The stacks of hard and medium compound slick tyres Pirelli brought to Interlagos remain practically untouched after two days of running.
Teams have been unable to conduct even the most basic set-up work for dry conditions as the track has been wet every time they’ve run. And more rain is expected for race day at Interlagos.
But even if the weather turns dry teams will face a step into the unknown and the prospect of another unpredictable Brazilian Grand Prix.
The start
A Safety Car start is always a possibility if the race starts in wet conditions and there are concerns over visibility. That would certainly be welcome for pole sitter Sebastian Vettel, as it would greatly reduce his vulnerability at the start.
Behind him the fast-starting Fernando Alonso is a definite threat from third on the grid. Before the race weekend began Webber explained how differences in the Ferrari’s clutch allowed them to make much better starts than Red Bull.
Webber starts fourth for his last F1 race and will no doubt be wary of the threat from Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean behind him at the start.
The short run into the Senna S followed by the long Reta Oposta straight is often a scene of first-lap incidents – as Vettel is only too aware following his drama at the start of last year’s race.
Strategy
“None of us have done any running in dry conditions this weekend,” pointed out Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, “so, if it does dry out tomorrow, it will be an interesting experience for all of us”.
Pirelli expect drivers to make two or three pit stops if it turns out to be a dry race, but the lack of dry running so far makes it hard to be specific.
Some teams have deviated little from what their calculations had told them to expect in Brazil. “We?óÔé¼Ôäóve pretty much stuck with the set-up we decided on before coming here,” said Paul di Resta, “which will hopefully help us tomorrow if the conditions improve and we get a dry track”.
However in the case of a wet race the scope for teams to adapt their cars to inclement conditions with a dedicated ‘wet set-up’ is greatly reduced these days.
“The typical wet set-up doesn?óÔé¼Ôäót exist any more, at least for us,” said Vettel. “In the past, the races that we had, there?óÔé¼Ôäós not that much difference.”
“For sure we tried to go a little bit in a direction that helps us for wet conditions after the first or second practice yesterday but I wouldn?óÔé¼Ôäót call it a wet set-up, because usually in the wet you put more wing on, you lift the car, things like this.
“But to be honest, the last couple of years, it has been pretty frozen when you went from dry to wet set-up, or dry to wet conditions.”
The final race of an F1 season always marks a change. This time we have Mark Webber bowing out of F1 and the last hurrah for the V8 engines – plus suppliers Cosworth.
There’s a lot riding on the outcome of what could be a race full of surprises – particularly the three-way contest for second in the constructors’ championship, and the Marussia vs Caterham battle for a tenth place which would be valuable for either team.
The second half of the 2013 has not always provided the best action. But the combination of Interlagos and unpredictable weather conditions rarely fail to serve up a memorable race. Here’s hoping the V8 era will go out on a high.
Qualifying times in full
| Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 (vs Q1) | Q3 (vs Q2) | |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1’25.381 | 1’26.420 (+1.039) | 1’26.479 (+0.059) |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1’25.556 | 1’26.626 (+1.070) | 1’27.102 (+0.476) |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1’26.656 | 1’26.590 (-0.066) | 1’27.539 (+0.949) |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 1’26.689 | 1’26.963 (+0.274) | 1’27.572 (+0.609) |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’25.342 | 1’26.698 (+1.356) | 1’27.677 (+0.979) |
| 6 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 1’26.453 | 1’26.161 (-0.292) | 1’27.737 (+1.576) |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1’27.209 | 1’27.078 (-0.131) | 1’28.052 (+0.974) |
| 8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1’27.124 | 1’27.363 (+0.239) | 1’28.081 (+0.718) |
| 9 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1’26.817 | 1’27.049 (+0.232) | 1’28.109 (+1.060) |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 1’26.071 | 1’27.441 (+1.370) | 1’29.582 (+2.141) |
| 11 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 1’26.266 | 1’27.456 (+1.190) | |
| 12 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 1’26.275 | 1’27.798 (+1.523) | |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1’26.790 | 1’27.954 (+1.164) | |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 1’26.741 | 1’28.269 (+1.528) | |
| 15 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1’26.398 | 1’28.308 (+1.910) | |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1’26.874 | 1’28.586 (+1.712) | |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 1’27.367 | ||
| 18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 1’27.445 | ||
| 19 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 1’27.843 | ||
| 20 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 1’28.320 | ||
| 21 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 1’28.366 | ||
