2014 Brazilian GP @ Interlagos

[auaq]

Not much to say here except that Hamilton will most definitely become a double world champion after nearly 6 years. Nico Rosberg will have to wait for another year. Note that there are still some battle going on between some drivers if you look at their championship points such as: Vettel, Bottas and Alonso, Perez and Raikkonen.

Drivers Standings	Championship Points
Lewis Hamilton	316
Nico Rosberg	292
Daniel Ricciardo	214
Valtteri Bottas	155
Sebastian Vettel	149
Fernando Alonso	149
Jenson Button	94
Felipe Massa	83
Nico Hulkenberg	76
Kevin Magnussen	53
Sergio Perez	47
Kimi Raikkonen	47
Jean-Eric Vergne	22
Romain Grosjean	8
Daniil Kvyat	8
*Pastor Maldonaldo	2
Jules Bianchi	2

Constructors Standings	Championship Points
Mercedes AMG	608
RBR	363
Williams	238
Ferrari	196
Mclaren	147
Force India	123
STR	30
Lotus	10
Marussia	2
Sauber	0
Caterham	0

* Pastor Maldonaldo being first time in the points in this season. Quite an achievement I say!

[BoldUlysses]

Somebody remind me what kind of circuit Interlagos is: A power circuit (Monza), a handling circuit (Singapore) or somewhere in between?

[auaq]

There's not much of power that can be extracted here because of atmospheric pressure and altitude when juxtaposed to sea level, so no it's not a power circuit. Probably more likely a medium high speed track with rather simple technical turns. It's a bit of both but more to handling kind of.

[RidgeBack]

There's not much of power that can be extracted here because of atmospheric pressure and altitude when juxtaposed to sea level, so no it's not a power circuit. Probably more likely a medium high speed track with rather simple technical turns. It's a bit of both but more to handling kind of.

The straight you definitely get an advantage from an extra 50hp - it's all uphill. They've made the pit entry safer this year by moving it earlier and putting a chicane into pit lane.

It's definitely a downforce track through. One especially viscious long fast left hander (turn 3 and the final turns into the straight). The rest of the track undulates with some off camber corners. Mechanical grip is also going to play a part but not as much as downforce.

I like this track if just for the 2 great overtaking opportunities (end of straight and down into turn 4).

[auaq]

Truth to be told is that because of being turbocharged extracting full power shouldn't really be problem. Added to that is the ERS blah blah blah ....

[BoldUlysses]

Sounds like there's an 80% chance of rain on Sunday, and Saturday is close to 100%.

Bad news for the Williams duo.

Could be "Round 2" of the soaked Japanese GP. Heh.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Rosberg isn't exactly brilliant in the rain, is he? In contrast to Hamilton.

[hakentt]

in todays formula 1 car it is hard for a very talented driver to prove himself in uncompetitive car and get an edge over rest of the field in bad rainy conditions. This is do to full electronic brake system, electronic throttle system, no slip clutch and electronic up and down shifter. No analog feedback

[auaq]

Sounds like there's an 80% chance of rain on Sunday, and Saturday is close to 100%.

Bad news for the Williams duo.

Could be "Round 2" of the soaked Japanese GP. Heh.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Rosberg isn't exactly brilliant in the rain, is he? In contrast to Hamilton.

I want to say no compared to Hamilton, but to others he's good in the rain.

Anybody seen the pictures of the new changes to the track yet? The pit entry doesn't really look different but a slight chicane has been made to slow down the cars immediately. In addition, they repaved one of the turns from the second section. Looks like a long right hand curve with slightly higher speed than before.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh well ....

http://www.f1technical.net/news/1977...eb9cc11e17a3e6

[RidgeBack]

in todays formula 1 car it is hard for a very talented driver to prove himself in uncompetitive car and get an edge over rest of the field in bad rainy conditions. This is do to full electronic brake system, electronic throttle system, no slip clutch and electronic up and down shifter. No analog feedback

Only the rear brakes are electronic. Analog feedback comes back, as always, through the driver's bottom/back/hands. but mainly the seat of his derrier.

It's easier for a driver to show his wet weather skills than dry because the wet weather negates a lot of the advantages aimed for in dry weather.

Hence why there's normally drivers/cars out of position during a wet weather race.

