Rate the race: 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

Debates and polls

27th November 2011, 18:0025th March 2015, 6:02 | Written by Keith Collantine

What did you think of the Brazilian Grand Prix? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix out of ten

10 (1%)
9 (2%)
8 (8%)
7 (21%)
6 (29%)
5 (19%)
4 (8%)
3 (7%)
2 (1%)
1 (2%)

Total Voters: 415

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine

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152 comments on “Rate the race: 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix”

Prateek727 (@prateek727)
27th November 2011, 17:39

4/10

Disappointing. Just goes to show that qualifying order and extraneous circumstances are greater determinants towards the quality of ‘the show’ than track layout itself.
1. CeeVee (@)
  27th November 2011, 17:45
  
  Dull, dull, dull 4/10
  I reckon BBC would be challenged to produce more than ten minutes of highlights out of that.
  1. Kiril Varbanov (@)
    28th November 2011, 13:47
    
    Last race of the year, no new dev. parts, so that was expected. 5 from me, but I was anticipating some more racing from the teams that have nothing to lose.
2. TommyB (@tommyb89)
  27th November 2011, 21:25
  
  I think 4 is fair. Second worse race after Valencia, shame such a fantastic season had to end on such a bum note.
  
  About 2 overtakes in the whole, no other action and a win that
  was caused by another drivers car failure.
  
  Also the ‘threat of rain’ is the most annoying thing ever.
  1. Mr draw
    28th November 2011, 12:59
    
    Also the ‘threat of rain’ is the most annoying thing ever.
    
    Yeah, the weathermen were the rejects of the race.
3. AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
  28th November 2011, 13:31
  
  @Prateek727 I agree, totally. I think some tracks are more conducive to exciting races than others but it’s rare you can put a dull race purely down to layout. This proves that.
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
27th November 2011, 17:40

Same as the last few races with the added spice of a team order.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  27th November 2011, 18:06
  
  …which we didn’t hear, if there was one. Let’s not jump to conclusions.
  
  Team orders are legal in 2011. Red Bull issued a clear one in Silverstone, why would they obfuscate it here?
  1. raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
    27th November 2011, 19:18
    
    To be fair @keithcollantine we didn’t hear a team order in Hockenheim 2010 either.
    1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      27th November 2011, 20:36
      
      @raymondu999 Team orders weren’t legal then, they are now.
      
      Anyway, this is all covered properly in a separate article:
      
      Was Vettel’s ‘gearbox problem’ team orders in disguise?
  2. John H (@john-h)
    27th November 2011, 19:59
    
    Because the drivers wouldn’t have to know if it was the truth.
    
    Its possible they fixed the win for Mark to boost his confidence. Personally I don’t think they did, but I can see the argument.
  3. Estesark (@estesark)
    27th November 2011, 20:01
    
    I don’t think Red Bull faked a gearbox problem for Vettel just to let Webber win, and there’s certainly no hard evidence of it. However, I can think of why they might have wanted to do it: because Webber is too proud a driver to accept having a win handed to him. He was very subdued after getting out of the car, which might be explained by him suspecting the team arranged for the result to happen as it did. Or at the very least, he knew he wouldn’t have won if Vettel’s car had worked properly.
    
    Anyway, my rating is 3/10. The only real excitement was Alonso vs Button and Rosberg vs Sutil, and a race with no real battle for the lead will always get a low score from me. The DRS wasn’t particularly effective, which I was more than happy to see, but that just highlighted the underlying flaw in the cars’ designs which prevent them from following one another closely. Rain would have helped things out enormously.
    
    I thought the BBC did a good job though, particularly on the red button forum – one of their best of the year.
  4. hays33d (@hays33d)
    27th November 2011, 20:30
    
    I do think there was a team order, however I don’t see anything wrong with it. Vettel’s car was hurting, he didn’t have the pace and there is no reason to risk both cars in an incident. And it’s legal.
    
    US commentators immediately said that Vettel should let Webber pass as soon as Webber started closing the gap.
    
    I don’t feel the viewers got robbed. If they had raced, I believe Webber would have passed Vettel at the end of the DRS zone anyway. Instead of having complaints on team orders, everyone would instead complain of another DRS pass.
  5. tEQUILLA sLAMMER
    28th November 2011, 11:46
    
    So “team orders” it was not, but it was definitely “team manipulation” of the race result, and that needs to be investigated pronto!! SV was told 5 laps into the race his gearbox had an issue, and it then went on to last another 66 laps and set some FLs!! Didnt look like he was “nursing” his transmission to me! The last “team manipulation” of a race result that caused so much fuss apart from Germany 2010 was Singapore 09, when Renoo fuelled Alonso long, and then got Piquet to bring out the SC when it most benefitted his teammate!! If team principles are now “fixing” the race order of their drivers, then whats the difference between 1 example or another? The fact is, the result order is being determined by someone on the pit-wall, not the racers!!
Tommo N7 (@tommothfc)
27th November 2011, 17:41

What a anti-climax. Threat of rain, McLaren’s fast in Practice, and more, but nothing interesting happened. Vettel’s gearbox problem wasn’t major, Webber got a win by default, and there didn’t seem to be much racing.