| 22 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 1’28.950 |
Sector times
| Driver | Sector 1 | Sector 2 | Sector 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettel | 21.322 (3) | 44.319 (2) | 19.284 (2) |
| Nico Rosberg | 21.287 (2) | 44.551 (3) | 19.640 (12) |
| Fernando Alonso | 21.464 (9) | 45.319 (9) | 19.261 (1) |
| Mark Webber | 21.528 (11) | 45.480 (17) | 19.419 (3) |
| Lewis Hamilton | 21.266 (1) | 44.177 (1) | 19.565 (8) |
| Romain Grosjean | 21.378 (6) | 44.812 (4) | 19.564 (7) |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 21.600 (16) | 45.377 (10) | 19.530 (6) |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | 21.412 (8) | 45.683 (19) | 19.570 (9) |
| Felipe Massa | 21.356 (5) | 45.476 (16) | 19.709 (15) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 21.470 (10) | 44.839 (5) | 19.731 (18) |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 21.390 (7) | 45.432 (13) | 19.444 (4) |
| Paul di Resta | 21.550 (12) | 45.062 (7) | 19.492 (5) |
| Valtteri Bottas | 21.645 (18) | 45.471 (14) | 19.674 (14) |
| Sergio Perez | 21.574 (14) | 45.471 (14) | 19.669 (13) |
| Jenson Button | 21.345 (4) | 44.884 (6) | 19.715 (17) |
| Adrian Sutil | 21.709 (19) | 45.414 (12) | 19.625 (11) |
| Pastor Maldonado | 21.551 (13) | 45.824 (20) | 19.606 (10) |
| Esteban Gutierrez | 21.579 (15) | 45.164 (8) | 19.713 (16) |
| Charles Pic | 21.634 (17) | 45.657 (18) | 19.811 (19) |
| Giedo van der Garde | 21.817 (20) | 46.485 (21) | 19.907 (20) |
| Jules Bianchi | 22.215 (22) | 45.383 (11) | 20.161 (22) |
| Max Chilton | 22.144 (21) | 46.747 (22) | 19.957 (21) |
Speed trap
| Pos | Driver | Car | Speed (kph/mph) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 296.7 (184.4) | |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 292.9 (182.0) | -3.8 |
| 3 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | 292.2 (181.6) | -4.5 |
| 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 286.3 (177.9) | -10.4 |
| 5 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | 285.6 (177.5) | -11.1 |
| 6 | Paul di Resta | Force India | 285.4 (177.3) | -11.3 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 285.4 (177.3) | -11.3 |
| 8 | Sergio Perez | McLaren | 284.5 (176.8) | -12.2 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 284.2 (176.6) | -12.5 |
| 10 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 283.9 (176.4) | -12.8 |
| 11 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus | 282.2 (175.4) | -14.5 |
| 12 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | 281.3 (174.8) | -15.4 |
| 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 279.7 (173.8) | -17.0 |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 276.4 (171.7) | -20.3 |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 275.2 (171.0) | -21.5 |
| 16 | Charles Pic | Caterham | 272.2 (169.1) | -24.5 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 271.9 (169.0) | -24.8 |
| 18 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | 269.3 (167.3) | -27.4 |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 264.8 (164.5) | -31.9 |
| 20 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber | 263.9 (164.0) | -32.8 |
| 21 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | 263.6 (163.8) | -33.1 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | Marussia | 262.0 (162.8) | -34.7 |
Over to you
Will Vettel take a ninth consecutive victory in the final race of the year? Or will the Brazilian Grand Prix serve up another surprise result? Have your say in the comments.
Share your views on the Brazilian Grand Prix in the comments.
2013 Brazilian Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Red Bull/Getty
zippyone (@zippyone)
23rd November 2013, 23:37
Oh I do dislike safety car starts, lets hope that not the case, fully expect Vettel to win. If he doesn’t well that will be a nice surprise won’t it?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
24th November 2013, 1:09
Yes it would, and it would be stupid not to bet Vettel for pole and victory, especially because Red Bull have always been so strong in rainy conditions. One of the only constants in this year’s championship is that Red bull have always been the strongest in the rain or damp conditions, and in this track in particular having lots of downforce shouldn’t kill them in the race even if most of the field may struggle with that fact mostly because their relative performances are much closer to each other.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
23rd November 2013, 23:44
How Vettel managed to be merely 0.059s slower in Q3 is quite astonishing.
TheBass (@)
23rd November 2013, 23:49
I have to wonder if those who constantly say Vettel’s success is only due to his car have extended that commentary to Alonso’s starts, or is that also another case of him magically outperforming his car?
Atticus (@atticus-2)
24th November 2013, 0:18
Well, Massa has not nearly that often made as great starts as Alonso, so…
So, yes, it is another case of him ‘magically’ outperforming his car. To an extent.
But before you call this comment provoking, I’d say Vettel making all those better starts than Webber, he outperforms his car’s starting system a bit as well. Making all those good getaway after good getaway.
Hamish
24th November 2013, 9:51
Don’t forget him off the line in the Renault in 2005 and 2006.