Having said that, intermediate conditions are a better indicator of driver strategy.


The person in the lead of the GP always suffers during a wet weather. They are first on the track and are the guinea pigs when it comes to traction - even if they do have a clearer line of sight.

[BoldUlysses]

Listening to the BBC 5 Live interview of Vettel during their Brazilian GP preview podcast, talking candidly about his struggles this year, especially vis-a-vis Ricciardo, and I realized I have a lot of respect for the guy. I think besides Williams' (hopeful) continued resurgence, his teaming with Ferrari is the 2015 storyline I'm most looking forward to.

Nice interview with Hamilton as well. Worth a listen:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/...1106-2124a.mp3

[auaq]

So Rosberg on pole. Hope he can turn this race into a victory one.

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A little cheeky but I thought of putting a video link to get your views/opinions of now what do we think of these V6 turbo engines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGp8mYR8soE

There are other videos and interestingly enough the comments are different now than what it was at the beginning of the year.

[RidgeBack]

Pretty interesting quali.

My thoughts:
Merc and RBR are running wet weather setups. Hence why Williams was able to get to close.

going to be an interesting race even though no-one is really out of position. The weather is going to play a huge role. As well as Safety cars.

[m3fuz]

Pretty interesting quali. My thoughts: Merc and RBR are running wet weather setups. Hence why Williams was able to get to close.

going to be an interesting race even though no-one is really out of position. The weather is going to play a huge role. As well as Safety cars.

Ding ding ding! My thoughts exactly! I just hope that Nico doesn't "blow" this race as he has the last couple. It's apparent (from a conspiracy theorist's perspective anyway), that Nico is still paying for his little tire rub with Hammy not so long ago...

[auaq]

Have a feeling that Hamilton will win once again and this will wrap up the championship today. Here's once scenario I thought of - If Hamilton wins today his points end up at 342 pts. Right. If Rosberg wins today he gets 317 pts which is not enough, so he has to win again in Abu Dhabi to get 25 + 25 to get 367 pts which would then make him the champion. However, after seeing how Hamilton has been on conserving his tyres and fuel consumption lately for quite some time now he's better adapted to it than Rosberg is. In the end there's more chance for Hamy whereas not much for Rosberg I'm afraid.

[BoldUlysses]

Hamilton can't wrap up the championship today. Even if he wins and Rosberg has a DNF, he'll only be 49 points ahead, which means Rosberg can win at Abu Dhabi and collect 50 points and the championship if Hamilton has a DNF there. Highly unlikely, but theoretically possible.

Go Williams! Rah rah rah.

[auaq]

He won't yet technically speaking but I still sense that he will eventually after today's race. I bet that he will take over the lead sooner than later and that's where I'm basing my reasons from.

[m3fuz]

He won't yet technically speaking but I still sense that he will eventually after today's race. I bet that he will take over the lead sooner than later and that's where I'm basing my reasons from.

I agree, but I hope he fights for and wins it, as opposed to Nico fudging a chicane, like he did a few races ago.

I also want to see Massa on the podium at his home race. I'll be wearing my Martini Racing t-shirt.

[m3fuz]

What a finish! Nico showed some grit I didn't think he had.

[auaq]

Hell yes! Nico won! That was an intense battle between the two of them as Nico fought hard to keep his lead no matter how fast Hamilton caught up with him. He kept his composure and was calm and most important of all he didn't make a single mistake whereas Hamilton did. There were a few occasional lock ups but didn't really made the difference. If it weren't for Hamilton's spin I'm sure what we've seen today would not have been there. My heart was pumping hard and faster for those last 15 laps or so. I believe the reason why Rosberg was able to maintain that gap was because he was faster in the middle sector. I think that alone made the difference. Great drive from Massa and a well deserved third finish for him despite of his speeding ticket in the pitlane and another incident in the pits. He still managed third overall. That Ferrari fight was interesting; Kimi keeping Alonso behind him for a good number of laps and in the entire middle sector. It's like Kimi had read Alonso's mind on his next moves and disallowed him to overtake him. Surprisingly there were no team radio to instruct Kimi of letting Alonso getting past you.