4/10
1. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
  27th November 2011, 17:42
  
  +1
2. natkid (@natkid)
  27th November 2011, 19:09
  
  i dont think there was any problem with Vettel’s gearbox, it’s just something to cover up their team order.. Vettel was consistently registering 1.16 even after “the problem” surfaced.. and Button on softs in the last few laps were only 0.01s slower than him
  1. sonia luff (@sonia54)
    28th November 2011, 6:29
    
    Button was on medium tyre at the end
Joseph94 (@joseph94)
27th November 2011, 17:41

Average race. Rain would have been nice. Well done to Webber (even if it was gifted to him..). Gave it a 5/10. I will miss Formula 1 this winter :(.
roberttty (@roberttty)
27th November 2011, 17:41

decent race but Brazil has seen better races
Eggry (@eggry)
27th November 2011, 17:42

Generally dull race only gearbox problem of two drivers gave +1
1. MJ4
  27th November 2011, 18:01
  
  Gearbox problem of one driver + one decently choreographed gift of a race win under the disguise of a gearbox problem.
  1. Wooolfy
    27th November 2011, 18:52
    
    Exactly, I was so disappointed with RedBull but not surprised. Great final effort from Button.
2. MacLeod (@macleod)
  27th November 2011, 19:03
  
  Actually Paul deresta had also Gearbox problems
  1. Duke (@duke)
    27th November 2011, 19:22
    
    RADIO:Vettel, we have very serious gear box problems.
Daniel Thomas (@iamdanthomas)
27th November 2011, 17:42

Nice to see Webber win, but a flat race.

2012 can’t come quickly enough now, but without a Sky subscription it might not be the same for me.
1. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
  27th November 2011, 17:44
  
  apparently you can pay just for the SKy Sports F1 channel, next year. So it might to be too expensive. But, I’m NOT certain.
  1. FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
    27th November 2011, 22:36
    
    Or you could just watch online streams…
Alonso_McLaren
27th November 2011, 17:43

Ugly team order。
1. F1andy83
  27th November 2011, 17:44
  
  I was just saying the same thing.
2. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
  27th November 2011, 17:45
  
  agreed
  1. Duke (@duke)
    27th November 2011, 19:32
    
    agreed
3. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:45
  
  This really means a lot coming from an Alonso fan….
  
  LOL.
  1. Ell (@ell)
    27th November 2011, 19:03
    
    Lol agree
  2. boundary layer (@boundary-layer)
    27th November 2011, 19:26
    
    I think @Alonso-McLaren just means that Red Bull didn´t need to put on that show about the gearbox. Team orders are legal and they had all the right to try and secure Webber’s WDC position.
F1andy83
27th November 2011, 17:44

Really didn’t look like to me that vettel had an issue. Empty victory for webber.
1. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:45
  
  Yeah.
  
  Because Vettel is always 5 tenths slower than Webber….
2. Duke (@duke)
  27th November 2011, 19:29
  
  Not exactly empty,with a few “possible” sponsors pre the race, now they are neatly “secured sponsors” post race..
  Very Disappointed with Red Bull, the ” very serious problems” still managed to give them a 2nd.
  Lewis had gear box problems too,but they never used the words very serious,and he was knocked out of the race.
  1. JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
    27th November 2011, 21:09
    
    They did tell Lewis that there was nothing he could do about it which indicates that the seriousness wasn’t information which he needed to know.
    
    Red Bull told Seb that short shifting in 2nd and 3rd and turning down the engine would help but they had to stress the seriousness of the problem since Seb doesn’t like to slow down.
    
    I think some people really read too much into such unimportant details when there’s a conspiracy theory to back up.
Enigma (@enigma)
27th November 2011, 17:44

3/10 – a boring race. Nearly nothing interesting happened.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
27th November 2011, 17:44

That was the least dramatic Brazilian Grand Pix for several years. No rain. Most significant passes due to DRS. No championship implications. And did I mention no rain? Tire strategy was rather uninteresting. Some good battles lower down were not covered by TV. Oh well. Wait until next year. 6.
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  27th November 2011, 18:02
  
  I have to agree, it wasn’t a great race. Without DRS maybe that Alonso/Button fight would have been a bit longer, the Massa/HAM fight
  1. bosyber (@bosyber)
    27th November 2011, 18:03
    
    Enter too close: was a bit lackluster, seemingly Hamilton to careful or not able to do much with his car (gearbox?), Sutil did well though, and Rosberg too, even though he ended behind Sutil.
2. BasCB (@bascb)
  27th November 2011, 18:03
  
  I guess you are right. Only the Buzz of seeing Button do some really fast laps (and his fight with Alonso) seem to bring up the ratings a bit.
  
