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/

 

[Brogan]

Anyone remember Monaco 2010?

Green flags and lights yet Schumacher was still penalised

 

[sushifiesta]

Wombcat It's not the most convincing set of pixels I've ever seen. If they are a green flag then the whole thing is a non-issue and I'm inclined to believe it was like I say above. I maintain that the yellow lights on lap 4 mean the green flag on lap 3 can't be used to support the theory though.

Actually it's just dawned on me that the yellow lights could have stayed on on lap 3 as well, it's possible that they just reduced the length of the yellow flag zone to exclude the straight on lap 3 before Vettel passes Pic. in that case you could assume that the yellow lights we see in lap 4 are there for the same reason as lap 3 and the green flag would remain.

Basically, the evidence we have doesn't convince me it was a green flag but I'm entirely happy to assume it was.

EDIT: This will be my last post on the matter now I've reached the landmark of 1000 posts and achieved the status of pole sitter! I'd like to keep it that was for 5 minutes at least!

 

[Brogan]

achieved the status of pole sitter!

You do realise as a Contributor you can edit your status/user title to whatever you wish?

Just edit the field below your avatar entitled Custom Title: http://cliptheapex.com/account/personal-details

 

[sushifiesta]

That's cheating!

Oops, there goes the nice round 1000!

 

[snowy]

Did I miss something?

 

[Fenderman]

Wha...? When?

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

can 2013 arrive already , I miss F1 already .

 

[KekeTheKing]

I got the Pit Lane Feed today and I finally got a chance to see the information I was most interested in. Sadly my suspicions were confirmed. It took an eternity for Glock to let Lewis through. So, I suppose in some peoples minds, they're even now.

This image shows that Glock was first shown Blue Flags/Lights at 15:20:51. Kovalainen soon after at 15:21:07.

You'll also note that the Lotus crew is awaiting Raikkonen.

From the FIA Pit Stop data, we know that Raikkonen entered the pits at 15:21:39

http://184.106.145.74/fia-f1/f1-2012/f1-2012-20/Race Pit Stop Summary.pdf

This image from the Pit Lane Feed shows Raikkonen in the box and the immediate aftermath of the Hulkenberg collision. So we know pretty much what time the accident happened.

This puts the time at roughly 45 seconds from when Glock was first shown Blue Flags/Lights to the time he let the leader through.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

One for the purists. Full race, onboard only, no commentary.

 

[Brogan]

I started watching that this morning.
I'm amazed it's still up, FOM are normally very quick to have stuff taken down.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I just got this from F1's official feed on Google+. It's really worth following F1 on Google+. They post really regularly and it is generally really good stuff.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

More cool stuff from F1 on G+. Check out the comparison. The only thing missing is Alonso as WDC.