirmed it was a warning for a slippery track not a no overtaking warning,

The FIA need to find another color to use under those conditons, to avoid any further confusion.

 

[Wombcat]

In fairness to Schumacher, he was never going to keep Vettel behind him. Vettel had closed 9 seconds in a few laps. why would Schumacher risk taking out the new 3 time WDC in his last race? Look what happened with the Hulk & Hamilton.

And neither were the STRs, but if everybody waves everybody through who is faster, they can just as well stop racing. Fortunately that's what Schumacher does

 

[Mephistopheles]

Lewis has just said that Hulkenburg didn't even say sorry, why the fuck should he it wasn't his fault...

 

[The Artist.....]

Mephistopheles - it was more Nico's fault than Hamilton's - but it did seem like a case of misjudging the amount of available grip on the inside of the corner!

 

[Fenderman]

Hulk' is the one who went in too hot and who lost control of his car, so yes an apology might have a been nice thing to give.

 

[Mephistopheles]

That's not how I saw it and I don't think that's how Nico saw it so obviously Nico won't apologise for what was nothing more than a racing incident...

 

[Hamberg]

Lewis has just said that Hulkenburg didn't even say sorry, why the **** should he it wasn't his fault...

I'm sorry did I miss Hulkenberg wipe out the leader of the last race of season and the last race for his team, and get a penalty???

 

[Mephistopheles]

An undeserved penalty...

 

[Hamberg]

Bollocks

 

[Fenderman]