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/

 

[RickD]

A thumb is a sort of finger...

No, its a thumb..

 

[Brogan]

OT but in Turkish the thumb is called the "head/principal finger"

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

As daft as it may seem, I think Webber, in that situation, would prefer to be the man that denied Vettel a world title rather than the man who facilitated it. Big cost, I know!

I think he was probably pretty happy he didn't get Massa'd or Barrichelo'd if SV had needed a place and they ordered MW to lay off the gas and let him through...

If that had transpired I am pretty sure he would have complied with the order... and his Swiss bank account would have found two chq's deposited around xmas... one from RBR... and one from SV... and he would use that motivation for every race he participated in at RBR until he retired or moved on...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

In Turkey "no" means "yes". Ask Le.....
...right. Really am going to bed now!

 

[Fenderman]

Sorry to take so long posting this. Had to stop for supper. Breaking it up into stills one can see step by step that ZakspeedYakspeed is essentially correct.When looking at the stills it's worth noting the lines being taken by the other cars ahead of them, which is why I've broken it down into so many frames. Those going through the corner first drop quite neatly into formation as the rest of the field concertina's behind them.

Both BS and SV are steaming past several cars each. Seb' goes for a very late corner entry from the outside with a Lotus (was that Raikkonen?) following him that gets caught out as Seb' hits the anchors and has to exit stage right to survive. Meanwhile Bruno is up the inside and as can be seen in the latter frames successfully turns into the corner having pulled off a move that absolutely relied on the leading Sauber (I think that is) to hold its line, which it did.

Then, however, Seb' chops sharply across the front of the Sauber and aims for a very late apex (that was a pretty close shave in itself).Unfortunately by the time he gets there Bruno is taking up the space to his left and the collision occurs. Seb' did not take the possibility of anyone being there into account but actually he should have factored that into his move. It was impetuous and he was very fortunate to get away with it largely unscathed and without potentially more severe consequences for himself the other drivers arriving on the scene of the collision.

Not taking anything away from the positive aspects if his drive I believe that incident should have been properly investigated even if "a racing incident" turned out to be the verdict.

 

[Lewywo4]

The BBC must have missed it.....otherwise we would have had another rendition of..... Jenson master of universe when it's wetter than wet...from the wtw coulthard....

 

[sushifiesta]

Fenderman I'm not 100% sure, but weren't the cars that Vettel hit/nearly hit Senna and Di Resta rather than Maldonado and a Sauber? Sorry

The more I see it the more I think it swings towards being Vettel's fault but I'm also not sure that a penalty was called for.

 

[Fenderman]

Your absolutely correct. For some reason I got Pastor on the brain. Actually I think it's because by the time I made the labels I was getting really tired. I couldn't quite make out what the white blob's were and couldn't be arsed to play back the race again to check. Thanks sushifiesta

Edit: Damn the time limit. Can't go back and edit the bloomin' thing!

Please note sleepy Fenderhead's cock up in earlier post as pointed out by Sushi'. Apologies to Pastor Maldonado for mixing him up with Senna.

 

[ecclestoned]

I'm sure FA won't mind to be called SV

 

[Bill Boddy]

But couldn't you go back and edit at any time if you were a Premium Contributor?

 

[teabagyokel]

Fenderman - Edited.

 

[Brogan]

Just another opinion, but this is Brundle's take on the Senna-Vettel incident.

Vettel then, from the extreme outside of the track, swept into the apex of T4 on a normal racing line, but frankly there must have been close to a 100% chance that another gripless desperado would be slithering into that space. The fast-starting Bruno Senna was under control and accurate in his aim for the apex and would be eliminated on the spot after a double contact with Vettel - as would Sergio Perez who collected Senna.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/22058/8288998/What-a-race-what-a-year

 

[The Pits]

I love the turn of phrase

"another gripless desperado!"

Classic

 

[Bill Boddy]

I remember Martin Brundle saying one time that a driver could not win a race on the first lap, but he could lose it. Vettel was lucky that his move did not lose it for him.

 

[Brogan]

I still can't believe that not only did the car initially survive both hits, it lasted for 71 more laps.

I doubt they could do that again 100 times and get away with it.

 

[FB]

It was heart in the mouth time for Vettel fans and, I'm sure, squeaky bum time on the Red Bull pit wall. Strange how pressure affects people isn't it.

 

[MCLS]

Well in 2010, Alonso's car got an even bigger smash from Barrichello early on and was fine until he crashed late on, and yet it seems the McLaren's are very flimsy in comparison

 

[Dizzi]

I'm sure Ferrari were asked about the sturdiness of their car & their answer was "we had to build a car that could take Michael's driving" (or words to that effect)
i thought that was a hilarious answer!
I've had the same impression MCLS, the McLaren's in comparison to the other cars seem to break quicker than a matchstick model.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

So Newey's reputation (stemming originally perhaps from his time at Mclaren?) for building fast but fragile cars is looking a bit unfair then.

 

[MCLS]

In Monza 2010 it only took a slight tap to break Hamilton's front right steering arm!