2014 Formula One World Championship - Round 18 Brazilian Grand Prix

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Laps 71
Circuit length 4.309 km (2.677 mi)
Race length 305.909 km (190.067 mi)

 

[Sven]

Here's my preview:

The penultimate round of the Formula 1 season is in Brazil at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (previously known simply as Interlagos). The track has recently been upgraded, with a reported $78 million to be spent. As part of the upgrade the track has been resurfaced. There are numerous photos of the new track surface on the Lotus F1 twitter feed https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team

Lewis Hamilton takes us on a lap of the track:



Circuit Name: Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
First Grand Prix: 1973
Number of Laps: 71
Circuit Length: 4.309 km
Race Distance: 305.909 km
Lap Record: 1:11.473 - JP Montoya (2004)

Drivers Championship

Rosberg needs to make some in-roads into Lewis' lead in the Championship or it will be all but over by the time the two get to Abu Dhabi for the final race. Two consecutive wins won't be enough for Rosberg if Hamilton is runner up in both races. Ricciardo has all but sealed 3rd place and Bottas is now favourite for 4th in the close battle between he, Alonso and Vettel.

Driver Standings
1 Lewis Hamilton 316
2 Nico Rosberg 292
3 Daniel Ricciardo 214
4 Valtteri Bottas 155
5 Sebastian Vettel 149
6 Fernando Alonso 149
7 Jenson Button 94
8 Felipe Massa 83
9 Nico Hulkenberg 76
10 Kevin Magnussen 53
11 Sergio Perez 47
12 Kimi Räikkönen 47
13 Jean-Eric Vergne 22
14 Romain Grosjean 8
15 Daniil Kvyat 8
16 Pastor Maldonado 2
17 Jules Bianchi 2

Constructors Championship

Mercedes completed the obvious at Austin by wrapping up the title and the remaining places look pretty certain as well. I don't see any change to the pecking order unless something dramatic happens in the next couple of races.

Team Standings
1 Mercedes 608
2 Red Bull Racing-Renault 363
3 Williams-Mercedes 238
4 Ferrari 196
5 McLaren-Mercedes 147
6 Force India-Mercedes 123
7 STR-Renault 30
8 Lotus-Renault 10
9 Marussia-Ferrari 2

Sergio Perez goes into the race with a seven place grid penalty for reckless driving at the US Grand Prix.

The tyre choices at Brazil are the medium and soft compounds, the same as last year. Pirelli originally chose to run the medium and hard compounds but changed their minds after complaints from the drivers, in particular Massa.
Rain is always a possibility in Brazil with a high chance of rain on Friday (80%) and Saturday (70%) but only a 30% chance of rain on Sunday.

 

[Smeg Head]

Apparently Marussia have folded completely and won't be back at all. Not unexpected but still not great news.

 

[Smeg Head]

Poor Perez, Juncadella has binned it in practice even before he gets in the car and gets to serve his grid penalty.

 

[DrKrieger]

Apparently Marussia have folded completely and won't be back at all. Not unexpected but still not great news.

Yeah, I'm seeing news that all 200 team staff have been fired, close to Christmas as well. Very sad news

 

[Jakko]

I hope Dan has gone "Brazilian" on his facial hair this weekend.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Yeah, I'm seeing news that all 200 team staff have been fired, close to Christmas as well. Very sad news

 

[larrikin]

Anyone watching?

 

[Herbs]

Yeah, watching. The Williams'looking handy.

 

[Bacon Warrior]

Hoping for turn 1 carnage tomorrow. The two frontrunners coming together would be nice.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Season qualifying results so far.

Rosberg - 11
Hamilton - 7

What was this **** about Hamilton being the fastest driver/qualifier, an accepted notion before this season?

Anyone watching?

Nope.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Caterham have launched a crowd funding type effort to raise £2.3M to race at Abu Dhabi. One of the most pathetic, appalling things I've seen in this sport's history. And I saw Schumacher at Jerez in 1997.

 

[stmookeyj]

I think they were only 2.15 million away at last count...as for this race, I'm praying for rain but in resurfacing the track they've incorporated grooves into the tarmac to combat the rivers so it probably won't do much. Guessing everyone hoping for Massa to win.

 

[ManWithNoName]

I think they were only 2.15 million away at last count...as for this race, I'm praying for rain but in resurfacing the track they've incorporated grooves into the tarmac to combat the rivers so it probably won't do much. Guessing everyone hoping for Massa to win.

The new surface is releasing a lot of oil so Pirelli have said if it rains it could be very tricky.

 

[Allikat]

The new surface is releasing a lot of oil so Pirelli have said if it rains it could be very tricky.

Yessss please rain!! Still unsure if I'm going to get up to watch this one though.

 

[DrKrieger]

Will probably attempt to get the recorder set up for this one, doubt I'll stay up for it. At least Abu Dhabi will be at a reasonable if I remember correctly from last year

 

[DREAM TEAM BUFF]

Caterham have launched a crowd funding type effort to raise £2.3M to race at Abu Dhabi. .

Do they have any fans to make that sort of money ?

 

[stmookeyj]

Do they have any fans to make that sort of money ?

Given that they've raised just over 600K I doubt it. But if you want to donate then https://www.crowdcube.com/caterham/ is the place to go.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Given that they've raised just over 600K I doubt it. But if you want to donate then https://www.crowdcube.com/caterham/ is the place to go.

They want to raise £2.3M to trundle around at the back of one GP and then go back into non-existence. It's pathetic. Think about what that kind of money could do elsewhere.

 

[Simple Jack]

Season qualifying results so far.

Rosberg - 11
Hamilton - 7

What was this **** about Hamilton being the fastest driver/qualifier, an accepted notion before this season?


Nope.

Hamilton is faster I reckon but he's fluffed a s**t ton of Q3 laps this year.

I watched qualy, I always start to panic when I realise there's only a few races left and make sure I don't miss any sessions (not that I typically do if I can avoid it anyway).

 

[Simple Jack]

They want to raise £2.3M to trundle around at the back of one GP and then go back into non-existence. It's pathetic. Think about what that kind of money could do elsewhere.

I partially disagree. I don't mind the concept of fans directly supporting a team, however I agree that this particular situation is ridiculous.

The sport makes ******* billions pimping itself out to soulless, oil rich shitholes and it's ridiculous that a team should have to ask for money.

 

[ManWithNoName]

I partially disagree. I don't mind the concept of fans directly supporting a team, however I agree that this particular situation is ridiculous.

The sport makes ******* billions pimping itself out to soulless, oil rich shitholes and it's ridiculous that a team should have to ask for money.

If a team wanted to be publicly listed like the Green Bay Packers, I'm absolutely on board. However this is "give us your money for one race. We're not telling you how we'll use it and we'll probably be gone afterwards".

 

[Bacon Warrior]

Am I the only one who thinks the banning of tobacco advertising and Formula 1 going downhill off track are somewhat linked?

Don't condone smoking, but I do think it's sad that we'll probably never see the Marlboro logo in F1 again.

 

[Simple Jack]

If a team wanted to be publicly listed like the Green Bay Packers, I'm absolutely on board. However this is "give us your money for one race. We're not telling you how we'll use it and we'll probably be gone afterwards".

Eh, it happens to an extent in the AFL with the franchise teams. The whole situation with F1 atm is ****ed.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

Hamilton is faster I reckon but he's fluffed a s**t ton of Q3 laps this year.

If he didn't fluff them, then he'd be slower.