Brazilian Grand Prix Review

The form card looks increasingly debatable with Mclaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all in the running for that winning feeling. After such an incredible race in Abu Dhabi it must be able to top it.

It also marks the last race for many team’s names. It is the last time we will be calling the green and yellow car’s “Team Lotus”, the last race for “Marussia Virgin Racing” and similarly “Lotus Renault Gp” will change to just Lotus. It may also be the last race for the minority of the drivers. We already know Red Bull, Ferrari, Mclaren and Sauber have full line ups confirmed but the remaining drivers will be out to impress this weekend.

The weather could be a key
factor for the race. Here is the full weather forecast for the race
weekend:

Friday:

Weather
Dry,
sunny
Min / max
air temperature: 20˚ / 27˚
Min / max
track temperature: 26˚ / 42˚

Saturday:Weather
FP3:
Sun / Overcast
Qualifying: Sun / Overcast
Min / max air temperature: 28˚ /
30˚
Min / max track temperature: 36˚ / 41˚

Sunday:
Weather
Min/ max
air temperature: 25˚ / 32˚
Min / man track temperature: 34˚
/ 44˚

The last weekend of the season
is the last chance to score good points, get a good result and impress the
world. All the teams and drivers may have their focus on 2012 but they certainly
have not forgotten about this weekend. With numerous updates such as a new rear
wing for Team Lotus and new rear wing end plates for Mclaren the development
push is still up and running.

Free Practice is important for
the teams to test the Pirelli tyres on this track, an unknown for all, and to
get set up right – crucial for a good result. Here is the full review of all the
practice sessions.

Free Practice 1
The vintage charm of
Interlagos exuded from every inch of the race circuit as the red light turned
green at the end of the pit lane. However the circuit will see major safety
changes for 2012 after some serious accidents in previous months. The weather,
well it stayed fine and dry for the whole of Friday leaving plenty of running to
be done.

Mark Webber got his weekend
off to a flying start, edging out the Mclaren drivers to take prime spot at the
top of the time sheets in FP1. His lap time of 1m13.811s put him just 0.014
ahead of Jenson Button. Lewis Hamilton was 1 and a half tenths further behind.
The Mclaren team brought a new end plate for the rear wing to test. Both drivers
have expressed to the team that they need more testing over the winter to make
sure crucial error’s will not be made, like last winter.

Fernando Alonso finished the
session 6 minutes early after an engine problem. His best time could only keep
him 6th behind Vettel and home favourite Felipe Massa.

Some new faces emerged from
the pitlane in FP1 as teams gave young drivers the opportunity to test run an F1
car. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus Renault GP car finished 12th with Jean-Eric
Vergne 18th, Luiz Razia 20th and Jan Charouz 24th. It was a good opportunity for
these drivers to showcase their talent in the 1 and a half hour long
session.

Numerous offs and spins
occurred, notably the former for Vettel and the later for Kobayashi. The form
still looks unclear but the midfield is as tight as ever.

Fastest: M Webber RBR
1m.13.811

Free Practice 2
Tuning in to FP2 on the red
button as i got home from sixth form, it really hit me that this is the last
race of the season. After such an impressive season it will be sad to see it go.
The wait for March will be impatiently anticipated as ever. FP2 also saw my
tweet to 5LiveF1 commentator David Croft read out as i asked FP1 driver Luiz
Razia which rookie has impressed him this year. It was a good way to end the
season as i have asked a question in every Free Practice this year and never had
one read out.

On to the results of the
second 1.5 hour session, Lewis Hamilton took his turn at the top under the sunny
skies of Brazil. His lap time of 1m.13.392 beat Mark Webber’s best time in FP1
and was less than 2 tenths ahead of Sebastian Vettel with his interesting “head
cam” which gave viewers the sight of what he actually See’s. Mark Webber
continued his strong Friday in 3rd. Fernando Alonso finished the session 4th
ahead of Michael Schumacher, who beat not only Massa but also Button
too.

The top 7 were separated by
just 4 tenths, with Nico Rosberg and the two Force India’s behind. Di Resta
praised his team and his efforts saying it was his “best Friday” of the season.
Segio Perez finished an unlucky 13th. His session finished earlier than planned
due to gearbox problems.