  But the result is ok, with Webber doing everything he could to capitalize on Vettel having problems. And both Sutil and Rosberg showed some nice dicing today as well.
  
  I am going for a 6 or 7, not completely sure yet.
3. David BR (@david-br)
  27th November 2011, 18:33
  
  3/10, a dull race made duller by being utterly insignificant and even duller by the winner being handed to the victiry – to no avail. Was Hamilton having another dire race, or was he letting Button stay ahead? Really don’t know.
  
  Just one highlight: Alonso’s pass on Button on the outside of larajinha corner, that was genius racing.
  
  Dull end to a season that had some great races in the first half and went seriously downhill thereafter. Really hope a team like Mercedes can do a Red Bull next year and come up with a stunning new car design, it’s all becoming extremely tedious.
adamtys (@adamtys)
27th November 2011, 17:45

I didn’t fall asleep, but I’ve seen better races.
Andy Redden (@andyredden-on-f1)
27th November 2011, 17:46

Just a boring race that demonstrated everything wrong with F1 2011, dominant team, easy DRS or completly ineffective, promised a lot, never materialised. 3/10
1. Tommo N7 (@tommothfc)
  27th November 2011, 17:47
  
  @andyredden-on-f1 Spot on.
2. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
  27th November 2011, 17:47
  
  agreed. DRS MUST GO.
  1. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
    27th November 2011, 17:49
    
    or find a way to make it less effective ; eg, have the DRS over a shorter distance – say for just 200 metres.
    1. Ell (@ell)
      27th November 2011, 19:06
      
      It will never work over 200 meters, it was too short this weekend. It needs to go.
3. pSynrg (@psynrg)
  27th November 2011, 19:35
  
  @anydreden-on-f1 Just about sums it up.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th November 2011, 17:49

I liked the race. It was a little bit dissapointing, as we were all expecting rain for today, but i’ve seen worse races this season!
Lin1876 (@lin1876)
27th November 2011, 17:50

There was racing here and there, but it was a rather dull race. A Red Bull victory was guaranteed from turn 1 as long as the rain didn’t arrive, and the result was never really in doubt throughout the field.

Shame that the races in the second half of this season haven’t been great after a strong start. I’m still not sold on DRS, although I could tolerate it here. Good for Webber winning his first race this year, and for Sauber securing 7th in the championship.

2012 will be really interesting now, so long as the coverage remains good under Sky.
1. jamesl91 (@jamesl91)
  27th November 2011, 23:13
  
  well as sky have an f1 channel for next year you would imagine its going be full of great coverage and hopefully old races re-runs
  
  apparently although its a HD channel it will be free to all sky sports viewers which will be good.
Jay Cooper (@coop)
27th November 2011, 17:51

3/10 Webber’s win was too artificial.. Disguised team orders which is just a joke, bring on 2012! Hopefully the gaps between teams will be significantly less and the huge advantages RB have will make for some great racing..
1. Mike (@mike)
  27th November 2011, 18:05
  
  Disguised team orders which is just a joke
  
  I’m not convinced it was. I don’t think Webber would do it.
  1. Duke (@duke)
    27th November 2011, 19:37
    
    ahem!ahem! perhaps Webber had no knowledge of the cloak and dagger masterplan?
    1. raymondu999 (@raymondu999)
      27th November 2011, 19:43
      
      @duke the whole point is that what people are saying, is that because Webber is adamant that he won’t take a win that has been “gifted” to him through team orders, they disguised it as such.
      1. Duke (@duke)
        27th November 2011, 19:47
        
        Yes that was my point too,re read my earlier posts.
2. Girts (@girts)
  27th November 2011, 20:05
  
  Well if Vettel actually hadn’t a gearbox problem and RBR just made up the whole struggle then they all deserve Academy Awards for such a show. And no driver would fight for a position with his team mate if he knew he was hampered by a technical problem. Yes Vettel did let Webber pass without a fight but that was the only sensible thing to do.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
27th November 2011, 17:53

5/10.

Slightly worse than Abu Dhabi and a hollow victory, even for a Webber fan.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
27th November 2011, 17:55

I gave it 8. I think it was rather entertaining race, even though the win was robbed from Vettel :/ On the contrary, I’m always happy to see MSC and HAM struggling :)
1. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
  27th November 2011, 17:58
  
  an 8 .. are you high or something ?
  1. HUHHII (@huhhii)
    27th November 2011, 17:58
    
    No, not really.
    1. HUHHII (@huhhii)
      27th November 2011, 18:06
      
      One thing which probably affected my rating was that me and my friend had a race going on throughout the season: after the qualifying and before the race we had to name TOP-10 drivers from upcoming race plus name the driver, who improves his position most in the race compared to qualifying. 3/3points from correct race winner, 2/2points from correct driver at correct position, 1/2points from correct driver in wrong position and 3/3points for knowing the driver who improves his position the most.
      