Patrick (@paeschli)
24th November 2013, 12:32
I also remember Alonso doing a false start not so long ago …
And Massa had a superb start at Silverstone, hoewever Pirelli doomed his chances of a good result that day …
mhop (@mhop)
24th November 2013, 0:01
Just want to wish di Resta all the best for tomorrow’s race. It’s going to be a sad day knowing that this is likely his last race in the sport. Despite what the haters say his three years in Formula 1 have been a great success (121 points and helping FI to 6th, 7th, 6th in the constructors is a good effort), and he thoroughly deserved a fourth.
Such a shame to see another talented driver leave the sport. Maybe another reason to watch Indy Car next year instead?
Roald (@roald)
24th November 2013, 0:38
The unknown… sure… just Vettel running off again.
Don’t get me wrong though, he completely deserves it.
Joe Papp (@joepa)
24th November 2013, 8:03
what did we fans do though, @roald, to deserve this most boring and oppressive of F1 seasons? Vettel’s suffocating the competition is long past the point of being interesting or exciting for all but the most-partisan of fans.
The (F1) Show…is no longer so.
Hamish
24th November 2013, 10:02
He has 2 hands on the wheel, a foot on the accelerator and brake pedal as well. To say it is a walk in the park is not only stupid but I find it to be disrespectful of the sport. You wouldn’t last longer than 1 lap sunshine.
We should not denouncing what is a display of obvious talent and a driver that will go down as one of the greats – I struggle to see anyone debating that. When the lights go out the man goes for gold – what more can we ask for?
I love a bit of variety in the sport but he can drive and deserves all the accolades he gets.
Kudos Sebastian.
petebaldwin (@)
24th November 2013, 11:46
I don’t think anyone said it was easy or denounced what Vettel has done…. What Vettel has achieved is huge impressive but regardless of that, it’s not fun to watch. He’ll be 5 seconds in the lead by lap 2 and the race is over. Then we get to watch the rest race for 2nd.
I’ve said it before though, it’s not for Vettel to slow down! It’s for the rest of them to get their act together and fight him.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
24th November 2013, 8:32
Of course , what else do you expect ? Vettel winning this is a given . Let’s talk about other things that are slightly more unpredictable.
bull mello (@bullmello)
24th November 2013, 1:29
The rain dances have paid off, finally a quite likely to be wet race! The rain can be a great equalizer. Yes, Vettel is still fastest and a very good wet weather racer. But, anything can happen in a wet race. We have seen the best of the best caught out by their own or others mistakes.
Looks like the drainage channels cut across the track in key places really made a difference. There didn’t seem to be rivers running across the track even with so much constant rain.
What I would like to see:
• No safety car start! Please.
• A Marussia or Caterham in the points.
• A shake-up in the finishing order, especially at the top. Not anti-Vettel, just hoping for something different.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
24th November 2013, 8:37
@bullmello Not to diminish your optimism ,but I can remeber a brazillian GP where Vettel got off to a bad start … the rest as they say is history .
Agree on all other points . And yeah i would love for someone else to win . I’ve been saying this for quite a while now , (sighs) .
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
24th November 2013, 2:20
I’ll be watching out for Hulkenberg and Grosjean in particular tomorrow. Hulkenberg because he seems to perform incredibly at this track, and Grosjean because his fantastic form at the end of this season is so good, and I’m going to enjoy seeing how the new, improved Grosjean handles a wet track. He didn’t exactly cover himself in glory here last year! Alonso getting ahead of Vettel at the start would make things interesting too!
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
24th November 2013, 3:55
Strange speed trap numbers!
Atticus (@atticus-2)
24th November 2013, 14:19
@mike-dee
I believe with the trap already being placed so close to the first corner (not at the red line though), on a wet track it was just that bit in the braking zone.
This would explain the two outlier values of Maldonado and Rosberg from Friday – those two must have gone in way too deep into Turn 1. In fact, I remember Maldonado’s off in the dying minutes of FP2 myself.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
24th November 2013, 10:13
Some odd sector times too. Surprised the Mercs are so quick in sector 1 & 2 – they seemed to be sideways round the Curva do Sol more often than not. In the wet, I’d imagine you need more downforce through the middle sector (as Sauber & McLaren seem to have).
Looks like all those dry tyres will have to be shredded and made into calendars!
Kribana (@krichelle)
24th November 2013, 10:37
(@bullfrog
That was what I was saying yesterday. Since FP1, Mercedes were very quick in S1-S2 but losing 1-2 tenths in the final sector. However, what happened in Q3?? All of sudden Rosberg in S2 was 3 tenths down on Vettel, Hamilton even more, 6 tenths.. What happened???
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
24th November 2013, 11:04
Probably Vettel started pushing whereas the others were pushing in Q2 already.
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
24th November 2013, 10:44
That would’ve been a front row for Hamilton had he presumably not had a mistake/poor exit from the final corner in sector 3. He does tend to find something extra on his final lap in Q3.