The tracks short nature proved
provoking for some with drivers getting blocked frequently as space was being
searched for. Different fuel loads were tested during this session so not all
the times set can be compared.

Fastest: L Hamilton Mclaren
1m.13.392
Free Practice 3
The sole 1 hour
session of the weekend gave the teams their last chance. This session focused on
getting the set up and balance right for the driver and car as once in parc
ferme, they stay put.

Yet again
the 5 Live F1 team did a great job, and for the second consecutive day my
question was read out. This time to Nico Hulkenberg who debated whether a wet
race would benefit Force India or not. He went for the former answer.

Vettel topped the times, the 3rd
different driver in 3 sessions. His time of 1m.12.460 became the fastest lap of
the weekend so far. Jenson Button finished the session in 2nd, or though he
stressed the need to find more soft tyre pace. Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton
completed the top 4, remaining in close proximity to the lead Red
Bull.

The gap from 1st to 10th was again just 1 second.
Adrian Sutil took 6th place, an impressive feat as he was ahead of both
Mercedes. The Mercedes drivers split the Force India pairing with Di Resta in
9th ahead of Massa.

Sebastian
Buemi had to sit out of the session due to a hydraulics leak. It was a
disappointing day for the Swiss driver.
Fastest: S Vettel RBR 1m.12.460

Qualifying beckoned with the threat of rain still in
play. The monitors changed every minute meaning risks would have to be made. Red
Bull still looked the team to beat going into the session which determined the
grid order, even though the Milton Keynes based team are the slowest in the
speed trap.

Here is the review of
all the qualifying sessions, with a results table at the
end.

Qualifying 1
The first of the last
began under sunny Sky’s, with ironically the “sky” logo embedded onto the Red
Bull cars. However it is not a hint at the new Sky-BBC deal but a local sponsor;
something that has confused many.

Jenson Button topped the time sheets with a 1m.13.281
ahead of team mate Hamilton, Webber and Sutil. The Topsy turvey result was
because of the lead runners venturing out on harder tyres while the less
confident teams opted for the faster “soft” tyre.

Out in this part of Qualifying came a disappointed
Maldonado, saying “We hope it’s going to rain on Sunday as we have put on
another wing and used a different set-up for those conditions. On option tyres,
we didn’t find a great balance and we’ve been penalised for
that.”

Also out of Qualifying 1
were the Team Lotus drivers of Kovalainen and Trulli. Both HRT cars finished
ahead of the Marussia Virgin machines with Liuzzi heading
Ricciardo.

Glock will line up
24th with team mate D’Ambrosio ahead in 23rd. The session was a big
disappointment for the team who wanted to finished ahead of HRT. Glock said “It
was a catastrophic Saturday. I couldn’t manage to do a lap on the soft tyre this
morning because they were going off after half a lap. We changed the set up for
qualifying but we still struggled. That’s racing.”

Fastest: J Button Mclaren
1m.13.281

Qualifying 2
With the threat of
rain ever looming the teams scrambled out of the pit lane to put in some banker
laps. Sebastian Vettel topped the session as the chequered flag dropped with a
1m.12.446 with Nico Rosberg a surprise second in the Mercedes car.

Webber finished the session 3rd
with Hamilton and Button 4th and 5th respectively. Alonso was behind them but
never feeling like a threat. Sutil and Massa were into the last part of
qualifying too despite the field being closely packed.

Schumacher just nudged Di Resta outside the top 10 in
the dying minutes. The majority of drivers did not improve their last lap times.
So this left Di Resta, Barrichello, Alguersuari, Buemi, Petrov, Kobayashi and
Perez out.

Barrichello commented
on his 12th place saying “It was a great feeling. It’s been a tough year with
car we’ve had. I hope we have a little bit of rain on Sunday. I’m sure the fans
won’t mind bringing their umbrellas for me.”

