Grand Prix 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It all comes down to the final race, sort of. There is no ‘versus’ this year, in terms of the WDC or the WCC – RBR have them both in the bag.

Alonso is safely second in the driver’s championship and, realistically, third place will go to either Hamilton or Webber – with Rosberg as a long shot if Hamilton and Webber fail to finish. Mark Webber usually excels here, and as this is his last race in F1, he may decide to go out in a blaze of glory and capitalise on Hamilton’s lack of luck in Brazil.

Second place in the WCC is as equally exciting, with Mercedes and Ferrari contending for the honour and cash. On paper, it should be Mercedes with two strong drivers; however, Massa sometimes does well at his home track, winning in 2006 and 2008, and may yet be inclined to pull his finger out again for his home fans!

Rumour has that the circuit is one of the most demanding for the drivers, and that it is loved by teams and fans alike but is that enough to create an exciting race when there is sod all at stake except for individual drivers who are still looking for next year’s seat?

Interlagos has been part of the F1 circus for 40 years, becoming a permanent fixture in 1990 and has been the venue for many deciding battles – sadly, not so this year – but it could yet throw up a stonking race.

 

[Fenderman]

Westy, other than a couple of Indy drivers, only Jim Clark retired on a win, but that was due to his death between races.

Westy The Indy drivers were:

Sam Hanks, USA (b.13th July, 1914. d.27th June, 1994). Won the 1957 Indianapolis 500. At the time the Indy 500 was part of the F1 WC. That was his first and last F1 WC win as well as the last of his eight F1 races.

Jim Rathmann, USA (16th July, 1928. d.23rd November, 2011). Won the Indianapolis 500 in 1960. That was his first and last F1 win and the last of his ten F1 championship races.

Personally I don't think they really count as "F1 career" retirees since neither competed in F1 races other than the Indy 500's.

Other than Fagioli I can find no other career F1 driver to have won his last ever F1 race and lived.

 

[Greenlantern101]

2014 rubber is being tried out this weekend.

http://www.f1zone.net/news/drivers-.../21231/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[KekeTheKing]

I'll have my eyes on those crafty blokes down at Force India. Probably run the fronts on the rear...

 

[RasputinLives]

If its Adrian Sutil he'll prob run them over someone elses front wing.

 

[Westy]

So they are testing out next years rubber, they shouldn't find any degradation if the reports are true.

Here's a thought if the FIA insist on retaining rapidly degrading tyres:- their should be no colored rings on the tyres to show their compound. This would mean that a driver wouldn't know what compound they were on until they were out on the track. That would definitely spice up the events.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Time for a Brazilian

 

[Wombcat]

Westy Don't you think the race engineer would tell them what compound they're on?

 

[Westy]

Not if they weren't tagged in any way. Every tyre would look the same and you wouldn't know what compound you were on until you hit the "cliff". Strategy would go out of the window.

 

[chris1981]

Westy So the "running both compounds" rule would go?

 

[RasputinLives]

How would they know if they'd put four of the same tyre on if they weren't tagged?

 

[Kewee]

So they are testing out next years rubber, they shouldn't find any degradation if the reports are true.

Here's a thought if the FIA insist on retaining rapidly degrading tyres:- their should be no colored rings on the tyres to show their compound. This would mean that a driver wouldn't know what compound they were on until they were out on the track. That would definitely spice up the events.

It would also turn F1 into a lottery. Surely the Formula One World Championship is about far more than that. If the sport was ever cheapened to that degree I would stop following it. I've been following F1 for forty years and I know many others that would also loose interest. It's not a bloody video game.

 

[Westy]

My comments were meant as a little tongue in cheek. It's just an idea that would probably propel me up the FIA corporate ladder.

However, to answer some questions I would suggest that the tyres be kept in groups of four so that compounds weren't mixed. Secondly, the two compound rule would go as you wouldn't know the compounds you were running. Yes it would be a lottery, but is that not what the FIA planned with the Pirelli compounds anyway? Canada '10 was all over the place because the compounds weren't doing what the teams had come to expect. The beginning half of the past two seasons have been lotteries to some extent as teams got on top of the rubber. This idea would extend that through the whole year. Who didn't love the 7 different winners in 7 races last year?

Watch out Todt, here I come!

 

[RasputinLives]

Eddie Irvine didn't love the 7 winners in 7 races. To quote:

'I'd rather see two great drivers win every race than 7 average drivers win 7 races'

usual I'd punch Eddie in the face after he said pretty much of anything but this time I'd nod and agree with him......then punch him in the face.

 

[teabagyokel]

I defer always to jez101 and sushifiesta in this regard, but Pirelli was not about a lottery. Those tyres did not randomly hit a cliff but degraded in a predictable manner, but one where there was a difference between teams' plans.

China has been a great example of what they tried to achieve - a race firmly on the 2/3 border.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Its a damp track for FP1.
Picture from the Lotus twitter feed.

Not to helpful for trying the 2014 rubber.

 

[Incubus]

Actually it's sort of occurred to me that this generation of top-drivers maybe differs from previous ones in one reaspect: there always were a number of wet-weather specialists in past decades, but it seems the current top drivers are all good in the rain.
Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel, Button and even Webber, they've all had in the past a number of memorable performances in wet-weather .

 

[FB]

Felipe Massa has had some memorable wet weather races as well.

 

[Incubus]

Well, it WAS raining at the scene of his last win on this very track 5 years ago, and that race was certainly memorable wasn't it?

 

[FB]

Don't remember that...

 

[Bill Boddy]

How strange.