[Official] Brazilian Grand Prix Thread

[Born Racer]

It's Interlagos this weekend, one of the 'old school' tracks and so often a dramatic and decisive race in championship terms. Rain is forecast throughout the weekend, which will probably increase the drama yet more.

The São Paulo-based circuit has a lot of tricky cambered corners and the shortest lap time of the Grand Prix circuits and there should be 71 laps in the race on Sunday.

Interlagos has been resurfaced and the tyres chosen for dry conditions are soft and medium. The pitlane entry has also been altered and is expected to add up to 2 seconds to total pitstop time.

Nico Rosberg is now 24 points behind drivers' championship leader Lewis Hamilton and with two races to go, this would normally make Lewis's lead rather insurmountable. However, with 75 points on offer due to the double points available in Abu Dhabi, there is still an inkling sense of 'anything could happen'.

[steve_r]

Love the track. Overtaking is possible at the two big stops, plus sometimes in the twisty parts.

Rivers appear when it rains - or have they improved the drainage now?

Can Massa or Bottas mix it up with the Mercedes?

[Gingers4Justice]

So we've got new asphalt run-off at the Senna Esses.



And a new pit-entry.



Thanks to Chiana for posting those on the Sportscar/GT part of the forum.

[Paradise City]

OooooOhhh. Sau Paolo in the rain.... mmmmhhhmmmm.

Looking at the big picture, I find it hard to see past Hamilton in the desert tbh.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I allways look forward to Interlagos, it's produced some excellent races and has been the scene for championships to be decided, unfortunately doublepoints at Abu Dhabi has effectively stopped any chance of that.

[bella]

love this track, it's so old school.

meanwhile, juncadella's shunt in fp1 has ruled perez out of fp2. the perils of letting the n00bs play with your toys...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116671

[steve nielsen]

And YES: you can drift an F1 car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ILyZAfHSU

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

And YES: you can drift an F1 car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ILyZAfHSU

That is not a drift! That is oversteer, which he corrected (twice) but more importantly, look how much speed he scrubbed off and how much time that he lost!

[Razzzor]

haha that was one mighty slide and epic recovery! how the eff did he even get into that situation though... I think baby vers may be completely out of depth next year.

[Tucky]

Finished tenth of a second off Kvyatt, not bad considering a number of drivers struggled, inluding Raikkonen. Juncadella on the other hand should stay away from an F1 car until he realizes he can't pull out of his pits right in front of a ferrari exiting

[Bononi]

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Can't help but thinking, the Ferrari looks rather like the Merc, except for the nose.

[Nicholosophy]

Please tell me Ricciardo has had a shave?

[JeremySmith]

I love Interlagos.. So special.....

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

That is not a drift! That is oversteer, which he corrected (twice) but more importantly, look how much speed he scrubbed off and how much time that he lost!

seems you did'nt see the

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

haha that was one mighty slide and epic recovery! how the eff did he even get into that situation though... I think baby vers may be completely out of depth next year.

He saved the car better than Raikkonen who spun twice, so I think he will do fine.

[Knowlesy]

I knew you'd come back once a Verstappen returned!

[FIRE]

But so far Verstappen Jr is doing a good job.
He's the reason my interest in F1 has returned (a bit).

[ECW Dan Selby]

What a great little track this is, huh?

It begs the question:

Why don't we get new, small tracks built? Have the walls a little bit closer in the slow sections (like sector 2). It's not dangerous at slow speeds.

The short track keeps the cars close together, and encourages overtaking.

It's weird, because other than the fact it's short, it's kind of like a modern track in that it's fairly slow, with a few high/medium speed corners. Has a section of hairpins going back on themselves (almost like the hairpins at COTA).

Food for thought..?

Selby

[Lancsbreaker]

Well its all a bit close, isn't it?.......Lewis doesn't seem unduly phased by his lock-up and opposite lock moment - maybe psychologically he is in the right place?

[Knowlesy]

No real issues, he is where he needs to be.

Just needs a good start and a drama free race.

[Born Racer]

In the end, it looks like Hamilton didn't lose much time with that lock-up but it seemed to me he didn't get the best exit from the final corner.

It's good to see Massa take the fight back to Bottas since Austin. I wonder if this is a bit of a resurgence for him or if it's more because he goes well at Interlagos. Williams look definitively quicker than Red Bull this weekend, but I still fancy Ricciardo for a podium as you can never count him out.

[F1Pete]

I dream of Kimi charging through the field and ending up on the podium.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I missed Quali, went to see Motörhead instead but it's the usual Merc shutout with Massa and Bottas swapping places on the grid. Nice to see Button up there followed by SV.

I would like to see a few surprises tomorrow.

[Razzzor]

Bit of drizzle might excite things, but not too heavy we don't need a SC procession.