Fastest: S Vettel RBR 1m.12.446

Qualifying 3
With the word “rain” being used far too many times in
this sector of the review, i will just say it never arrived. What did arrive
however was the last qualifying session of the season. The usual procedure
occurred yet again, with dominant Sebastian Vettel improving his time to an
incredible 1m.11.918 after being in 1st place after the first runs anyway.

All the drivers improved on their 1st runs with
Webber taking 2nd. Button clinched 3rd just ahead of team mate Hamilton.
Hamilton finished the session half a second behind Vettel.

Fernando Alonso took 5th but was never really a
feature. Nico Rosberg broke the 7th place curse by beating Massa to 6th position
while Sutil took 8th and Senna took 9th. Schumacher will line up from 10th after
only completing sector times and not a full lap.

So Vettel took pole and beat Nigel Mansell’s record
of pole’s in a season with 15. However the overall percentage still shows the
British driver won that fight with 14 pole positions in 16 races, 88%, compared
to Vettels 15 pole’s in 19 (79%).

Fastest: S Vettel RBR  1m.11.918

Pos  Driver                    Team                 Time     Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m11.918s
 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m12.099s   + 0.181
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m12.283s   + 0.365
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m12.480s   + 0.562
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m12.591s   + 0.673
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m13.050s   + 1.132
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m13.068s   + 1.150
 8.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m13.298s   + 1.380
 9.  Bruno Senna           Renault              1m13.761s   + 1.843
10.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes
Q2 cut-off time: 1m13.571s                                   Gap **
11.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m13.584s   + 1.138
12.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m13.801s   + 1.355
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m13.804s   + 1.358
14.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m13.919s   + 1.473
15.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m14.053s   + 1.607
16.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m14.129s   + 1.683
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m14.182s   + 1.736
Q1 cut-off time: 1m14.571s                                    Gap *
18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m14.625s   + 1.344
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m15.068s   + 1.787
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m15.358s   + 2.077
21.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m16.631s   + 3.350
22.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         1m16.890s   + 3.609
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m17.019s   + 3.738
24.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m17.060s   + 3.779

107% time: 1m18.410s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

The Race
As race day dawned
it really occurred to me, this is the last race of the season. After all the
excitement and drama of the previous few races it is sad to see the season
close. However i am sure all of the team members and drivers are looking forward
to some rest over the Christmas period after the longest season in the sports
history.

Only 1 driver can come
away with the ultimate Christmas present, the win. With Red Bull’s Sebastian
Vettel taking (another) pole he has the upper hand but we know, from Abu Dhabi,
that thinks can all change.

With
the next race being held in March, a long winter commences for all f1 fans. With
the only joy of winter testing to feed their F1 hunger it will feel longer than
a mere 4 months.

Lets also not
forget for UK F1 fans its the last race for the BBCF1 crew as a full team and
with the next race for them being China 2012, we will have to wait to see how
that will go. They signed off the F1 rights to Sky Sports so we will only see
half of the BBCF1 crew, but may see the majority of the main players if they
move across networks, lets see, its going to be a very busy
winter.

Who will win? Where will they all finish? Well read the race
review below to see or remind yourself what happened as the class of 2011 took
on Interlagos.

The Start saw Vettel and
Webber maintaining position along with Button but Hamilton behind lost out to
Alonso. Massa also gained a place as Rosberg slipped back and Kovalainen had an
amazing first few corners, gaining 5 positions. This contrasted with Barrichello
who bogged down at the start, not the way he wanted to open his home
race.

Vettel soon opened a gap and
broke the 1 second DRS mark while Alonso pulled off an incredible pass on Button
around the outside of turn 6. However not so inspiring was Schumacher’s clumsy
pass on Bruno Senna, not helped by the latter’s ambitious late breaking. This
caused a puncture for the former and missing front wing segments for the
latter.

It
became clear over the radio that Vettel was nursing a problem from as early as
lap 10. He was told to short shift 2nd and 3rd gear, with Martin Brundle and
David Coulthard in the BBCF1 commentary box debating an overheating
problem.

On lap 19 Senna was told he
had a drive through penalty for causing the accident between Schumacher. It
really was becoming the race the Brazilian wanted. To be honest i would of
classed it a racing incident, but then again i am not a
steward.