      We headed to last race in 187-187 tie, but it turned out so that I won it by 4 points. That really brought some extra excitement to the race.
      1. Joseph94 (@joseph94)
        27th November 2011, 18:07
        
        fair enough
2. Tommo N7 (@tommothfc)
  27th November 2011, 18:06
  
  @Huhhii 8, Entertaining? Where you watching the race that the rest of us were? May I ask what you found entertaining?
  1. HUHHII (@huhhii)
    27th November 2011, 18:07
    
    See post above.
    1. Tommo N7 (@tommothfc)
      27th November 2011, 18:10
      
      @huhhii Ahh, that wasn’t there when I started my post ;) Even so, a 8 still seems a tad much personally.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
27th November 2011, 17:59

Dull. Dull. Dull. McLaren’s threat shown in practice never materialised. Ferrari’s threat shown in first half of the race never materialised, Mercedes team threat of straight line speed never materialised, the threat of rain never materialised, RBR’s threat of a possible gearbox blowing up never materialised, Lewis’s threat of turning the corner and showing some sped never materialised, Jenson’s threat of 2nd place in the last stint never materialised.

In fact, nothing threatened materialised. All we got is a sullen winner and the curse of the Sao Paulo Pole Position striking again.
1. suka (@suka)
  27th November 2011, 19:19
  
  @kbdavies, COTD….so insightful :)
Mike (@mike)
27th November 2011, 18:03

Dunno bout you guys but I really enjoyed it.

Bit of excitement, good passing. no, Great passing. And Webber got himself a win.

I’m gutted that Rubens start went so bad, but he pulled out a decent finish anyway.
1. Girts (@girts)
  27th November 2011, 19:54
  
  I’m with you on this one. There were some good passes, some nice battles (Massa vs Hamilton), at least one collision, drama created by technical trouble and a new winner so I just can’t see what’s wrong with this race. I still haven’t changed my opinion on DRS (adjustable rear wing = BAD) but I think this was a very good finale to a decent season so I gave it an 8.
sid_prasher (@)
27th November 2011, 18:03

bland race! Would have been nice if it had rained…

How good is RBR when the finish 1-2 after a car has a mechanical issue…they just smashed everyone else this year.
Here is hoping for a 4 team (at least) challenge next year…
aka_robyn (@)
27th November 2011, 18:03

Let’s pretend for a moment that we’re rational people who base our conclusions on the available evidence. What is the evidence that there were team orders today, other than the fact that Vettel was able to make it to the finish and stay in second place with an alleged gearbox problem? (This is a serious question. I’m honestly curious.)
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  27th November 2011, 18:08
  
  No evidence so far I think. Why would they do that, and why so early in the race if there could still have been rain? And it wasn’t going to get Webber 2nd in the WDC unless Button didn’t score points. Trade a win for a 3rd in the WDC? Doesn’t seem likely.
2. electrolite (@electrolite)
  27th November 2011, 18:11
  
  I’ll ‘pretend to be a rational person’ for a second and have a think…no, still no evidence of team orders.
  1. aka_robyn (@)
    27th November 2011, 18:17
    
    I’m obviously including myself among those who aren’t always rational! ;-)
    1. Gigantor (@kbdavies)
      27th November 2011, 18:40
      
      Lack of evidence of something is NOT evidence that it does not exist – Absence Of Evidence Is No t Evidence Of Absensce (argumentum ad ignorantiam).
      
      People who say there is no evidence of teams orders are under the same pressure to provide evidence to prove the point, as people who say there were.
      1. aka_robyn (@)
        27th November 2011, 18:49
        
        Hahaha. I would say that the team provided an explanation, and the burden of proof is on those who claim it’s a lie.
3. RedXibi
  27th November 2011, 19:27
  
  The best evidence I can come up with to form a rational argument is that they managed to do the impossible by fixing a mechanical problem through telepathy. Mechanical problems always require a physical intervention of some sort, especially a gearbox.
electrolite (@electrolite)
27th November 2011, 18:09

I think a 6. We were all expecting rain and a classic Interlagos thriller, but it never came. It’s easy to say it was really bad, but it was definitely better than India, Valencia, even Silverstone I’d say.
dcjohnson (@dcjohnson)
27th November 2011, 18:12

Fix ! Everything I hate about F1,absolutely taking the mike out of the f1 public, an artifical result completely engineered, seems the Macs are the only team that run with two drivers allowed to win throughout the season…jesus and all the moaning about DRS (that worked well today) and not a peep about vettels “dodgy gear box”.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  27th November 2011, 18:13
  
  I’d like to know what specifically convinces you it was a “fix”.
  1. astonished (@)
    27th November 2011, 21:24
    
    I don’t know if it was a fix (I tend to believe it but…). However, the fact that team orders are now legal is in my opinion not a strong argument against the “conspirational theory”. Beyond the legality, RB (and Mc Laren to a lesser extent) are adamant of free racing between their drivers. A clear team order goes against RBR public image and communication strategy. And this is key for them as a team and as 100% sports drink sponsored. one
2. electrolite (@electrolite)
  27th November 2011, 18:27
  
  See you later then!
  1. electrolite (@electrolite)
    27th November 2011, 18:31
    
    Excuse that comment…thought you’d written you hate everything about F1 or something.
    
