So, onto Brazil

[Brogan]

So it's nip and tuck between Massa and Hamilton with Massa just taking the honours in P1 and Räikkönen just 1/100[sup]th[/sup] off the pace in 3rd place.

Pos  	No  	Driver  		Team 			Time/Retired  	Gap  	Laps

1 	2 	Felipe Massa 		Ferrari 		1:12.305 		24

2 	22 	Lewis Hamilton 		McLaren-Mercedes 	1:12.495 	0.190 	23

3 	1 	Kimi Räikkönen 		Ferrari 		1:12.507 	0.202 	18

4 	4 	Robert Kubica 		BMW Sauber 		1:12.874 	0.569 	24

5 	23 	Heikki Kovalainen 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:12.925 	0.620 	20

6 	5 	Fernando Alonso 	Renault 		1:13.061 	0.756 	25

7 	10 	Mark Webber 		Red Bull-Renault 	1:13.298 	0.993 	24

8 	6 	Nelsinho Piquet 	Renault 		1:13.378 	1.073 	39

9 	3 	Nick Heidfeld 		BMW Sauber 		1:13.426 	1.121 	28

10 	12 	Timo Glock 		Toyota 			1:13.466 	1.161 	33

11 	11 	Jarno Trulli 		Toyota 			1:13.600 	1.295 	24

12 	7 	Nico Rosberg 		Williams-Toyota 	1:13.621 	1.316 	23

13 	14 	Sebastien Bourdais 	STR-Ferrari 		1:13.649 	1.344 	30

14 	17 	Rubens Barrichello 	Honda 			1:13.676 	1.371 	28

15 	16 	Jenson Button 		Honda 			1:13.766 	1.461 	13

16 	8 	Kazuki Nakajima 	Williams-Toyota 	1:13.806 	1.501 	24

17 	15 	Sebastian Vettel 	STR-Ferrari 		1:13.836 	1.531 	30

18 	9 	David Coulthard 	Red Bull-Renault 	1:13.861 	1.556 	19

19 	20 	Adrian Sutil 		Force India-Ferrari 	1:14.704 	2.399 	21

20 	21 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Force India-Ferrari 	1:14.821 	2.516 	21

 

[veravista]

Love the feed from DC's helmet cam - almost realistic in the amount that the driver can actually see. Up a couple of inches and it would be spot on. Hope a few people can see this when they bang on about drivers not seeing others....

 

[Brogan]

Love the feed from DC's helmet cam - almost realistic in the amount that the driver can actually see. Up a couple of inches and it would be spot on. Hope a few people can see this when they bang on about drivers not seeing others....

Yes that was quite illuminating although I hope they can see a bit more than that.
Where exactly is the camera mounted? If it's on the top of the helmet than I am absolutely astounded these guys can drive as fast as they do, especially in poor visibility.

 

[veravista]

It's on the chin part just by the visor, so about 2 inches below his eye level. You can see that the view in the rear view mirror is pointing up to the sky, but not much - all the grandstands are visible. He should just be able to see over the wheel, but the view isn't much better as he's looking through the 'letterbox' slot of the helmet.
Pretty realistic in my experience

 

[Brogan]

A damp second practice session meant that many drivers were not able to put in decent laps.

Pos  	No  	Driver  		Team 			Time/Retired  	Gap  	Laps

1 	5 	Fernando Alonso 	Renault 		1:12.296 		43

2 	2 	Felipe Massa 		Ferrari 		1:12.353 	0.057 	41

3 	11 	Jarno Trulli 		Toyota 			1:12.435 	0.139 	44

4 	1 	Kimi Räikkönen 		Ferrari 		1:12.600 	0.304 	32

5 	10 	Mark Webber 		Red Bull-Renault 	1:12.650 	0.354 	45

6 	15 	Sebastian Vettel 	STR-Ferrari 		1:12.687 	0.391 	47

7 	6 	Nelsinho Piquet 	Renault 		1:12.703 	0.407 	44

8 	7 	Nico Rosberg 		Williams-Toyota 	1:12.761 	0.465 	42

9 	22 	Lewis Hamilton 		McLaren-Mercedes 	1:12.827 	0.531 	33

10 	8 	Kazuki Nakajima 	Williams-Toyota 	1:12.886 	0.590 	42

11 	9 	David Coulthard 	Red Bull-Renault 	1:12.896 	0.600 	38

12 	4 	Robert Kubica 		BMW Sauber 		1:12.971 	0.675 	48

13 	3 	Nick Heidfeld 		BMW Sauber 		1:13.038 	0.742 	49

14 	12 	Timo Glock 		Toyota 			1:13.041 	0.745 	39

15 	23 	Heikki Kovalainen 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:13.213 	0.917 	37

16 	17 	Rubens Barrichello 	Honda 			1:13.221 	0.925 	39

17 	14 	Sebastien Bourdais 	STR-Ferrari 		1:13.273 	0.977 	41

18 	16 	Jenson Button 		Honda 			1:13.341 	1.045 	49

19 	20 	Adrian Sutil 		Force India-Ferrari 	1:13.428 	1.132 	32

20 	21 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Force India-Ferrari 	1:13.691 	1.395 	33

 

[McZiderRed]

I know we can't read too much into the times from the Friday practice sessions, and I know plenty of people might read a lot into Lewis' comments that his McLaren was "blindingly quick", given that he ended up ninth in the second session, but is the constant locking up and blind spotting his tyres a concern? Hamilton says McLaren was blindingly quick. Also, where was Heikki?

I know this IS holloween, so should I be worried....?

 

[Brogan]

Terrible strategy from McLaren again.
At the very least Hamilton should be on the clean side of the track in 3rd or on the front row.
I can't believe they didn't fuel Heikki light enough to get him right up the front.

All it's going to take now is a bad start by Trulli or some late braking from Alonso and his race could be over by the 1st corner.

And what are Toyota and Trulli playing at?
Why has he been fuelled so light to be 2nd on the grid?
His grid positions this year have been (in descending order): 7, 7, 11, 7, 11, 7, 9, 4, 14, 4, 14, 8, 8, 8, 7, 3, 6
Something's not quite right there.

 

[Mezzer]

I don't know that the position is as bleak as some seem to think. I'd suggest he's heavier fuelled so that he can sit back and watch. We'll see, tomorrow's certainly going to be interesting. Both Ferraris need to make a good start, that's for sure.

 

[Brogan]

I'm just concerned that Hamilton has Kimi to the left, Alonson behind and Trulli in front.
At least 2 of those 3 have declared their intentions so I don't think it will be that easy for him to get through the first few corners.

If he doesn't then Massa is on pole and will literally just drive away with it.

As I said, an odd strategy by McLaren to put their driver in that situation instead of right up front out of the way of any potential trouble.

 

[Amdathlonuk]

Just thought I would bump this to the top after reading through it again........... makes intersting reading going through old posts.