The threat of rain subsided as
the laps counted down quicker and quicker. The race seemed to be running at
lightning speed. The pit stops began from lap 16 with Sutil, Button and Vettel
coming into the pit lane in quick succession.

After all the leaders pitted
it left Massa out in front as he attempted a 2 stop strategy. Vettel soon passed
him but still had to nurse the gearbox problem. Rumours spread around twitter,
was Sebastian doing a Senna ’91 like he commented over the radio or were the
team just pretending?

Lap 23 began with the first
retirement of the day slowing on track. Timo Glock’s first stop ended in
disappointing consequences. He pulled away as the lolly pop raised too early,
the rear wheel nut not on properly. It detached itself from the car at pit exit
and he moved off the track just afterwards.

The following laps saw Vettel
being closed in by Webber. The former had been repeatedly told to short shift
2nd and 3rd gear as he nursed a “serious gearbox problem” but ignoring his team
he repeatedly swapped fastest laps with team mate Webber.

Lap 28. Its a Williams. Guess
who it could be, the in experienced rookie or the lovably Veteran? Yep. You
guessed it. Maldonado hits the barrier at the exit of turn 7. Seems it was all
his own fault. Just 2 laps later the conspiracy theory begins, Vettel lets by
Webber in easy fashion, no reluctance at all. Could he just be nursing the
problem dearly or is it just pay back to Webber.

Rain never seemed far away.
Numerous team reports, all very different, thinking the heavens could open; but
nothing. No rain. Not even a drop. Massa’s 2 stop strategy could come into play
by lap 37 but with Jenson Button behind him at that point of the race he will
have to work hard. On the same lap Hamilton and his team communicate over the
radio of a gearbox problem, mainly the shifting aspect.

Just a few laps later Button
uses the DRS at its best to seize the place off Massa. It was a great move
partly made easier by Massa’s poor run out of turn 3. Now its Hamilton’s turn
but instead of losing all of that time he pits. Just 2 laps later however he is
out. The Mclaren coasts to a stop at turn 5. It is his first retirement of the
season and the first since mid season 2010.

This promoted Adrian Sutil and
Nico Rosberg to 7th and 6th. The positions are almost reversed on lap 40 with
Sutil moving to the outside, but Rosberg comes back. The next lap however he
makes the move stick boosting Force India’s moral.

From lap 50-54 the leaders
pit, surprisingly for Button who was attempting a 2 stopper. Button pits but is
unable to leap frog Alonso but it does draw him closer. The team radio him to
tell the British driver he can do Qualifying laps till the end as he is yet
again on the more durable harder tyre.

Webber is still increasing his
lead at the front, but Vettel is also maintaining the gap to Alonso as he falls
into the clutches of Button. The sole Mclaren driver sets the fastest lap and by
lap 60 he passes the Spaniard into turn 4. After a rough turn 1, 2 and 3 for
Alonso the DRS catapults Jenson around the outside.

The gap to Vettel is
increasing steadily but Button can not close in by significant amounts. The last
few laps are rather settled as the drivers all want to finish the race. During
the rest of the race the gaps spread out as tyres wear out but fuel
lowers.

Webber
crossed the line to win the Brazilian Grand Prix on
lap 71.

Mark Webber
crosses the finish line to win the last race of the 2011 season, a long wait for
that. He capitalises on Vettel’s struggles to take his sole win of the season.
Vettel and a fighting Jenson Button take up the last of the podium
positions.

Webber said in the
press conference “I felt good all weekend. Seb did a great lap for pole. Today I
had the rub of the green. It would have been nice to have a race with Seb all
the way through but he had a problem. It’s a win you’ll take for sure because
I’ve had bad luck or whatever you want to call it. It’s an important win for me
and the team to finish on a high. I enjoyed the last few
laps.”

