Can Max Verstappen beat the Ferrari drivers to third place in the championship? Here are six talking points for this weekend’s race.
The fight for third place
With the top two places in the drivers’ championship sewn up by the Mercedes pair, the fight for third place is now on between the two Ferrari drivers and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. While there is little at stake here besides the right to attend the FIA Gala in Paris next month, Verstappen would gain significant bragging rights if he manages to beat the two Ferrari drivers who’ve had a quicker car over the balance of the season.Verstappen has produced some great performances at the Interlagos circuit, notably in the soaked 2016 race and last year, when he led convincingly. however he was unable to convert either into victories.
Where did Ferrari’s pace go in Austin?
At the Circuit of the Americas Ferrari turned in their weakest performance since the summer break. Was the technical directive on power units issued by the FIA ahead of the race the cause or merely a coincidence?
The team is adamant the two are unrelated. This weekend’s race should give a useful indication one way or the other. Will the Ferraris be as potent on the long flat out uphill climb from Juncao to the start finish straight?
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Dead rubber or dead good?
After all, some of F1’s most spectacular races happened after the drivers’ title was decided:
F1’s sustainability push
This week Formula 1 unveiled an ambitious new target to become a net-zero producer of carbon by 2030. The proposal already has the support of the teams and many drivers. Among those, Lewis Hamilton has been the most vocal advocate of F1 improving its environmental credentials.
It’s a subject which is clearly close to his heart. He has repeatedly used his vast social media audience to highlight major environmental stories, notably the destruction of vast areas of the rainforest in Brazil, which became a focus of international attention earlier this year.
Hamilton hasn’t been shy about highlighting matters of concern to him in other countries – such as his recent remarks on dolphin hunting while in Japan – but if he does this same this weekend he can expect to attract the attention of the country’s firebrand president, who has already made his presence felt upon F1 in other ways.
Will Sao Paulo lose its F1 race
Bolsonaro has also expressed a clear preference to move the country’s round of the world championship from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, his political power base. Will he be successful? If so it will mean leaving a distinctive and traditional venue on the F1 calendar which is long intertwined with the memory of its most famous driver, Ayrton Senna. Moving the race away from his home town to a track named after him would seem a rather shallow gesture.
Can Bottas do a Rosberg?
As Nico Rosberg demonstrated at the end of 2015, with the championship already over the fight for next year’s title has already begun. Rosberg marked Hamilton’s card by ending 2015 with a hat-trick of wins. He picked up where he left off at the beginning of the following season, and snatched the title.
Can Bottas do the same? Interlagos has tended to be one of Hamilton’s weaker circuits.
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2019 so far
Are you going to the Brazilian Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to Brazil for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Brazilian Grand Prix? Have your say below.
And don’t forget to enter your predictions for this weekend’s race. You can edit your predictions until the start of qualifying:
2019 Brazilian Grand Prix
- Binotto held talks with Vettel and Leclerc over ‘unacceptable’ Brazil crash
- Bottas: Red Bull quicker than Mercedes on the straights now
- Russell will miss “funny, knowledgeable” Kubica
- 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix Star Performers
- Gasly thriving away from “pressure” of Red Bull – Horner
Chaitanya
14th November 2019, 8:22
With 600mt elevation of Interlagos, its going to be interesting how Mercs behave since they had issue with cooling in Austria.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th November 2019, 9:32
@Chaitanya 700 meters actually, and while the elevation level is similar to that of the Red Bull Ring, the ambient temperatures were higher than usual there this year, unlike what is currently in forecast for Interlagos, so I think everything’s going to be okay for Mercedes.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th November 2019, 10:16
As @jerejj mentioned. The ambient temperatures were abnormally high at the Red Bull ring. I don’t think elevation changes are Mercedes’ weakness. Spa has elevation changes as well.. it wasn’t really hampering them there.
frood19 (@frood19)
14th November 2019, 10:46
@todfod this is the salient point – merc were unprepared for the unusual temperatures in austria (it was amazing they were as fast as they were, based on how much cooling they were doing in the race), not the high temperatures or the altitude in isolation. they were competitive in mexico where the temperatures were as expected, and that track is far, far higher above sea level than the A1 Ring.
I don’t think spa has any relevance – it has a relatively large amount of elevation change but none of it is at significant altitude. in fact, parts of the nurburgring are quite a bit higher above sea level.
Jere (@jerejj)
14th November 2019, 12:57
@todfod @frood19 Already has clarified what I’m about to clarify a bit, but by elevation-level, I, of course, meant altitude-level relative to sea level, not elevation changes within a circuit.
Todfod (@todfod)
14th November 2019, 12:58
@jerejj
@frood19
My bad. Misunderstood that.
erikje
14th November 2019, 10:33
I guess Ferrari will turn up the engine of Leclerc to the max, to counter the rumors. This engine only has to survive 2 races, so ruining it will be a sacrifice to gamble on.
Will be interesting to see the performance of Vettel in this regard.
His engine is some races old.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
14th November 2019, 10:55
Interlagos and Yas Marina are good circuits for RedBull, so I am sure that Max is capable to finish just in front of Leclerc in both races. Although 14 points advantage for Leclerc might be just enough for him to grab the 3rd place in the season.