Now as the points stand, Rosberg will have to win again at Abu Dhabi and having Hamilton finishing third or lower to be crowned world champion. While Hamilton does not necessarily need to win but finish second enough to wrap up as a double world champion. That's all. No doubt, this is going to be almost impossible for Rosberg regardless if he wins or not. Any technical or mechanical failure, or a huge mistake, or a crash from Hamilton is all that Rosberg needs. Otherwise, I can fairly say that this season is pretty much wrapped up already.

[m3fuz]

Hell yes! Nico won! That was an intense battle between the two of them as Nico fought hard to keep his lead no matter how fast Hamilton caught up with him. He kept his composure and was calm and most important of all he didn't make a single mistake whereas Hamilton did. There were a few occasional lock ups but didn't really made the difference. If it weren't for Hamilton's spin I'm sure what we've seen today would not have been there. My heart was pumping hard and faster for those last 15 laps or so. I believe the reason why Rosberg was able to maintain that gap was because he was faster in the middle sector. I think that alone made the difference. Great drive from Massa and a well deserved third finish for him despite of his speeding ticket in the pitlane and another incident in the pits. He still managed third overall. That Ferrari fight was interesting; Kimi keeping Alonso behind him for a good number of laps and in the entire middle sector. It's like Kimi had read Alonso's mind on his next moves and disallowed him to overtake him. Surprisingly there were no team radio to instruct Kimi of letting Alonso getting past you. Now as the points stand, Rosberg will have to win again at Abu Dhabi and having Hamilton finishing third or lower to be crowned world champion. While Hamilton does not necessarily need to win but finish second enough to wrap up as a double world champion. That's all. No doubt, this is going to be almost impossible for Rosberg regardless if he wins or not. Any technical or mechanical failure, or a huge mistake, or a crash from Hamilton is all that Rosberg needs. Otherwise, I can fairly say that this season is pretty much wrapped up already.

Great post - anything Hamilton gained in the first or third sectors was eliminated by Nico's second sector time.

I wonder how much Nico is offering to the Saubers or Lotus to crash into/impede Hamilton in Abu Dhabi?

[auaq]

Great post - anything Hamilton gained in the first or third sectors was eliminated by Nico's second sector time.

I wonder how much Nico is offering to the Saubers or Lotus to crash into/impede Hamilton in Abu Dhabi?

Probably half of his income, his home in Monaco, and more importantly of all - all of the W05 documents such as its design, PU, ERS, datalog right from the beginning of this season and upcoming W06 for 2015!

[janders211]

Good race for Massa and button....glad Rosberg could hold off Hamilton, so there is an exciting next race....although in A kind of depressingly predictable outcome I highly doubt Hamilton will finish below 2nd.

[auaq]

I now have this cruel wish of Hamilton finishing third or lower or .... even crash! How cruel of me!!!!

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A couple of new statistics or records so far -

• This was Mercedes' 11th 1-2 finish in a season and is now a new record.
• Lewis Hamilton is now the leading UK F1 driver to have 38 pole positions ahead of Jim Clark with 33 and Nigel Mansell with 32. He is, however, fourth overall in the history behind M. Shcumi (68), Senna (65), and Vettel (45).
• New lap record for the resurfaced Brazilian GP track is now 1:10:023 set by Nico Rosberg from yesterday's qualifying session.
• Mercedes have scored a total of 651 points in this season which is an all new record in a season surpassing RBR back in 2011.
• Nico Rosberg was awarded Fia Pole Trophy for having 10 pole positions in this season while Hamilton had 7 so far.

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Okay, I'm a bit confused right now as I was watching Ted Kravitz' post race discussion and he mentioned about the double points. He says that this is not only for the winning driver but for anyone that finishes in top ten. This means that the tenth place finisher gets 'two' points instead of just 'one' point. Similarly, the fifth place finisher will get 'twenty' instead of just 'ten' points. So, the winner will obviously get 50 points but the second place man will get 36 points. To clear the minds this is what it's suppose to look like at Abu Dhabi (or any last race of the season),

Position	Regular Points	Double Points @ last race
1	25	50
2	18	36
3	15	30
4	12	24
5	10	20
6	8	16
7	6	12
8	4	8
9	2	4
10	1	2

So, is this wrong or have I been misinformed?

Note, that this still doesn't change anything between Rosberg and Hamilton.

[badmonkey]

What a finish! Nico showed some grit I didn't think he had.

+1

[auaq]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItUY4aIp0a4