Vettel then said
afterwards “It was a real shame as I had a good start and a very good feeling.
Very early on I got the call to manage a gearbox problem. I had to turn down the
engine and short-shift. It was getting worse through the race and I ended up
having to use higher gears. But nevertheless Mark drove a fantastic race and he
deserved to win.” while 3rd place Button said about his race
“It was a difficult race for me on the softer of the two tyres.
Fernando [Alonso] was very close on the first lap at Turn Five. It’s normally an
easy place to block. I looked at the inside and there was a lot of debris there
which I didn’t want to drive through. I had to back out of it and Alonso got
past. That was disappointing but I just didn’t have the pace on the softer of
two tyres. Choosing to put the harder tyre on for the last two stints worked
pretty well for me. Fernando struggled on the harder tyres and I was able to
make the pass near the end but third was as high as we could
get.”

Fernando Alonso finished
the race a dejected 4th place which also saw him move down to 4th in the drivers
championship, but more on that will be explained later. Massa took 5th and
treated the crowd to a series of donuts. Adrian Sutil took an amazing 6th place,
a stunning result for the Force India team and its driver. Rosberg finished 7th,
again, with the second Force India of Paul Di Resta finishing 8th. The rookie
said it was a great result despite having problems.

Kamui Kobayashi finished 9th after consecutive no
point finishes recently. It was a decent result for the Swiss team with team
boss Peter Sauber very happy. Petrov finished 10th for the last points position.

Alguersuari and Buemi finished
their season’s just outside the top 10. Both are aware their future at the team
is not secure but you could say they didn’t exactly set the track on
fire..

Perez followed suite
behind the Torro Rosso drivers while Barrichello could only recover to 14th at
his home race after recovering from a poor start. Michael Schumacher also
finished in recovering form after an early puncture, not the way those two
veterans wanted to close their season off.

Kovalainen finished the race in 16th ahead of Bruno
Senna after a strategy change and a drive through penalty. The Brazilian driver
could not show his uncle Ayrtons pace and with his future in turmoil it was not
very good timing. Jarno Trulli brought his car home in 18th with D’Ambrosio’s
sole Virgin racing team giving it’s current name a swansong as it changes to
“Marussia racing” for 2012.

Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in last place as
the sole HRT. It was a quiet race for him and he was rarely shown on the TV
coverage. The retirement’s were from Liuzzi who retired on lap 61. Hamilton
retired on lap 37 with his gearbox issues. He said after the race “I think it’s
been an interesting year. Today, I gave it my all. I enjoyed the race and it’s a
little bit unfortunate that weren’t able to get extra points. I was challenging
Felipe [Massa] at the end and was hoping I could get him but the gearbox didn’t
last. It’s been a long, long year and I’m looking forward to a little bit of
downtime with family and friends. There is a lot to improve on but I feel it’s
all positive even though we didn’t have a great result
today.”

Pastor Maldonado also
retired with a crash while Glock was the first retirement.

Here are
the results:
Pos    Driver                     Team
Time
1.  Webber        Red
Bull-Renault           1h32:17.434
2.  Vettel        Red
Bull-Renault           +    16.983
3.  Button
McLaren-Mercedes           +    27.638
4.  Alonso
Ferrari                    +    35.048
5.  Massa
Ferrari                    +  1:06.733
6.  Sutil         Force
India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
7.  Rosberg       Mercedes
+     1 lap
8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
9.
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
10.  Petrov
Renault                    +     1 lap
11.  Alguersuari   Toro
Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
12.  Buemi         Toro
Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Perez
Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
14.  Barrichello
Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
15.  Schumacher
Mercedes                   +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen
Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
17.  Senna
Renault                    +    2 laps
18.  Trulli
Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
19.  D’Ambrosio
Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
20.  Ricciardo
HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Webber,
1:15.324

Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On
lap
Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 62
Hamilton
McLaren-Mercedes             37
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth
27
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              22

Here is the final points
table: http://talkfromjackleslief1.blogspot.com/2011/11/f1-2011-championship-table.html

Click here for my F1 2011
official season review, Part 1: http://talkfromjackleslief1.blogspot.com/2011/11/f1-2011-season-review-part-1.html

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@JackLeslieF1 and ‘Like’ the blog’s Facebook page by searching
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Read my
Abu Dhabu race review here: http://talkfromjackleslief1.blogspot.com/2011/11/abu-dhabi-grand-prix-review.html
Click “read more” to see the
full review of Practice, Qualifying and the race.