    In all fairness though there were dodgy gearboxes throughout the field, not just something dreamed up by Red Bull. Also, I don’t think Webber would have looked that genuinely happy if it were a fix. Like Brundle was saying, he wears his heart on his sleeve.
    1. Helen (@helen)
      27th November 2011, 18:36
      
      And you are seriously under-estimating Vettel, who will race his little socks off, even when he doesn’t need to.
Sri
27th November 2011, 18:17

Another German finishes the race in 2nd position with gearbox problems… fine it wasn’t as imperious as was Schumacher at Catalunya, but impressive nevertheless. Button, what now his detractors both in and out of McLaren going to say about him. Button has finished every race with a strong points finish, except when his car let him down, so a great season for him, which could have been even better, but isn’t bad as it is. Button has put Hamilton firmly in second place within what was once known as “Team Hamilton”, my bad, McLaren. Alonso pulled quite a stunning move on Button and Button’s rambling doesn’t take away anything from Alonso’s effort. You must capitalize on errors of others in racing… shows why the car finishes higher than it should. Massa, it was nice to see the lad actually put on a small show for the fans at the end of the GP. Webber hopefully would pump himself up and will do a job as good as in ’10 and may be push Seb harder. Barrichello will be missed, both as a racer and a nice man to boot. Who can forget his win at Hockenheim from the last position and another such feat at Monza.

I don’t know what people are complaining about as a lot of them accept and propose rule changes which slow down development. Modern GP era has been like this for a while now. Especially with rule changes slowing down both testing and development, one car which has an advantage has gone on to dominate the season. McLaren in ’08. Brawn/ Honda in ’09. RBR in ’10 and ’11. Unless rules are changed to allow development, do not expect to see a very close finishing championships like those of late 90’s and before.
1. Helen (@helen)
  27th November 2011, 18:44
  
  Nice analysis and comments. x
2. suka (@suka)
  27th November 2011, 19:27
  
  Great point about development…I just find it hollow with the smaller teams being out of the equation…it’s like they don’t exist.
3. latina (@latina)
  27th November 2011, 20:25
  
  ” Button has put Hamilton firmly in second place within what was once known as “Team Hamilton””
  
  Don’t gloat yet.. Hamilton won him last year. If Jenson can beat him a second time say in 2012, then we can use the word ”firmly”. Until then, let’s call it 1:1.
  I am a Maclaren fan and I like both drivers the same way.
macca1977 (@)
27th November 2011, 18:17

The race was a 5 for me. It was going for a 7 till Senna destroyed Schumi’s race (at that point went to a 1), MSC should have waited for the DRS zone though. Nothing else to watch so I keep the tv on and then I saw the Mclaren gear box dying and suddenly it became a 5. About the Red Bull gearbox IMO you can’t continue having a pace like that with a gearbox problem so I guess they might be team orders.
1. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:57
  
  Hamilton was doing about the same pace as Button before his gearbox failed completely…
  
  So what is it, can a driver continue on the same pace with a problem or can’t he…
  1. Duke (@duke)
    27th November 2011, 19:42
    
    Red Bull have wings.Any mechanical problem and the wings take off.
sid_prasher (@)
27th November 2011, 18:20

Wow, I didn’t expect so many people will call this a stunt. So Vettel needed to have a DNF for us to believe that there was a gear box issue? I think we are not being fair to Webber or RBR here.
There was nothing to be gained by Vettel trying to defend his position once it was known that there was a gear box issue.
Fixy (@)
27th November 2011, 18:22

6/10
The most entertaining part was Massa doing doughnuts.
I am disappointed by this race, it was an anti-climax with the rain not coming and the battles for positions in the standings not being accompanied by battles on the track. The only nice duel was between Massa and Hamilton, although the McLaren had a gearbox problem.
I believe there actually was a gearbox problem with Vettel, I don’t think Red Bull are stupid enough to scare their driver with a “serious” problem for half of the race, putting at risk his podium position. Curious though how it didn’t get worse and resolved itself in the end.
Nice to see Webber win, good race by Button and great race by Vettel. How he managed to get fastest laps with a gerabox problem is beyond me.
1. sid_prasher (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:26
  
  Also liked the fact that Massa let Barichello through near the end…
Helen (@helen)
27th November 2011, 18:24

A couple of incidences in the mid field made it more interesting on a political level for guys trying to get / keep a seat for 2012. Sutil had a good race, but may not race for Force India, Senna qualified well, but got penalised and ended up towards the back and Rubens got a terrible start but had a decent recovery… Will be sad to see Rubens go, but can’t see him staying.
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
27th November 2011, 18:24

Disappointing. Alonso saved the day with that overtake in Jenson. Nothing more interesting happened after that.
1. Wilky112
  27th November 2011, 18:57
  
  jenson let him through avoiding debris
2. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:58
  
  Sadly, that wasn’t even a real overtake.
  
  Button saw debris and gave his position up.
3. Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
  27th November 2011, 19:03
  
  Yeah, I know that, but that don’t invalidate Fernando braveness and the beauty of the pass.
marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
27th November 2011, 18:25

Gotta be a 6, wasn’t as bad as Valencia but not great. Hasn’t been a truly exciting race since Japan, imho.
Still, we have been lucky to have some classic races this season, I’m sure in previous years this would have gone down as more exciting, relative to all the rest of the year.
latina (@latina)
27th November 2011, 18:28

Gear box problem indeed!! Yet Vettel kept doing 270 km/h for almost 2 hrs… Gear box problem indeed!! Just enough for him to slow down and let Webber thru , but no other person.
Gear box problem indeed!! Is when letting Mark thru will put Webber firmly in 3rd place and Alonso out!!

Gear box problem indeed!! Is when the car stops you right in an attempt to over take.
1. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:51
  
  Bitching, whining, bitching, whining.
  
  Sorry, that’s all I read.
2. sid_prasher (@)
  27th November 2011, 19:22
  
  Over dramatic comment indeed!
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
27th November 2011, 18:33

It was ok, spiced up by Vettels gearbox misfortune and the close running of the ferraris and McLarens until the last stint. 6/10 for me.
taurus (@taurus)
27th November 2011, 18:33

Thought it was a decent race. Those thinking it was ‘dull dull dull’ clearly didnt witness the Schumacher years!

Happily its the last race I’ll watch that I’ll have to suffer Eddie Jordan.
Luka_MP4 (@mr-mp4)
27th November 2011, 18:33

3/10

Boring! No rain, no SC, fake gearbox problems, real gearbox problems, Eddie Jordan wearing normal t-shirt…

Can’t wait for 2012 season!
1. F1fanNL (@)
  27th November 2011, 18:50
  
  “fake gearbox problems, real gearbox problems,”
  
  Please elaborate.
  
  Vettel kept losing time to Webber, Hamilton didn’t lose that much time to Button….
  
  Is it only “real” when the gearbox actually totally fails?
  
  Maybe Hamilton should have done what Vettel did and he would have made it to the end as well.
  1. suka (@suka)
    27th November 2011, 19:42
    
    Actually he did start to loose pace right about when they radioed to him the gear box fault. At that time, he could not go around Massa for about a couple of laps before his gear box totaly failed and Button had no slight problem passing Massa.
  2. Luka_MP4 (@mr-mp4)
    27th November 2011, 19:56
    
    Lewis was losing oil in gearbox since lap 10, they knew he wouldn’t make it to the end, but keep pushing hard. And Vettel, with his gearbox “problem”, actually made few faster laps than Webber at the time.
trebor27 (@trebor27)
27th November 2011, 18:34

Great to hear that KOV is “nailed” to Lotus.
fyujj
27th November 2011, 18:44

I know this is the ‘rate the race’ post but I just have to rant: ridiculous penalising Senna!
Alguersuari ruined Rubens’ race last year (look for ‘Accident – Jaime Alguersuari and Rubens Barrichello’ at http://www.f1-info.cz/?gallery=video/video2010/18 ) in an incident that was bad driving from him but still just an incident.
C’mon the stewards are acting as if they need to teach the drivers how to drive. They’re there to penalise unsportsmanship, not mistakes.
F1fanNL (@)
27th November 2011, 18:47

6 out of 10.

Nothing special but not a complete snooze fest like Japan or Valencia.
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
27th November 2011, 19:03

4. Worst race of the season. Other dull races at least had some tension, this only had forgone conclusions and mild intrigue. Some nice action, but nothing amazing.
Wilky112
27th November 2011, 19:11

I give 7 out of 10, i think sennas penalty was unfair as you can clearly see him looking at the apex and if a driver elects to go round the outside they have to avoid the car on the inside as long as the inside car doesnt crowd him off the track so racing incident at most if not msc penalty, rosebergs defensive braking was a high point and barrichello overtaking massa at the end. I also think hamilton and msc went for wet setups.
racingfanatic96 (@racingfanatic96)
27th November 2011, 19:24

Boring race, boring season. Only exciting races were earlier in the year where the Pirelli tyres were actually making a difference, or in the wet. Also get rid of DRS.

What we need next year is what we had in 2010: the teams close together and no DRS or KERS. They tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, I very much enjoyed ‘real’ Formula 1 rather than the artificial stuff we’ve seen this year. The tyres were nice when they degraded, although that just seemed to disappear halfway through the year.

You know something is wrong when Spa, Monza, Brazil and other classics aren’t producing entertainment. This was the case this year.
1. John H (@john-h)
  27th November 2011, 20:06
  
  +100
dam00r (@dam00r)
27th November 2011, 19:30

Sutils body language was very revealing. I really think that Force India has made their decision on next years line up today or yesterday, which will be Di Resta and The Hulk.
HULK HULK HULK!
DT (@dt)
27th November 2011, 19:37

A very disappointing race at a superb track. Victory was handed to Webber as a morale booster. Mclaren didn’t seem to be a threat and their strategy for Jenson was unbelievable. Not the way i expected the season to end. With coverage going to Sky i think i will be watching less of this sport from next year!
dam00r (@dam00r)
27th November 2011, 19:48

I also don’t understand why HRT will put De La Rosa in a seat next year when they could have like Karun Chandhok or someone like that instead
1. Postreader
  27th November 2011, 19:55
  
  Karun Chandhok? Are you serious?
  1. dam00r (@dam00r)
    27th November 2011, 20:27
    
    I am serious. He is a good driver, and a better driver than De La Rosa.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
27th November 2011, 19:50

It wasn’t boring, when you knew what to look at. The midfield battle was once again exciting, and there was something going on for most of the race. And for once DRS was pretty good, though pretty unnecessary on such a good track.

Originally I gave 6/10, but with Massa’s donuts in the end I ended up with 7.
1. dam00r (@dam00r)
  27th November 2011, 19:53
  
  Despite that we didn’t see much of the battle in the midfield?
  1. KaIIe (@kaiie)
    28th November 2011, 13:02
    
    That’s why there’s the live timing :)
Gurpz (@gurpz)
27th November 2011, 19:56

I’ve been obsessed with / watched F1 for a long time now and never miss anything F1-related, but today’s race was yawn-inducing. The only thing remotely exciting was Alonso’s pass on Button. I can honestly say for the first time in well over a decade that watching this race was a waste of time. I was really looking forward to it as well and got up this morning with high hopes of a great GP to end the season (as Brazil has always produced great racing), but it just didn’t materialise. Ah well, only have to wait a few months before the new season and looking forward to the RB day in Milton Keynes!
John H (@john-h)
27th November 2011, 20:02

DRS actually made the race worse!!
JT19 (@jt19)
27th November 2011, 20:08

Bore-fest. Nearly fell asleep. Just like last year.

2/10
dirgegirl (@dirgegirl)
27th November 2011, 20:08

I voted 6 but wonder if I should have downgraded to 5. Certainly the least exciting Interlagos race I can remember. I’m sure the stewards had their reasons but Senna’s penalty was annoying. Hey ho. Roll on 2012!
don knowles (@don-knowles)
27th November 2011, 21:04

Got to reduce the importance of aero. How many cars would be competitive if the aero effectiveness was redused 50% Would we as fans miss the reduced downforce?
matthewf1 (@)
27th November 2011, 21:15

credibility of race 0/10
fictional creativity 10/10
Dan_the_McLaren_fan (@dan_the_mclaren_fan)
27th November 2011, 21:41

I don’t know why everyone is disappointed, I enjoyed this race, it was decent.

I saw interesting battles : the Button-Alonso was fun (Alonso did a great pass on Button, and then I was excited when Jenson came back at the end to pass him eventualy), and the Hamilton-Massa was really good too (I felt really tense during that battle, and I was really excited when I sensed Lewis was about to pass Massa after the pitstop).
Sure, there were disappointments (the rain didn’t come, and a rain dance didn’t help :-( ), and I felt really gutted when Lewis had to retire.
Finally, it was good Mark Webber has managed to eventualy win a race : he fairly deserved a win this season. A pity he didn’t win the race in a fair fight with Vettel, but you can’t have everything can you?

Anyway, I voted 7/10 : a good race to close a season, which I would also rate 7/10 : the championship battle wasn’t great, but we were able to see some awesome things during this one!
Hubis (@hubis)
27th November 2011, 22:01

9/10 great atmosphere in braziill
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
27th November 2011, 22:18

I think Ronaldo’s little lad had it about right…
Not a memorable race. Still better than many of last year’s ones though. Good to see Webber win again, but like Hamilton in Abu Dhabi I doubt he’d have kept up with a trouble-free Vettel.
PhilEReid (@philereid)
28th November 2011, 1:24

Have to say 5 or 6/10. Primarily, there were some tense moments, but otherwise, incredibly dull, second worst race after Valencia. The only thing that clinched it above it was the unfortunate retirements, and Rosberg v Sutil, and Sutil’s impressive drive. So, it was low, but thank God for a little shake up.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
28th November 2011, 2:23

8, many will disagree but the biggest reason is many of the overtaking happened not in the DRS zone & whatever happened there was a reason of tyre issue or the car behind was actually a lot faster then the one in front.The move of Alonso on Button should go to be nominated as one of the best moves of the season.
1. smifaye (@)
  28th November 2011, 8:44
  
  If Button hadn’t backed out then yes, but still an awesome move to even attempt it is pretty amazing.
  
  Although Vettel did the same thing in 2009, without someone lifting.
Shomir (@shomir)
28th November 2011, 5:31

should i go as far to say that Abu Dhabi was more interesting???
Chalky (@chalky)
28th November 2011, 8:31

For a track that “scared” Martin Brundle silly, it hardly kept me awake.
Vettel should have won, if he had a fully working bunch of cogs. Webber knew it and we knew it. Therefore it was a pretty dull victory.
smifaye (@)
28th November 2011, 8:42

I gave it a 7, which some people will probably think is pretty high. I even watched the race on iPlayer which takes something away from the excitement but it didn’t seem to this time. I made sure I kept away from twitter and the site so I could enjoy it fully.

I gave it a 7 because I just love Interlagos and watching the cars around that track is pure awesome. FOM seemed to provide team radio of teams further down the field and also showed action further down the field which was really nice to see for once.

I enjoyed the fact that no one knew what strategy people were on and that the tyres were not lasting as long as originally thought. I am happy for Mark Webber finally taking a win but you can’t help but feel that without Vettel’s problem, he would have been a long way behind.

I think part of the reason I gave it a 7 was because it was the last race of the season and I wanted to soak up as much of the enjoyment as I could.
daykind (@)
28th November 2011, 9:15

I rated it 6/10. Just not good enough for such a fantastic track.

I think part of it was the stupid obsession with rain, which meant people were disappointed not to have it, meaning people didn’t like the race.

Although, apart from Alonso overtaking Button, Senna and Schumacher colliding, I can’t remember much that happened.

A shame to end such a wonderful year with a poor race.
Alain (@paganbasque)
28th November 2011, 9:50

5 out of 10.

A totally disappointing race, we had expected rain and chaos, and we saw an absolutely predictable race with very few moments to remark.

Once again the weather forecast has been incorrect, a poor job by the theoretically experts in this area, shame of you guys!.
rdpunk (@)
28th November 2011, 13:06

Gave it a 6 because although it was dull, it wasn’t the dullest we have season this season. Didn’t live up to all the hype and was below par for some reason.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
28th November 2011, 13:33

Not one of the better ones if i’m honest, 6/10 from me.

However, i’m not going to rip it apart.

Alonso provided some excitement with an audacious over-take around Button but that was about all that excited me.
Eternal Newbie
28th November 2011, 13:45

Seeing both McLs overtaken in the first lap (and without DRS of course) was a big plus. Then Dumbo struggling to overtake Felipe Massa but being unable to. Felipe was swerving a bit too much and I was hoping for a nice big crash but got a Dumbo DNF instead, which is always a big joy to watch.

It would have been an 8 without the final overtake by Jenson Button. With the usual trouble with the primes for Ferrari and without the DRS we probably would have been watched a nice long struggle, Singapore 2010 or Imola 2005 style. But with the wretched DRS it was doomed. And seeing a Macca in the podium was a huge letdown.
Ginger (@ginger)
28th November 2011, 21:50

5, love this race normally but this was dull in a season of some classic races. I know that it didn’t help that the season for the WDC and Constructors was over but even allowing for that the excitement came from a couple of dodgy gearboxes. Poor.
KateM (@katem)
28th November 2011, 23:04

4 for me. Pretty pedestrian, especially for Interlagos.

I’m fairly sure that there wouldn’t be half as much fuss about a hollow victory if a driver from another team had been the one to gain from Vettel’s problems though, even regardless of the conspiracy theories. I don’t remember people moaning this much about Hamilton benefiting from the Red Bull crash at Turkey 2010, or Alonso winning at Korea that year after Vettel’s engine blew.

I’m not trying to suggest that it’s a conspiracy against Webber at all, its just people seem to get far more wound up when its the team mate who get’ the “gift” for some unknown reason.
PJA (@pja)
29th November 2011, 18:10

Overall it was an anti-climax for me. I usually expect a good race from Interlagos and on Friday and Saturday everyone seemed to be saying there would be rain for the Grand Prix so I thought we would have a great season finale, however that is not what we got.

I was going to give the race only a 6 but on reflection it was no worse than Abu Dhabi which I ended up giving a 6.5 rounded up to a 7 so I gave Brazil a 7 also.

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Keith Collantine

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